Dominion: People, Animals and Environments in Medieval Europe

The Heritage of Serenissima: Ecological Perspectives

I am currently working with Krish Seetah (Department of Archaeology, Cambridge) on the recording and analysis of faunal assemblages from the site of Stari Bar, an abandoned city in Montenegro with multiple occupation phases (medieval Serbian/Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish), within the context of "The Heritage of Serenissima". This is a project run by Professor Sauro Gelichi and his team from the Insegnamento di Archeologia Medievale, Ca'Foscari, Venice, looking at the colonial impact of Venice on societies in the Adriatic. One of our objectives is to determine whether the changing exploitation of animals can be used to identify a 'biological signature' for Venetian colonialism.

Relevant publications

Montenegro

Pluskowski, A. G. and Seetah, K. (2006) ‘The animal bones from the 2004 excavations at Stari Bar, Montenegro’, in Gelichi, S. (ed.) The Archaeology of a Deserted Town, All’Insegna del Giglio, Florence, 97-111.

Seetah, K. and Pluskowski, A. G. (2008) 'The animal bones from UTS 8a', in Gelichi, S. (ed.) A Town Through the Ages. The 2006-2007 Archaeological Project in Stari Bar, All’Insegna del Giglio, Florence.

Italy

Pluskowski, A. G. and Seetah, K. (2007/8) 'The animal bones', in Gelichi, S. Piuzzi, F. and Cianciosi, A. (eds.) Sachuidic: presso forni superiore - ricerche archeologiche in un castello della carnia.

Pluskowski, A. G. and Seetah, K. (2007/8) 'The animal bones from the castle of St. Agata, Italy'.

Forthcoming publications

Pluskowski, A. G. and Seetah, K. (2007/8)
'The animal bones from the island of San Giacomo, Venice'.

Pluskowski, A. G. and Seetah, K. (2007/8)
'The animal bones from the castle of Formigine, Italy'.

Pluskowski, A. G. and Seetah, K. (2007/8)
'The animal bones from the monastery of Nonantola, Italy'.

Relevant presentations

21st November 2005. 'Exploiting animals at the medieval city of Stari Bar, Montenegro: Preliminary findings from Byzantine-Serbian, Venetian and Turkish occupation phases', Seminar with Krish Seetah, Cambridge Medieval Archaeology Group, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge.

5th September 2007. 'In the shadow of the winged lion: exploring the impact of Venetian expansion on the exploitation of animal resources in the medieval Mediterranean', part of a session on Medieval Zooarchaeology and Archaeozoology in Europe: The State of Research and Future Directions, organised with Giovanni de Venuto and Antonella Buglione for the 4th International Congress of Medieval and Modern Archaeology - Medieval Europe Paris 2007 (4e Congrès International d'Archéologie Médiévale et Moderne).

18th September, 2008. 'In the shadow of the winged lion: exploring the impact of Venetian expansion in the medieval Mediterranean', part of a session on Island Archaeology, organised by H. Dawson, A. G. Pluskowski and K. Seetah, at the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) 14th Annual Meeting in Valletta, Malta.

Forthcoming presentations

Coming soon!