Senior Archaeozoologist Alan Pipe tells us about some of his favourite exotic faunal remains from post-medieval London.
As an Archaeozoologist, I am constantly surprised by the stunning variety of faunal remains we uncover on our excavations. The archaeological record is teeming with these finds, from ivory knife handles and bone whistles to sawn mollusc shells. Every so often, however, we come across artefacts that are much rarer.
Keratine-based faunal remains often deteriorate once buried. In certain conditions, though, they survive giving us the opportunity to learn from these exotic objects. For example, a turtle shell fragment found at 24-26 Minories, survived only because of the oxygen-poor environment of the site. Known as ‘tortoise shell’, it is in fact from the outer layer of tropical turtle shells, particularly green turtles. Craftsmen would detach this material from the underlying bony plates through heating and boiling. They could then be used to make small items, like spectacle frames, inlays and combs.
The same burial environment has given us a series of offcuts from elephant ivory production. These triangular cross-sectioned pieces are the trimmings of the raw tusks, made during the manufacture of small decorative items like furniture inlays, gaming pieces and piano keys.
Rare faunal remains like these can also tell us about the trade activities of the time. The imported Queen Conch, for example, is a 300mm Caribbean snail with a pink and glossy shell. Along with its larger cousin, the 490mm Triton’s Trumpet from the Indo-Pacific, it was mainly harvested for its meat. However, both these shells were also commonly traded as ornaments and collectors' specimens.
