Archeozoologia dell’età Moderna in Alto Adige. I casi di Castel Prösels, Chiusa di Rio di Pusteria e Castel Rafenstein

Faunal remains from the sites of Castle Prösels, Chiusa di Rio di Pusteria/Mühlbacher Klause and Castle Rafenstein can provide a preliminary and general description of the economy and the environment in South-Tyrol during the Modern era (15th-18th centuries). The sites are located few kilometres away from each other, and they were residential (castles) or probably a customs station (Chiusa). Through the study and the comparison of the faunal remains, similarities and differences regarding the social and functional aspects of the sites were brought to light. The majority of remains (NISP) in all case studies are from domestic animals such as cattle, caprines, pigs and chicken. The presence of cat, dog, turkey, horse, and, among the wild animals, birds, fox, micromammals, fish, hare, wild boar, deer, chamois and bear, is also attested. Systematic hunting is evidenced at Prösels and Chiusa, but not at Rafenstein where game is absent probably in connection with the lower social class of tenants who rented the castle and its properties (16th century). Two remains of Nile crocodile in Rafenstein testify the presence of a “Cabinet of curiosities” set up by Baron Marx Sittich von Wolkenstein in the late 16th century.