Techniques de boucherie et rejets osseux en Gaule romaine

Romans and romanised people utilized specifie techniques to process meat. This can be deduced from various sources: bas-reliefs, tools, vocabulary and literature. These sources are relatively profuse with respect to pig, but are limited concerning cattle and small livestock. The paucity of written evidence and representations in Roman art is compensated for to a certain extent by archaeozoology. Cut-marks on bones allow us to deduce the methods used. They are in accordance with the tools that are visible on funerary stelae of butchers or with those found in archaeological excavations: axe, knife and chopper. The operative patterns proposed in this paper account for most of the marks observed. Furthermore, the way in which the skeletal elements are distributed within the settlements, provides valuable information on animal production and the use of animal products (meat, fabrication of artefacts), which contribute to our knowledge of urban life in the Roman north-western provinces.