Zooarchaeology of Wrecks

The study of animal remains recovered from shipwrecks: cargo livestock, provisions (salt meat and fish), galley bone waste, rats and other stowaways, and shell. Faunal analysis identifies the species, age, and butchery pattern, which reveal a ship’s victualling, trade goods, and route. Bone from the Mary Rose and from Roman amphora wrecks (fish residues in garum jars) has reconstructed shipboard diet and the Mediterranean fish-sauce trade. Isotope and ancient-DNA work on the bone can pin geographic origin of the animals and provisions.