Taming the wild: encroachment and control of animal space

Archaeological evidence from the first millennium AD has suggested that once the wild areas of Britain were cleared, cultivated and settled, there was a clear séparation of wild and domestic space, and the exploitation of wild animals by settled human communities was relatively rare. During the first half of the second millennium AD, archaeozoological evidence demonstrates a much greater reliance on wild animals, both for food and for a range of other resources. However, in many cases, access to the resources of the 'wild' areas of Britain was facilitated by the enclosure and control of the natural habitats ofselected wild animals in, for example, deer parks, and even the artificial création of new habitats (for example, rabbit warrens, fish ponds and dovecotes). This created a new définition of animal space and ofthe concept of a wild .