The Impact of Romanisation on Hippophagy and Cynophagy: A Long-Term Perspective from Lyon, France

The city of Lyon is located in south-eastern France at the confluence of the River Saône, connecting from the north and the Rhône, flowing from the Alps, which together run south to the Mediterranean (Figure 1). The earliest evidence for settlement has been identified on the alluvial plain of Vaise in the northwest of the city and on the hills surrounding the Rhône in the east (Corbas, Vénissieux and Meyzieu). Since the middle of the 1980s, the development of rescue archaeology has allowed the identification of about thirty sites dating from the Hallstatt D2-D3 and La Tène Al periods (5th c. B.C.) and these are distributed over c.150 ha of the plain of Vaise [1]. This occupation appears to have been extensive and unenclosed, with denser concentrations of structures found in the southern part of the plain (Figure 2). It is also marked by imported Mediterranean pottery associated with wine consumption. Both structures and finds provide evidence for agriculture and stock-raising alongside specialized craftworking, including iron and copper-alloy working, horn-working and textile production (Table 1).