The site of Birgelsgaerten in Ostheim (Haut-Rhin, France) was excavated in 2008 by the Pôle d’Archéologie Interdépartemental Rhénan. This rural settlement is located on the edge of a terrace of loess and an alluvial area crossed by a...
moreThe site of Birgelsgaerten in Ostheim (Haut-Rhin, France) was excavated in 2008 by the Pôle d’Archéologie Interdépartemental Rhénan. This rural settlement is located on the edge of a terrace of loess and an alluvial area crossed by a palaeochannel. Around 2500 animal bones were retrieved from the stratigraphic layers attributed to the Early Middle Age, amongst which domestic species prevailed. However, in pit 3070-3325 (late 7th - early 8th century) almost 1000 bones were excavated, with the remains of game represent 16 % of the bones identified. These are composed of species rarely encountered in Merovingian Gaul: European bison (Bison bonasus), one wild bovine, and moose (Alces alces). The association in a single stratigraphic unit of these rare species with several stags (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) is interpreted as the passage through this place of an aristocratic elite.