Advanced studies on the archaeology and history of hunting edited by the ZBSA
11
11
11
Advanced studies on the archaeology and history of hunting
9 783529 014901
Raptor and human – falconry and bird symbolism
ISBN 978-3-529-01490-1
edited by the ZBSA
Karl-Heinz Gersmann ∙ Oliver Grimm (eds.)
Falconry, the art of hunting with birds (Frederick II) and a living human heritage (UNESCO), has left many traces, from western Europe and northern Africa to Japan. The oldest ascertained testimonies belong to the first millennium BCE. The present book, a cooperation between falconers and scientists from different branches, addresses falconry and bird symbolism on diverse continents and in diverse settings.
Karl-Heinz Gersmann ∙ Oliver Grimm (eds.)
Raptor and human –
falconry and bird symbolism throughout the millennia on a global scale
Raptor and human – falconry and bird symbolism throughout the millennia on a global scale
Advanced studies on the archaeology and history of hunting, vol. 1.1–1.4 Edited by the ZBSA/Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology in the Foundation of the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig (northern Germany)
Raptor and human – falconry and bird symbolism throughout the millennia on a global scale
11 Edited by Karl-Heinz Gersmann and Oliver Grimm Publication in considerable extension of the workshop at the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA) in Schleswig, March 5th to 7th 2014
Cover picture: Skilled eagle master. Western Mongolia, August 2011 (photo used with the permission of Dr. Takuya Soma). Top to the left: Seal of the Danish king Knud IV (late 11th century). Redrawing. Taken from M. Andersen/G. Tegnér, Middelalderlige seglstamper i Norden (Roskilde 2002) 129.
Technical Editor: Isabel Sonnenschein Layout, typesetting and image editing: Matthias Bolte, Jürgen Schüller Print and distribution: Wachholtz Verlag – Murmann Publishers, Kiel/Hamburg 2018 https://www.wachholtz-verlag.de/raptor-and-human.html ISSN 2511-8285 ISBN 978-3-529-01490-1 Bibliographical data of the German National Library. The German National Library catalogues this publication in the German National Bibliography; detailed bibliographical information is available online under . All rights reserved, including the reprint of extracts, in particular for duplication, the insertion into and processing in electronic systems and photomechanical reproduction and translation. © 2018 Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA) in the Foundation of the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany. The editors have made every effort to identify all copyright owners. In the case that copyrights have not been cleared, please contact the editors or the publishing house.
5.000 km
3.000 km
Base Map: ESRI data set 9.3/ ZBSA Göbel 2014
Base Map:ESRI Data 9.3/ ZBSA Göbel 2014
The global perspective of the book. Orange: Eurasian steppe (presumed area of origin of falconry); green: the areas considered in the book (map Jürgen Schüller, ZBSA).
Falconry definition Falconry is defined as the taking of quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of trained birds of prey (according to the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey [IAF] = www.iaf.org).
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen with a bird of prey. Miniature in his falconry book (folio 1v, Codex Pal. lat. 1071, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg/Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana). Redrawing. After: Hunting in Northern Europe (Neumünster 2013) 344 fig. 1. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen was an early global actor in the 13th century, bringing together falconers and falconry traditions from far and wide.
UNESCO recognition of falconry as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (cf. Hewicker in this book, Fig. 6).
Book sponsors
The Archives of Falconry (Boise, Idaho, USA)
Association Nationale des Fauconniers et Autoursiers (France)
(Cultural Division, CIC/Headquarters, and CIC/German Delegation)
Emirates Falconers‘ Club
Deutscher Falkenorden (DFO)
European Foundation for Falconry and Conservation
Hagedoorn Stichting (Netherlands)
The Falconry Heritage Trust (Wales)
Club Mariae Burgundiae (Belgium)
North American Falconers’ Association
International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey
Marshall GPS
Orden Deutscher Falkoniere
Japanese Falconiformes Center
Nederlands Valkeniersverbond Adriaan Mollen
The Peregrine Fund (USA)
List of contents Book 1 Forewords Claus v. Carnap-Bornheim and Berit V. Eriksen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Oliver Grimm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Karl-Heinz Gersmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Oliver Grimm and Karl-Heinz Gersmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Adrian Lombard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Glossaries Bird glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Falconry glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Indices Short index: by author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Short index: by region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Short index: by topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Summaries Summary English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Summary German . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Summary Russian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Summary Arabic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Chapter 1 – Falconry in action and raptor propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Thomas Richter Practicalities of falconry, as seen by a present-day falconer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi, Majed Ali Al Mansoori, Margit Gabriele Müller, Omar Fouad Ahmad and Anwar S. Dawood Falconry in the United Arab Emirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Ata Eyerbediev This world is a hunting field and good deeds are the prey – the ethical side of tradition . . . . . 101 Dennis Keen The hunter, the eagle, and the nation: Qazaq traditional knowledge in the post-Soviet world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Keiya Nakajima Japanese falconry from a practical point of view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 X
Karl-Heinz Gersmann Some thoughts on the emergence and function of falconry from the perspective of a practicing falconer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Ellen Hagen From museum education to practical falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 S. Kent Carnie North American falconry, from its earliest centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 S. Kent Carnie The Archives of Falconry: a North American effort to preserve the tangible heritage of falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Jevgeni Shergalin Falconry Heritage Trust: history, structure, goals, current and future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Hans-Albrecht Hewicker The History of the Deutscher Falkenorden (DFO) and its international relations . . . . . . . . . . 187 Tom J. Cade and Robert B. Berry The influence of propagating birds of prey on falconry and raptor conservation . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Chapter 2 – Raptors in zoology and biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Frank E. Zachos Birds of prey – An introduction to their systematics, taxonomy and conservation . . . . . . . . . 223 Anita Gamauf Palaearctic birds of prey from a biological point of view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Chapter 3 – Human evolution, history of domestication and the special role of the raptor-human relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Kristiina Mannermaa Humans and raptors in northern Europe and northwestern Russia before falconry . . . . . . . . 257 Dirk Heinrich Are trained raptors domesticated birds? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Walter Bednarek Emotions and motivation of the falconer and his relationship with the trained raptor – attempt at an evolutionary-biological interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 Sara Asu Schroer A view from anthropology: falconry, domestication and the ‘animal turn’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 XI
