Flying through history: human-raptor relationships in Britain

猛禽是英国风景的象征。几千年来，它们与人类的关系多种多样；从猎鹰中被囚禁的同伴，作为地位和权力的象征，到垃圾和被清除的身体的拾荒者。然而，尽管猛禽具有文化象征意义和环境重要性，但从生物考古学的角度来看，将猛禽作为一个集体来研究显然缺乏全面的学术研究。因为宠物和害虫的猛禽都提供了一个极好的机会来探索人与鸟的关系是如何受到生物和文化因素的影响的。这项研究将对英国从新石器时代到现在的猛禽进行系统的研究，特别关注很少被调查的物种和边缘时期，以建立一个广泛的年代学基线。这一结果不仅将对理解过去人类对自然界的态度产生影响，还将对现代保护工作产生背景影响。与动物考古学和人与动物关系领域的主要研究人员一起工作，并在他们的监督下工作，这个项目的目的是：-调查人与猛禽关系是如何从史前时期演变到早期现代时期的？-探索骨学遗骸、猎鹰设备和图像表示的空间分布，以阐明人与猛禽关系的丰富性和范围。-讨论目前的猛禽管理以及了解猛禽生活史的重要性，以了解重新野生动物的辩论、减轻灭绝战略和圈养繁殖立法。为了实现这些目标，将在三年内使用四种互补的方法进行原始研究：1.动物考古学：本论文将首次全面记录猛禽骨骼遗骸，作为研究不断变化的猛禽与人类关系的主要证据。将为所有可用的猛禽遗骸记录传统的动物考古分析，包括记录指标、病理和创伤，并从已出版的和灰色文献中的先前存在的数据集进行整理。还将考虑包括几何形态计量学(GMM)和稳定同位素分析在内的专业技术。2.空间分析：将制作骨骼遗骸的分布图，以分析猛禽物种随时间和聚落类型的分布，并将其与生态模型和地名研究进行比较。同时将分析图像描述和物质文化，以检查猎鹰用具(特别是叫卖环和横幅)的分布，当结合历史、语言和动物群数据进行分析时，将创建英国猛禽和猎鹰的综合空间时间线。3.历史分析：动物考古学、生物分子和图像数据将与猛禽的历史学术相结合，借鉴狩猎条约等关键来源，以提供对不断变化的人与猛禽关系的更微妙的理解。特别是考察记录在案的猫眼的位置、维多利亚早期圈养繁殖制度的企图和国际猛禽贸易。目前的管理和生物多样性：将审查和汇编当前和历史上的猛禽立法，并结合考古数据对英国境内猛禽的现状与过去进行评论。此外，这些深入的时间数据将被用来检查和解决当前的重新野生战略。最后，这项研究将探索当前流行的猎鹰和观鸟文化，并将讨论将猎鹰列为英国境内的活人类遗产。

Raptors are icons of the British landscape. For millennia they have held a variety of relationships with humans; from captive companions used in falconry, as symbols of status and power, to scavengers of waste and excarnated bodies. Yet despite their cultural symbolic and environmental importance, there is a distinct lack of comprehensive scholarship examining raptors as a collective, particularly from a bioarchaeological perspective. As both pets and pests' raptors present a fantastic opportunity to explore how human-bird relationships are influenced by both biological and cultural factors. This research will provide a systematic study of birds of prey in Britain from the Neolithic to present with particular focus on little investigated species and marginal periods to establish a broad chronological baseline. The results will have implications not only for understanding past human attitudes to the natural world, but to contextualise modern conservation efforts. Working alongside and under the supervision of leading researchers in the field of zooarchaeology and human-animal relationships this project aims to:- Investigate how human-raptor relationships evolved from the prehistoric to Early Modern period? - Explore the spatial distribution of osteological remains, falconry equipment and iconographical representations to illuminate the abundance and scope of human-raptor relationships.- Discuss raptor management in the present and the importance of understanding the life-histories of raptors to inform on rewilding debates, mitigating strategies of extinction and captive breeding legislation. To contextualise these aims, original research will be conducted using four complementary methods over three years:1. Zooarchaeology:This dissertation will be the first to comprehensively record raptor osteological remains as the primary evidence for investigating changing raptor-human relationships. Traditional zooarchaeological analysis, including the recording of metrics, pathologies and traumas will be recorded for all available raptor remains, as well as collated from pre-existing datasets in both published and grey literature. Specialist techniques including geometric morphometrics (GMM) and stable isotopic analysis will also be considered. 2. Spatial Analysis:Distribution maps of osteological remains will be created to analyse raptor species distribution through time and settlement types and will be compared to ecological models and place name studies. While iconographic depictions and material culture will be analysed to examine the distribution of falconry paraphernalia (specifically hawking rings and vervels) which when analysed in conjunction with historical, linguistic and faunal data, will create a comprehensive spatial timeline of raptors and falconry in Britain. 3. Historical Analysis:Zooarchaeological, biomolecular and iconographical data will be integrated with historical scholarship on raptors, drawing upon key sources such as hunting treaties to provide a more nuanced understanding of changing human-raptor relationships. Particularly examining the location of recorded eyries, attempts at early Victorian captive breeding regimes and international raptor trade.4. Current Management and Biodiversity:Current and historical raptor legislation will be examined and compiled with archaeological data to comment on the current situation of raptors within Britain in relation to the past. Furthermore, this deep time data will be used to examine and address current re-wilding strategies. Finally, this research will explore the current popular culture of falconry and bird watching, and will discuss the designation of falconry as a living human heritage within Britain.