Katie Alyse Tardio

KATIE TARDIO, then a graduate student at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was awarded funding in April 2019 to aid research on ‘Roman Conquest and Changes in Animal Economy in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula,’ supervised by Dr. Benjamin Arbuckle. This project focuses on zooarchaeological assemblages to test models of continuity and change in the Iberian animal economy associated with the Roman conquest of northern Spain. Through a contextual analysis of animal remains from the ancient city of Tarraco and its rural villas, the study evaluates how Iberian economies and foodways adapted to Roman influence including changes in husbandry, continuity or disruption of economic practices, and shifts in food preferences. Specifically, the research targets evidence for the reconstruction of systems of production, distribution, and consumption from this zone from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE. Within Tarraco, sampling strategies target well-dated urban contexts, in order to address changes to the animal economy across socio-economic and cultural/functional areas within the settlement. Rural villas provide a sampling of the extra-urban animal economies, as well as possible supply chains for the city. They demonstrate the shifting demands of the growing city on the hinterland’s husbandry and distribution schemes, along with possible ‘improvements’ and intensifications taking place as northeastern Spain became more connected with the broader Mediterranean world. Through investigating both urban and rural components of Tarraco’s animal economy, this project addresss the changing role of animals in this growing Romano-Iberian provincial capital.