Chapter 4 – Raptors and religion, falconry and philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 David A. Warburton Egypt and earlier: birds of prey in the human mind at the dawn of history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 By Kerry Hull, Mark Wright and Rob Fergus Avian actors: transformation, sorcery, and prognostication in Mesoamerica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Daniela Boccassini Falconry as royal “delectatio”: understanding the art of taming and its philosophical foundations in 12th- and 13th-century Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Chapter 5 – History of falconry: pioneers of research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Leor Jacobi and Mark Epstein Hans J. Epstein: falconry’s extraordinary historian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Rolf Roosen “The noblest form of hunting ever” – Kurt Lindner and falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Chapter 6 – History of falconry: basic reflections and new perspectives . . . . . . . . . 421 Ivan Pokrovsky Stable isotope analysis in raptor and falconry studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Alexandra Pesch Confiding birds: some short remarks on the “head-with-bird-on-top-of-horse-motif” on Migration Period gold bracteates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 Vera Henkelmann The evidential value of falconry depictions in book illuminations, on seals, and on tapestries in middle Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 Wietske Prummel The archaeological-archaeozoological identification of falconry – methodological remarks and some Dutch examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Book 2 Oliver Grimm From Aachen in the west to Birka in the north and Mikulčice in the east – some archaeological remarks on bird of prey bones and falconry as being evidenced in premodern settlement contexts in parts of Europe (pre and post 1000 AD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
XII
Ulrich Schmölcke Central European burials with birds of prey from the middle of the 1st millennium AD – a short survey of the early history of archaeozoology in connection with these burials . . . . . 495 Stephan Dusil Falconry in the mirror of normative sources from Central Europe (5th–19th centuries) . . . . . . 507 Baudouin Van den Abeele “On the dunghill”: the dead hawk in medieval Latin and French moralising literature . . . . . . 523 Ricardo Manuel Olmos de León The care of hunting birds in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance according to the Spanish falconry treatises (1250–1565) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 Robert Nedoma New words for new things – an overview on lexical borrowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
Chapter 7 – Eurasian steppe: geographic origins of falconry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 Pavel Kosintsev and Aleksei Nekrasov An archaeozoological survey of remains of birds of prey in the West Eurasian steppe . . . . . . 565 Leonid Yablonsky (†) Were the Early Sarmatian nomads falconers in the southern Urals, Russia, during the 4th century BC? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 Ulambayar Erdenebat A contribution to the history of Mongolian falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Takuya Soma Ethnoarchaeology of falconry in nomadic and sedentary society across Central Asia – rethinking the “Beyond the Boundary” phenomenon of ancient falconry culture . . . . . . . . . . 603 Ádám Bollók A history of the Hungarians before the end of the ninth century: a reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 Claus Dobiat, with an archaeological-historical introduction by Oliver Grimm The rider fibula from Xanten in western Germany (around 600 AD) with a reference to the falconry of nomadic horsemen of the Eurasian steppe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 Hans Nugteren Names for hunting birds and falconry terms in Kipchak (Northwestern Turkic) . . . . . . . . . . . 645 Jürgen Udolph Eastern Slavic names of birds of prey – traces of contact with Turkic peoples? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
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Chapter 8 – Roman Empire: the West (Rome) and East (Constantinople) with very little evidence for falconry up to the 5th/6th centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 Florian Hurka Falconry and similar forms of hunting according to ancient Greco-Roman sources . . . . . . . . 685 Andreas Külzer Some notes on falconry in Byzantium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Chapter 9 – Case study: raptor catching, raptor trade and falconry in northern Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709 Oliver Grimm and Frans-Arne Stylegar A short introduction to Norway, its Viking Age (800–1000/1050) and the question of the origin of falconry in the country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711 Terje Gansum The royal Viking Age ship grave from Gokstad in Vestfold, eastern Norway, and its link to falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717 Ragnar Orten Lie Falconry, falcon-catching and the role of birds of prey in trade and as alliance gifts in Norway (800–1800 AD) with an emphasis on Norwegian and later foreign participants in falcon-catching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727 Inge Særheim Place names from south-western Norway with reference to the catching of falcons . . . . . . . . . 787 Lydia Carstens Land of the hawk: Old Norse literary sources about the knowledge and practice of falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799 Maria Vretemark Birds of prey as evidence for falconry in Swedish burials and settlements (550–1500 AD) . . . 827 Sigmund Oehrl An overview of falconry in Northern Germanic and insular iconography, 6th /7th centuries AD to c. 1100 AD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 Åsa Ahrland Imagery of birds of prey and falconry in the High and Late Middle Ages (1150–1500) in the Nordic countries – reflections of actual hunting practices or symbols of power? . . . . . 861 Joonas Ahola, Frog and Ville Laakso The roles and perceptions of raptors in Iron Age and medieval Finno-Karelian cultures through c. AD 1500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
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Matti Leiviskä The role of birds of prey in Finnish place and personal names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935 Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen Traces of falconry in Denmark from the 7th to the 17th centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947
Book 3 Dirk Heinrich, with an appendix by Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen Falconry in the Viking Age trading centre of Haithabu and its successor, the medieval town of Schleswig? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973 Natascha Mehler, Hans Christian Küchelmann and Bart Holterman The export of gyrfalcons from Iceland during the 16th century: a boundless business in a proto-globalized world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995 Brian Smith and John H. Ballantyne The collection of falcons and ‘hawk hens’ in Shetland and Orkney, 1472–1840 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 Kristopher Poole Zooarchaeological evidence for falconry in England, up to AD 1500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 David Horobin The pen and the peregrine: literary influences on the development of British falconry (8th century to the present) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1055 Eric Lacey The charter evidence for falconry and falcon-catching in England and Wales, c. 600–c. 1100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 Richard Almond Hunting from the fist: looking at hawking and falconry in late medieval England (1000–1500) through art history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117 Kester Freriks Bird trapping and falconry in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, from the 17th to the 20th centuries – about wild birds as jewels on the falconer’s hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149 Ignaz Matthey The symbolism of birds of prey and falconry in the visual arts of the Netherlands, 1400–1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
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Chapter 10 – Raptors and falconry in premodern Europe: overall studies . . . . . . . . 1193
