Cattle management in an Iron Age/Roman settlement in the Netherlands: Archaeozoological and stable isotope analysis

Cattle were the predominant domestic animal in Iron Age and Roman Netherlands, yet their management is still incompletely understood. Some aspects of cattle management, such as birth season provision fodder, have received little or no attention so far. This paper first to investigate these for through a case study site Houten-Castellum. The rural settlement Houten-Castellum was inhabited from Middle period, allowing comparison between period. Excavations at this yielded large, well-preserved bone assemblage. investigates husbandry by using an integrated approach, combining multi-isotope analysis (oxygen, carbon strontium) with archaeozoological archaeobotanical results comparing evidence fodder dairy use Netherlands general. While our data set small must therefore be interpreted cautiously, there convincing extended Age, well fodder.