Venison, spectacles and furs: Remains of wild beasts from Viminacium (Upper Moesia, Serbia)

Faunal analyses from the Roman city and legionary fortress - Viminacium and its adjacent
areas revealed a small contribution of wild animals in comparison with that of domestic animals,
which is common for Roman settlements with testified improved husbandry practices
throughout the Empire. However, although they are smaller in number, the remains of wild
animals contribute greatly to the understanding of hunting strategies, the usage and significance
of caught animals and their products, different social aspects and phenomena in the
city, the understanding of landscape in the past, but also of phenomena that have ever since
attracted attention in Roman archaeology, such as animal fights in amphitheatres. Wild animal
assemblage from Viminacium consists mainly of autochthonous animals, such as red deer, roe
deer, wild boar, hare, wolf, fox, and in particular brown bears that significantly contribute to the
faunal assemblage from Viminacium amphitheatre. There is also a finding of an exotic beast
– a leopard’s front leg. This paper reviews the findings of wild mammals from Viminacium that
have mostly been discovered within the area of the amphitheatre and its surroundings, but also
within the settlements located outside the city itself. According to the archaeological context,
taphonomic features, such as bone fragmentation and butchery marks, and also traumas on
bones, biometric characteristics and age and sex data, the significance and usage of wild
beasts in the life and death of people who lived in and around Viminacium and at the Moesinan
frontier will be discussed. Finally, since some of the beasts have been discovered within the
amphitheatre, the questions of treatment of animal corpses after the fights in spectacles and of
the supply of wild beasts for provincial amphitheatres at the frontier will also be tackled.