José Manuel Fradejas Rueda Falconry on the Iberian Peninsula – its history and literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1195 Algirdas Girininkas and Linas Daugnora Premodern hunting with birds of prey in the historical Lithuanian lands: entertainment, politics or economic necessity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215 Liina Maldre, Teresa Tomek and Jüri Peets Birds of prey from Vendel Age ship burials of Salme (c. 750 AD) and in Estonian archaeological material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229 Andrei V. Zinoviev Early falconry in Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251 Baudouin Van den Abeele Medieval Latin and vernacular treatises on falconry (11th–16th c.): tradition, contents, and historical interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271
Chapter 11 – Raptors and falconry in premodern Europe: specific studies . . . . . . . 1291 Babette Ludowici Chamber grave 41 from the Bockshornschanze near Quedlinburg (central Germany): evidence of the practice of falconry by women from the middle of the 1st century? . . . . . . . . 1293 Ralf Bleile Falconry among the Slavs of the Elbe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303 Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen The skeletons of a peregrine and a sparrowhawk and the spatial distribution of birds of prey in the Slavonic fortification of Starigard/Oldenburg (Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, 7th–13th centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 Zbigniew M. Bochenski, Teresa Tomek, Krzysztof Wertz and Michał Wojenka Falconry in Poland from a zooarchaeological perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1399 Virgílio Lopes Hunting scene with hawk from Mértola in Portugal (6th /7th centuries AD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1411 Cliff A. Jost A depiction of a falconer on a disc brooch of the 7th century from the cemetery of Münstermaifeld, District of Mayen-Koblenz, south-western Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1421 Katharina Chrubasik The tomb of the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło (1386–1434) and its possible connection with falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1427 XVI
Andreas Dobler The Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel and falconry in the 18th century. Depictions of a hunt with falcons in the Schloss Fasanerie museum near Fulda, Hesse (Germany) . . . . . . . . 1439
Book 4 Martina Giese The “De arte venandi cum avibus” of Emperor Frederick II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1459 Martina Giese Evidence of falconry on the European continent and in England, with an emphasis on the 5th to 9th centuries: historiography, hagiography, and letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471 Agnieszka Samsonowicz Falconry in the history of hunting in the Poland of the Piasts and the Jagiellons (10th–16th centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1491 Sabine Obermaier Falconry in the medieval German Tristan romances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1507 Baudouin Van den Abeele Falconry in Old French literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1519 Ingrid A. R. De Smet Princess of the North: perceptions of the gyrfalcon in 16th-century western Europe . . . . . . . 1543 Péter Kasza Falconry literature in Hungary in an international perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571 Robert Nedoma Germanic personal names before AD 1000 and their elements referring to birds of prey. With an emphasis upon the runic inscription in the eastern Swedish Vallentuna-Rickeby burial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1583 Jürgen Udolph Falconry and bird catching in Germanic and Slavonic place, field and family names . . . . . . . 1603
Chapter 12 – Raptors and falconry in premodern times in areas outside Europe . 1629 Karin Reiter Falconry in the Ancient Orient? I. A contribution to the history of falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631 Karin Reiter Falconry in the Ancient Orient? II. The Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1643
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Karin Reiter Falconry in Ugarit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1659 Susanne Görke and Ekin Kozal Birds of prey in pre-Hittite and Hittite Anatolia (c. 1970–1180 BCE): textual evidence and image representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1667 Paul A. Yule Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula in the late pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods (1st millennium CE): background sketch for early falconry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1691 Anna Akasoy Falconry in Arabic literature: from its beginnings to the mid- 9th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1769 Touraj Daryaee and Soodabeh Malekzadeh Falcons and falconry in pre-modern Persia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1793 Ulrich Schapka The Persian names of birds of prey and trained raptors in their historical development . . . . 1809 Leor Jacobi ‘This Horse is a Bird Specialist’: Falconry intrudes upon the Palestinian Mishnah in Sasanian Babylonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1831 Leslie Wallace The early history of falconry in China (2nd to 5th centuries AD) and the question of its origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847 Fangyi Cheng From entertainment to political life – royal falconry in China between the 6th and 14th centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865 Fangyi Cheng and Leopold Eisenlohr Ancient Chinese falconry terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1883 Ho-tae Jeon Falconry in ancient Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1891 Takayo Kaku Ancient Japanese falconry from an archaeological point of view with a focus on the early period (5th to 7th centuries AD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919 Yasuko Nihonmatsu Japanese books on falconry from the 13th to the 17th centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1937 José Manuel Fradejas Rueda Falconry in America – A pre-Hispanic sport? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1947
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The archaeological-archaeozoological identification of falconry – methodological remarks and some Dutch examples By Wietske Prummel
Keywords: Falconry, archaeology/archaeozoology, the Netherlands, Sint Maartensdijk, The Hague, peregrines, Norway Abstract: The criteria of how to decide that falconry was practiced at an archaeological site are discussed. They are: 1) falconry devices, 2) the bones of hawks, 3) a preponderance of female goshawks and sparrowhawks and 4) bones of the birds and mammals that were captured with trained birds of prey. Bones of hawks in graves are certain evidence that falconry was practiced. A combination of several of the four criteria is recommended to decide that falconry was practiced at a settlement. Falconry was practiced in Central and Western Europe and in eastern Sweden since the 6th century. Goshawks and sparrowhawks were the most important hawks until at least the 16th century.Falconry with peregrines became more important in the 15th –16th centuries, especially among the high nobility. This is at least clear for the Netherlands. Historical records make it clear that many of these peregrines, but also goshawks, were imported from Norway. Bones demonstrate that falconry with goshawks was practiced at the 15th –16th century castle of Sint Maartensdijk on the island of Tholen (the Netherlands). Historical records state that the owner of the castle, Frank II van Borselen, imported falcons (peregrines?) and goshawks from Norway in the second half of the 15th century. A worked reindeer antler and bones of fish species only living in northern waters confirm the connection of the castle with Norway.The peregrines found at the 15th –17th century falcon house of the Counts of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland, and later of the stadtholders (Dutch: stadhouders) of Holland and other Dutch provinces in The Hague (the Netherlands), were most probably also imported from Norway. 17th century Norwegian records state that falconers employed by the Princes of Orange, then the stadtholders, captured falcons in Norway and brought them to Holland.
