Animal Exploitation in the Tagus’ Estuary, Portugal (Fifteenth–Sixteenth Centuries)

Published faunal assemblage analyses of medieval and early modern contexts from Portuguese archaeological sites remain infrequent. Nevertheless, the attention given to these materials has grown in the last decades, allowing us to identify consumption trends throughout the Iberian Peninsula. This paper presents the results of a faunal assemblage analysis from Vila Franca de Xira (Portugal), ascribed to the fifteenth–sixteenth centuries. In this context, the predominance of domestic mammals can be observed, mainly sheep/goat, cattle and pig. Birds, fish and molluscs, beyond other mammals like leporids and, possibly, cervids, would have complemented this population’s diet. Although most identified species belong to domestic animals, the presence of wild species was detected, attesting to the practice of hunting and fishing. These results can be compared to other Portuguese faunal assemblages from the same period.