Animal husbandry in Neolithic and Bronze Age southwestern Scania, Sweden – A zooarchaeological meta-analysis

• Slow neolithization is supported by high degrees of game and fish. • Prehistoric animal husbandry is generally dominated by cattle. • Neolithic husbandry is based on cattle and pigs. • An increased reliance on bovid secondary products is seen in the Bronze Age. • The horse becomes ubiquitous towards the end of the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. This paper explores animal husbandry practices in the South Scandinavian Neolithic (c. 4000–1700 cal. BCE) and Bronze Age (c. 1700–500 cal. BCE) through a meta -analysis of 86 zooarchaeological assemblages from the Malmö region in southwestern Sweden. Quantitative data based on the number of identified specimens (NISP) have been compiled and are discussed against other lines of archaeological evidence to understand diachronic trends in animal husbandry in the region. The data supports a gradual economic shift to an agropastoral society in the Early Neolithic with a decreased reliance on wild game and fish. Cattle is the dominant livestock species across most of the Neolithic and Bronze Age and the main diachronic transformation is rather in the changing role of the smaller livestock where pigs are replaced by caprines as the second most important contributor to the assemblages in the Bronze Age. This is indicative of an increased reliance on secondary products from both cattle and caprines in the Bronze Age, consistent with a more socially stratified society with increased capacity and demand for surplus production. The introduction of the horse to the area is also discussed and contextualized. It appears the horse is present to a minor extent in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age transition but becomes more common in the Late Bronze Age and in the transition to the Iron Age, possibly replacing the role of cattle as a prestige animal.