Introduction Archaeological and archaeozoological data are important sources of information on the history of falconry (P rummel 1993, 132–134; 1997; Serjeantson 2009, 316–324; P rummel 2013). Textual (e.g. Brüll 1962; Lindner 1973; Van den Abeele 1990; in this book [Medieval Treatises] and [Old French Literature]; Giese in this book) and iconographic (Ławrynowicz/Nowakowski 2009; Oehrl 2013; Almond, Henkelmann and Oehrl in this book) sources on falconry hardly ever directly state that falconry was practiced at a particular site. Most written texts on falconry describe contemporaneous falconry practices, often with a stress on the medical care of the trained bird of prey (also called a hawk) (Prummel 1993, 132–134; Van den A beele in this book [Medieval Treatises]), 467
and sometimes in idealised or allegoric terms (e.g. Carstens and Van den A beele in this book [Dunghill]). A tapestry, painting or other object with a falconry scene in a particular building is no proof that falconry was practiced there, since falconry was often a popular theme (Ławrynowicz/Nowakowski 2009; Henkelmann in this book). How often falconry was practiced cannot be deduced from written or iconographic sources. It is not even always clear from these sources which species were used, since the birds of prey described or depicted are often not detailed enough at the species level (Prummel 1993, 133). Archaeological and archaeozoological finds, such as falconry devices and the bones of birds of prey and their possible quarry animals, are a better source of information that falconry was practiced at a given site. The object of this paper is to demonstrate this thesis and to illustrate it with a number of examples.
Archaeo-/archaeozoological evidence for falconry Four types of archaeo-/archaeozoological finds are strong evidence that falconry was practiced at a settlement or by a buried person before her or his death: 1) falconry devices, 2) bones of birds of prey commonly used as hawks, 3) a preponderance of female goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) and sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) and 4) the bones of the quarry of trained birds of prey. Type 1: Falconry devices Falconers use special utensils in the training and handling of birds of prey. These are leather objects such as falconry bags, strips, jesses, gloves and metal objects: bells and swivels. The leather objects are rarely preserved but the metal objects may survive, especially the bells (Prummel 2013; R ichter and Zinoviev in this book). However, metal bells were also used to decorate clothing and horse harnesses (Stylegar 2007; Vavra 2010). A bronze bell with a diameter of 2.2 cm from the Slavonic stronghold of Starigard/Oldenburg in Ostholstein (Germany) dating to AD 750–1100 (Figs. 1–2) (Prummel 2013; cf. Teegen in this book), another from the 16th century Bajcsa Castle (Hungary) (Gál 2012), bells from Tver (Russia) and other Russian medieval towns (Zinoviev in this book) and a bronze bell with a diameter of 2.4 cm from the 15th–17th century falcon house (Valkhuis, Dutch for falcon house) of the Counts and stadtholders1 of Holland in The Hague (the Netherlands) (Pavlović/Nieweg 2007) (Fig. 3) were certainly falconry bells. A swivel was found at the last site as well (Fig. 4). Leather jesses were found on goshawk tarsometatarsi in Tver (Zinoviev in this book). Type 2: Bones of birds of prey commonly used as hawks Bones of birds of prey that were commonly used in falconry (Brüll 1962; Lindner 1973; Prummel 2013, 359), i.e. goshawks, sparrowhawks, peregrines (Falco peregrinus), gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus), merlins (Falco columbarius) and kestrels (Falco tinnunculus), in a grave or in the remains of a settlement are quite good evidence for falconry. A high proportion of the remains of these species in the garbage of a settlement may be considered as evidence that birds of prey were trained for and used in falconry at that site. The argument supporting the idea that the bones of birds of prey in graves or in settlement waste are of trained birds of prey/hawks is the following: 1) The chance that a bird of prey died in a newly
1 The main function of the stadhouder (Engl.: stadtholder) was Commander in Chief of the army of the Dutch Republic.
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Tver
NORTH SEA
BALTI C SEA
Starigard/Oldenburg Groß Strömkendorf The Hague Oostvoorne St. Maartensdijk Hulst Brussels
Zevenaar Helmond Valkenburg Stavelot Wellin
Nordheim
Strasbourg
Bajcsa Castle
N Base map: Gfk GeoMarketing 2008
500 km
Fig. 1. Map of Europe with the places and areas mentioned in the text (map J. Schüller, ZBSA).
