The early history of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in the Czech Republic

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985912%3A_____%2F19%3A00507519" target="_blank" >RIV/67985912:_____/19:00507519 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/67985955:_____/19:00507519

Result on the web

<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12520-019-00891-8" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12520-019-00891-8</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00891-8" target="_blank" >10.1007/s12520-019-00891-8</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The early history of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in the Czech Republic

Original language description

The article evaluates all early archaeological osteological finds of turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) dated to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries AD in what is today the Czech Republic and offers an analysis and discussion of written historical sources. Altogether, 45 bones of turkey (Meleagris) from ten archaeological sites and a further six bones probably also of turkey (cf. Meleagris) are known from both sub-regions of the Czech Republic, that is, Bohemia and Moravia, and from a variety of contexts. Many of the bones originate from contexts of high social status (especially those from Prague Castle), interestingly, four of the ten contexts represent a clerical or monastic setting. The extensive sample from a range of geographical and sociocultural contexts enables various analyses. Osteometrically, the early Czech turkeys, which probably weighed between 3 and 9 kg, resemble their wild ancestor. The management of breeding and slaughtering is reflected in the variety of ages and sexes. Cut marks undoubtedly suggest butchering and subsequent eating. The written sources from the end of the sixteenth and in the seventeenth century prove that turkey was on the menu of those of high social class, which we see from the earliest reliable written Czech record from 1578, which describes a festal menu for the wedding of Vilém of Rožmberk (Rosenberg), one of the most powerful men in Bohemia. Different sources suggest that either 450 or 600 turkeys were served at the feast. From as early as 1583, we have a written record, although an isolated one, which suggests the early spread of the turkey into the rural environment and among the lower nobility. Considering archaeological dating, historical records from 1578, and their absence from earlier records, the domestic turkey was probably introduced to and spread across the Czech lands as late as between the 50s and 80s of the sixteenth century. The history of the peacock - although later it would be replaced on the dining table by turkey - is longer, the first written record of its being bred in Bohemia dates from around 1125-1140. According to other records, the pheasant, another imported Galliform bird, was known in Bohemia in 1330. The keeping of the wild form of turkey is documented much later, certainly in 1801, but very probably already in 1781.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60102 - Archaeology

Project

<a href="/en/project/EF16_018%2F0002686" target="_blank" >EF16_018/0002686: Doctoral School of Archaeology: New Methods, Technologies and Historical Heritage Research</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

ISSN

1866-9557

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

11

Issue of the periodical within the volume

12

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

19

Pages from-to

6431-6449

UT code for WoS article

000511136600010

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85069218587