Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia (Dec 2020)
Prácticas ganaderas en el asentamiento rural de La Cruceta (Tauste, Zaragoza) durante los siglos XIII y XIV d.C.
Abstract
La Cruceta es un yacimiento situado en Tauste, en la provincia de Zaragoza. Se trata de un asentamiento rural, que cumplía las funciones de puesto de vigilancia, ocupado entre los siglos XIII y XIV d.C. Durante su excavación, se documentaron estructuras de habitación y de funciones auxiliares, así como cerámica decorada, monedas y elementos metálicos de indumentaria militar. Además, se recuperó una abundante cantidad de restos faunísticos. En este trabajo, se presenta el estudio arqueozoológico de La Cruceta, uno de los primeros para reino de Aragón en época medieval. Los resultados han permitido documentar, además de una funcionalidad estratégica, la existencia de una economía centrada en el ganado ovino y caprino. Los productos explotados son variados (carne, leche, materias primas, etc.), lo que junto a las pautas de procesado parece indicar que La Cruceta, además de puesto de vigilancia, tuvo funciones de producción. ______________________________________________________________________ The Kingdom of Aragon expanded territorially during the 12th and 13th centuries. This expansion was linked to the growth and development of the Aragonese economy, being the agricultural activities the predominant ones. Aragonese husbandry was linked to this territorial and economic expansion of the Kingdom of Aragon, with the increase of the livestock population that took place throughout the 13th century. Studies on this period in the Kingdom of Aragon are practically non-existent, due to the absence of local specialists for this type of study and the scarce interest that has traditionally been given to it. Within this context we find the site of La Cruceta, a Late Medieval settlement located in the municipality of Tauste, in the province of Zaragoza. This settlement was occupied between the beginning of the 13th century and the middle of the 14th century, and it is not clear who promoted this construction. Documentary sources have led to the conclusion that it could have been promoted by the Santa Cristina de Somport Hospital, by the Casa de los Luna or by the municipality of Tauste within a climate of rivalry for the control and exploitation of natural resources. The aims of this work are: 1) to document livestock practices and 2) to show the livestock products exploited by those who occupied La Cruceta, seeking to characterise the economic strategy carried out there. The results have shown how the inhabitants of La Cruceta had a livestock focused on the exploitation of sheep and goats. The dominance of these two species can be observed during most of the Middle Ages in the Iberian Peninsula, but especially from the 13th century onwards, when they formed 50% of the domestic livestock. Furthermore, pigs, cattle, horses and birds also made up the livestock in La Cruceta, although with much lesser quantitative importance. Finally, hunting of species such as red deer also formed part of the economic activities of the site. The results have also shown how the community that occupied La Cruceta exploited a great diversity of animal products (meat, milk, raw materials), highlighting the limited role that wool exploitation could have played. In addition, the presence of perinatal animals led to the conclusion that they were bred at the site. With regard to butchering, the absence of elements such as humerus and femurs from sheep and goats, with a high meat content, stands out. In conclusion, our hypothesis is that in addition to being a strategic settlement for the control of the area, La Cruceta was also a settlement with livestock production for the self-consumption of the community that inhabited the site and perhaps for the supply (mainly of meat) of some settlement near the site. This hypothesis is based on the specialization of production in sheep and goats, the mortality profile of both species and the representation of the anatomical regions, which shows a notable absence of elements with higher meat content in these species.
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