Fig. 2. Bronze bell from the Slavonic stronghold Starigard/Oldenburg, 8 th – 12th century, diameter of the globe: 2.2 cm, weight: 16.5 g. Scale 1:1 (drawing M. A. Los-Weijns).
dug grave is extremely small. Wild birds of prey do not live in settlements and will therefore hardly ever die there. 2 This means that bird of prey bones, found in graves or settlements, must come from animals that were brought there by man. 2) These birds of prey were not brought to a settlement as food for mankind, nor as food for the deceased after her or his death. Birds of prey are not normal food for people, as was and still is the case with many other bird species of which bones are found in settlement remains, such as ducks, geese, gallinaceous birds and waders (Mannermaa in this book).
2 Kestrels live in the towers of towns and castles nowadays. This is probably a quite recent development (Mulkeen/ O’Connor 1997).
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0
1 cm
Fig. 3. Fragment of a bronze bell from the 15th –17th century falcon house in The Hague, diameter of the globe: 2.4 cm (printed with permission by The Hague, Department of Archaeology).
0
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Fig. 4. Bronze swivel from the 15th –17th century falcon house in The Hague, length: 2.6 cm (printed with permission by The Hague, Department of Archaeology).
A sensible reason to bring a bird of prey to a settlement was to train her or him to become a hawk and to use it in falconry. The bird of prey learned during the training how to capture birds and, in the case of the goshawk, also mammals. When the trained bird died in the settlement, it was just treated as waste that was thrown away together with rubbish from the household or the stables. The bird ended up on the dunghill or the garbage dump. Bones of birds of prey with a healed fracture or a pathologic thickening possibly due to the carrying of a ring (Vretemark in this book) are very strong evidence that the birds of prey were living in a settlement as hawks. A bird of prey with a fractured bone would not survive in the wild. Latin and French 13th and 14th century texts compare the value of a dead hawk with that of a slaughtered chicken. The first, so valuable for the falconer during life, has no value as a dead body and is disposed at the dunghill. The chicken, not as highly esteemed as the hawk when alive, is served on the table after being slaughtered (Van den Abeele in this book [Dunghill]). However, the bones of the chicken ended up on the same dunghill as those of the hawk. Dogs were an aid to falconers, especially in the high flight. However, dog finds in a settlement are no proof of falconry, since they were guard dogs, shepherd dogs and companions as well (also Schmölcke 2013; Vretemark in this book). Some birds of prey were captured and taken to the settlement for the use of their feathers in arrows. This was especially the case with white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), a species too large to be used as a hawk (R eichstein/Pieper 1986; Serjeantson 2009, 201–202). Type 3: A preponderance of female goshawks and sparrowhawks Female birds in most bird of prey species are on average larger and heavier than their male congeners. However, for instance in falcons (Falco sp.), the two sexes and their bones overlap in size, or the size difference is very small. Female goshawks and female sparrowhawks are larger than their male congeners without any overlap. The same holds for the bones of both sexes of these species. This makes it possible to determine from an individual goshawk or sparrowhawk bone the sex to which the bird belonged (Fig. 5). The female goshawks and sparrowhawks may take larger quarry than their male congeners. Larger quarry was more profitable for the table of the falconer or his master.
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Fig. 5. Humeri of female (left) and male (right) goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) from the Slavonic stronghold Starigard/Oldenburg, 8th –12th century. Only ⅔ of the humerus of the female goshawk is preserved, whereas the total length of that of the male goshawk is present (photo E. Tams, ALM Schleswig).
0
1 cm
A strong preponderance of female goshawk and female sparrowhawk bones was encountered at the stronghold of Starigard/Oldenburg in Ostholstein (Teegen in this book). That falconry was done here is shown by the 15 % of all bird bones that belong to goshawk and sparrowhawk. Female goshawk bones (23) are almost twice as numerous as those of male goshawks (12) and female sparrowhawk bones (13) three times as numerous as those of male sparrowhawks (4) (Prummel 1993, 100; 2013, tab. 1). Female goshawks and sparrowhawks were used in falconry in Starigard/Oldenburg rather than male birds, presumably because of their ability to capture large quarry. However, male goshawks and male sparrowhawks may be more active and aggressive hunters than females. Some falconers preferred to hunt with – or also hunted with – male goshawks and sparrow- hawks, for greater fun, although with smaller profit. Sexes of both species, with a preponderance of females, were used at several sites apart from Starigard/Oldenburg, whereas at other places female and male goshawks and sparrowhawks were used in equal numbers and at still other sites more male goshawks and/or male sparrowhawks were used than females (Prummel 2013, 362–363 and cat.). Type 4: The quarry of the birds of prey Bones of the animals that were hunted with the trained birds of prey, found in settlement remains, are evidence that falconry was practiced at a site. The falconer teaches his bird of prey to capture only quarry that is attractive for the falconer to eat, or that gives an interesting display. The last aspect is more important with falcons than with goshawks and sparrowhawks. The quarry of the wild goshawk is quite diverse. It may capture 139 different species of animals. Medium-sized birds, such as pigeons (Columba sp.), larks (Alauda sp.), sparrows (Passer sp.) and starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), are the main prey animals (Brüll 1977, tab. 30; Prummel 2013, fig. 1). Apart from the pigeons, these are not attractive food for humans. The wild sparrowhawk mainly hunts for medium-sized and small birds, such as pigeons, larks, thrushes, sparrows and starlings, altogether 95 species (Brüll 1977, tab. 32; Prummel 2013, fig. 3). Avian and mammalian food for the table was the main object of falconry with goshawks and sparrowhawks. Falconry with these species is called “low-flight” and was mainly carried out in forested or half-open terrain. A small portion of the quarry was given to the hawk, as a reward. 471
Goshawks are often trained to take hares (Lepus europaeus), rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), partridges (Perdix perdix) and pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) and – in a watery environment – ducks (Anatinae). Corvine birds (Corvidae) and sometimes large birds, such as herons (Ardeidae) and cranes (Grus grus), may be captured as well. Small birds are only rarely caught with the trained goshawk (P rummel 2013, fig. 2). The trained sparrowhawk mainly catches thrushes (Turdidae), but may even take partridges and pheasants (ibid. fig. 4). The wild peregrine hunts for 102 species of medium-sized and small birds (Brüll 1977, tab. 31). Peregrines were mainly trained to perform a nice display for the falconer in pursuing large animals, such as cranes and herons, but also owls (Strigidae), kites (Milvus sp.) and the common buzzard (Buteo buteo), in the open field (Zeiler 2010). This is called “high flight”, which was mostly carried out on horseback. Falconry with gyrfalcons, merlins and kestrels is also associated with high-flight. The quarry of the high-flight was often released after a successful flight; so the captured animals were not always taken to the settlement. High proportions of bones of species that are popular quarry of trained birds of prey in settlement remains are an argument that falconry was practiced at that site. Nevertheless, the wild birds and mammals that were often captured with trained birds of prey could also be captured with other methods, such as snares, nets, bow and arrow and guns (see also M akowiecki et al. 2014). The combination with other types of evidence (falconry devices, bones of suitable birds of prey and a preponderance of female goshawks and sparrowhawks) strengthens the argument that falconry was practiced at a site.
