Animal Offerings in Ritual, Economic and Social Contexts in Britannia

Animals were central to ritual activity at religious sites in Britannia, in sacrifice, iconography, structured deposition and feasting. While animal remains from shrine and temple sites have been regularly studied, there have been few attempts to integrate them with their ‘secular’ landscape context. Recent theoretical developments offer an opportunity to bridge that gap and better contextualize ritual and religious acts involving animals. Using the recently published South Wiltshire Temple, we argue that all animals, from major domesticates to wilder or more exotic animals such as deer, chickens and (figural representations of) leopards were invested with meaning through everyday practices and associations. These meanings accordingly influenced their use within ritual practices. Collectively, the ritualized deposition of animals may provide insights into the experience of the Roman world, providing a case study of how practice theory and glocalization can combine to produce innovative insights into Britannia.