Evidence of falconry in archaeological contexts Evidence of falconry in graves In human graves, the bones of birds of prey that are commonly used in falconry (Brüll 1962; Lindner 1973; Prummel 2013, 359) are fairly conclusive evidence that falconry was carried out by the deceased, or by the group to which he or she belonged. Hawks were buried in human graves in some areas in Central and Northern Europe in the second half of the 1st millennium AD (Dobiat 2013; Vretemark 2013; in this book; Schmölcke in this book). The typical quarry animals were sometimes buried in the grave as well, for instance in the 7th century Rickeby grave in mid-eastern Sweden (Vretemark 2013; in this book). Falconry devices might have been buried with the hawk in falconers’ graves as well; so far they have not been found there. A reference collection of modern bird skeletons is necessary for any identification of bird remains found in a grave as coming from a hawk. The same holds for settlement remains. 19 th century ‘identifications’ of bird bones in graves as belonging to hawks should be considered with caution, because reference collections of bird skeletons were quite rare at that time, especially those with disjointed skeletons, which are a condition for archaeozoological identifications (Prummel 1993, 134; Schmölcke in this book). Goshawks, sparrowhawks and peregrines were the main hawks given as grave gifts to deceased persons. Since birds of prey were never found in late 1st millennium AD graves in Western Europe, including Denmark and the south-eastern part of England (Prummel 2013; Gotfredsen, Schmölcke and Poole in this book), it may be concluded that this burial custom did not exist in these areas. Evidence of falconry in settlements The first archaeological evidence in European settlements of birds of prey that were probable hawks dates to the 7th–8th centuries AD. The earliest sites are a 7th century settlement near a Merovingian
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palace in France (Nordheim, Alsace, Bas-Rhin3) (Putelat 2011), the 8th–9th century Slavonic trading port of Groß Strömkendorf (Germany4) (Schmölcke 2004; Prummel 2013, cat.; Grimm in this book) and the 8th century site of Wellin (province of Luxemburg, Belgium5), an aristocratic settlement belonging to the Abbey of Stavelot (Van den Abeele in this book [Dunghill]). The first written sources on falconry for Central Europe are from the 5th century AD (Dusil, Giese and Hurka in this book), so slightly earlier. There is no evidence so far that falconry was practiced in the Netherlands before the 11th century AD. This is remarkable since falconry was practiced in Anglo-Saxon England (AD 550–1066) (Prummel 1993, 134; 2013, 366–367), a region with which the northern part of the Netherlands was in close contact (Heidinga 1997; Nicolay 2014). Some other examples are given here in chronological order. Example 1: Starigard/Oldenburg (8th–12th centuries) At the 8th–12th century Slavonic stronghold of Starigard/Oldenburg (northern Germany), falconry with goshawks and sparrowhawks is quite certain from the earliest phase of the stronghold. The quarry of goshawks were large birds (among others blue herons [Ardea cinerea], geese [Anserini] and cranes), ducks, partridges, wood pigeons, corvine birds, several medium-sized birds, hares and squirrels. Thrushes, corvine birds, partridge, corncrake (Crex crex), sparrows, starlings and other small-sized birds were the quarry of sparrowhawks. The large birds might have been hunted with peregrines as well. However, no peregrine bones were found. Merlins were perhaps used as well, to catch medium-sized and small birds (Prummel 1993, 103–106, 136–141; 1997, figs. 4–5; 2013, fig. 7, tab. 1; Teegen in this book). Example 2: Valkenburg (11th–12th centuries) The 11th –12th century castle of Valkenburg in the south of the Netherlands was the seat of high nobility. Two sparrowhawks were identified, of which one was male; the sex of the other is unknown. Partridge, woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) and corvine birds may have been captured with sparrowhawks. Hares, ducks and blue herons suggest that goshawks and perhaps peregrines were used at the Valkenburg castle as well (Zeiler 1995; Lauwerier /Zeiler 2001). Example 3: Helmond (12th–13th centuries) A bone of a male sparrowhawk was found together with bones of blue herons, mallards (Anas platyrhynchus), woodcocks, water rails (Rallus aquaticus), curlews (Numenius arquata), carrion crows (Corvus corone) and hares in the 12th–13th century wooden stronghold d’Oude Huys (the old house) in Helmond (the Netherlands). The bone of a sparrowhawk and those of the quarry indicate that falconry was practiced at this castle (De Jong 1992). Example 4: Sint Maartensdijk (15th–16th centuries) A bone of a female goshawk was found in the 1400–1600 AD layers of the castle of Sint Maartensdijk on the island of Tholen (Zeeland, the Netherlands) (La Fèber 2007; 2010, 91–93). The castle belonged to the Counts of Voorne. That they practiced falconry is clear from historical records. They had falcon houses at most of their castles and other possessions. The actual falconry will mainly have been carried out in the dune area of the island of Voorne (south-west of Rotterdam), where they had their main castle, Oostvoorne.
3 Falconry with sparrowhawk. 4 Falconry with goshawks, sparrowhawks, merlins, peregrines and perhaps kestrels. 5 Falconry with goshawks, sparrowhawks, peregrines and kestrels.
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The most important Count of Voorne was Frank II van Borselen (also written as Van Borssele), c. 1400–1470. He married Jacoba van Beieren, Countess of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland (1401–1436) in 1433. They belonged to the high nobility. Frank II van Borselen was a falconer, and the castle of Sint Maartensdijk had a falcon house during his reign (Arkenbout 1994, 127–130). The records of the Counts of Voorne mention numerous gifts of falcons, goshawks and sparrowhawks to Frank II van Borselen. Donors were the bishop of Cologne and Dutch noblemen and tradesmen. Frank II van Borselen bought, sometimes together with other noblemen, hawks from Norway. A falconer of the Duke of Burgundy (Philip the Good) informed him on 18 November 1456 that the falcons (peregrines? gyrfalcons?) from Norway, which he had ordered together with the Duke of Burgundy, the Lord of Charloys (Charlois, now part of Rotterdam) and his relative Adriaan van Borselen, had arrived. A group of falcons, ordered together with the Lord of Charolais (France), Adriaan van Borselen and the Lord of Anoy (?), arrived from “Oestland” (the south-eastern part of Norway) in December 1456. The master-falconer of Frank II then travelled with two other falconers to Brussels to inspect the falcons. In 1464, Frank II purchased three goshawks from a man who brought them from Norway, and five goshawks and two sparrowhawks from a “havicker” (a man who sells goshawks). In 1466, falconer Jan van Hulst (probably from the town of Hulst in Zeeland) sold Frank II a gyrfalcon and a peregrine that he brought from Norway. The writer of the account says: “ende hij mijnen heer gebracht hadde uut Noorwegen” (which he brought to my lord from Norway) (Arkenbout 1994, 129). Jan van Hulst perhaps took the falcons himself from nests in Norway. It is also possible that he travelled to Norway to buy falcons that had been captured by local people, and transported them to the Netherlands and Belgium. The documents of the Counts of Voorne thus testify to the import of falcons and goshawks from Norway to the south-western part of the Netherlands and to Belgium (Brussels) in the years 1456 (twice), 1464 and 1466. Historical records make it clear that falcons and goshawks were traded from Norway (and Iceland) to European kings, and even to the Sultan of Tunis, between 1024 and 1337 (Hofmann 1957, 139–142). The Norwegian records do not mention the capture and export of any falcon between 1380 and 1500. They state that, among others, Dutch falcon catchers were active in Norway between 1500 and 1780 (Orten Lie in this book). The records of the Counts of Voorne make it clear that falcons and goshawks were exported from Norway to the Low Countries also in the second half of the 15th century. The bones of mallards, greylag geese (Anser anser), coots (Fulica atra), hares and rabbits in the layers of Sint Maartensdijk castle would have belonged to the quarry of goshawks. Crane hunting was done as well. This was possible with goshawks, but could have been done with peregrines too. However, as in Starigard/Oldenburg and Valkenburg, no peregrine bones were found. In contrast, many bones of young blue herons were discovered in the archaeozoological remains. A heron colony existed in the trees around the castle at least in the 16th century, but perhaps in the 15th century as well (Zuurdeeg 2005, 21–22; La Fèber 2007, 24, tab. 2; 2010, 90–91). Did the hawks take the young blue herons from the nests? Among the animal remains from the castle are bones from tusk (Brosme brosme), a fish species that does not occur along the Dutch coast, but lives in the northern North Sea and along the coasts of Scandinavia and Spitsbergen. Ling or blue ling (Molva molva/dypterygia) and Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) are also represented by bones in the layers of the castle. They are very rare fish species in the Dutch North Sea waters, but are rather common in northern waters. These bones are most probably remains of fishes that were imported from Northern Europe (Norway?), most probably as stockfish (La Fèber 2007, 28–29; 2010, 95–97). Another find in the material of the castle that refers to Scandinavia is a fragment of a reindeer antler (Rangifer tarandus) with saw marks. It comes from a feature dated AD 1350–1550 and is a 474
unique find for Dutch medieval sites. This also would have been imported from Norway (La Fèber 2007, 18–19; 2010, 86). The animal remains from the castle and the historical records about Frank II van Borselen demonstrate that the south-western part of the Netherlands (and Belgium) had trade contacts with Norway at the end of the Late Middle Ages. Example 5: Zevenaar (15th–17th centuries) The bones of a female goshawk and a female sparrowhawk and of their possible quarry from the 15th–17th century Burcht (castle) Sevenaer in Zevenaar (the Netherlands), suggest that falconry was practiced at this site. Ducks, partridges, pheasants, corvine birds, night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) and white storks (Ciconia ciconia) comprised the quarry. Peregrines were perhaps used to capture the night herons and the white storks, but again no such bones were found (Spitzers/Zeiler 2014). Example 6: The Hague (15th–17th centuries) Peregrines were certainly kept and used at the 15th–17th century Valkhuis (falcon house) of the Counts and the stadtholders of Holland and Zeeland at the Buitenhof in the centre of The Hague (the Netherlands). A falconry bell and swivel were found here (Figs. 3–4). Twenty bones of at least seven peregrines and 47 bones of at least ten kestrels were salvaged too. This site is an example of the use of the kestrel in falconry, perhaps by young falconers to learn the skill. The Counts of Holland possessed a falcon house in The Hague already in AD 1316 (Pavlović/Nieweg 2007). The peregrines found in the Hague falcon house were most probably imported from Norway. Historical records on falcon catchers in Norway between AD 1610 and 1677 mention several Dutch falcon catchers who were employees of the princes of Orange (Orten Lie in this book). The most important among them were members of the Verbruggen family (sometimes written as Van Brøge). They had the permission of the Danish king to take falcons from Norway to Holland. The Princes of Orange were the stadtholders of Holland and Zeeland in the 16th–18th centuries, apart from two long periods without a stadtholder. The Verbruggen family lived at the falcon house. Willem Jansz Verbruggen, c. 1620–1678, is most probably depicted on a painting by Johan le Ducq 1650–1660, sitting in front of the country estate, Valkenbosch in The Hague, which was in the possession of the Princes of Orange and was demolished in 1857. He is accompanied by a hooded falcon, three hunting dogs, a shotgun, a jumping pole (the western part of the Netherlands is rich in water), two game bags, a rabbit and a grey heron (Fig. 6). His first marriage, in 1625, was to Elisabeth van Luden (Loude), whose father, a wealthy shopkeeper in Amsterdam, was born in Bergen (Norway). This is another connection with Norway. Among the possible quarry of the peregrines of the Hague falcon house are many species that are characteristic of falconry quarry: blue herons (see also Fig. 6), white storks, night herons and bean geese (Anser fabalis). These birds were definitely the quarry of peregrines. Ducks, corvine birds, woodcocks and other waders may have been hunted with peregrines as well as with goshawks. The bones of a black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) and of an arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), also possible falconry quarry, betray the proximity of the sea.6
6 Other sites with possible evidence for hawking in the form of bones of hawks and their quarry are presented by Gotfredsen (in this book) for Denmark (7th–17th c.), Vretemark (in this book) for Sweden (mainly post 1000 settlements), M akowiecki et al. (2014) for Poland (10 th–13th c.), Bochenski et al. (in this book) for Polish sites, such as royal seats around AD 1000, Gál (2012) for the 16th c. castle Bajcsa in southwest-Hungary, Zinoviev (in this book) for Novgorod and Russian towns after AD 1000, Van den A beele (in this book [“Dunghill”]) for the 14th c. royal castle “Grand Louvre”, Paris, and Teegen (in this book) about Starigard/Oldenburg.
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Fig. 6. Painting by Johan le Ducq, 1650 –1660, with the portrait of, presumably, Willem Jansz Verbruggen (c. 1620–1678), falconer of the princes of Orange, in front of the country estate of Valkenbosch in The Hague (the Netherlands). Verbruggen is depicted with, amongst others, a hooded falcon, three dogs and the falconry quarry (a rabbit and a grey heron) (printed with permission by Museum Rotterdam).
The bones of birds of prey and their connection to high status settlements Most of the settlements presented here as possible or presumable sites where falconry was practiced are high status sites, such as strongholds, castles and palaces. Other sites with evidence of falconry are located within towns and trading ports, where one may expect people of some or considerable wealth (Prummel 2013, cat.; Gál 2012; Makowiecki et al. 2014; Gotfredsen and others in this book). So far, no indications for falconry were found at rural sites. It was obviously an activity of people who had the spare time and money to train birds of prey and to go hunting with them. The argument by Bartosiewicz (2012), based on the Book of St. Albans (AD 1486), that a strict relationship existed between the status of the falconer and the hawk species used by the falconer7, is not confirmed by the continental European sites dating to the 7th–14th century, presented in Prummel (2013, cat.), neither in the partly later sites discussed in this paper and in those presented by Gotfredsen (in this book), Gál (2012) and M akowiecki et al. (2014) (see also A lmond and Horobin in this book). The archaeozoological evidence suggests that goshawks and sparrowhawks were the most important hawks in the whole 6th–17th century period, at high status sites, such as castles and strongholds, but also in towns and trading ports. It would seem that peregrines and merlins were less often used in this period8, unless their bones got lost more often than those of goshawks and sparrowhawks. There is no reason to suppose that peregrine and merlin bones have less chance of survival in the soil than those of goshawks and sparrowhawks. The correlation between the status of the falconer and the hawk possibly arose in the 15th century, existed only in England or was mainly a concept. This opinion was also adopted by Makowiecki et al. (2014, 362). Nevertheless, the two certain indications for the use of peregrines in falconry in the Netherlands (Sint Maartensdijk, 15th–16th centuries (historical records), and the falcon house in The Hague, 15th–17th centuries (archaeological finds and historical records) both refer to sites of the highest nobility. The peregrines were imported to these sites from Norway. 7 Also in Serjeantson (2009, tab. 13.1). 8 P rummel 2013, cat., and the Sint Maartensdijk and Sevenaer sites above: goshawk in 19, sparrowhawk in 18, peregrine in 7 (+1?), merlin in 1 (+1?) and kestrel in 2 (+1) out of 27 sites with hawks’ bones. See also P rummel 1993, 141.
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Conclusion That falconry was practiced at an archaeological settlement or by a dead person before his or her death may be demonstrated by the presence of: 1) falconry utensils, mainly metal bells and swivels, 2) bones of birds of prey, 3) a preponderance of female goshawk and sparrowhawk bones and 4) the bones of falconry quarry. The earliest archaeological evidence of falconry in settlements in Central and Western Europe dates to the 7th century AD. Falconry was mainly carried out by high status people, like the lay or church aristocracy, and by rich towns’ people. Goshawks and sparrowhawks were the most important hawks in the period from the 6th–17th centuries. Peregrines became more important in Western Europe with the highest nobility in the 15th century. Most of them were imports from Norway.
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Dr. Wietske Prummel Groningen Institute of Archaeology of the University of Groningen Poststraat 6, 9712 ER Groningen The Netherlands
[email protected]
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