ABSTRACT
In Spain, the development of a system of ‘policultivo ganadero’ – selective use of animals in different locations as part of a broader economic system – has been suggested from the Bronze Age (Harrison, 1985). Prior to this time, environmental constraints seem to have been the most important factor in determining the composition of the diet and secondary uses of animals. Horses seem to have been used for draught and/or transport. While some sites show meat production or draught/transport to be the principal mode of production, there is some evidence from La Mancha that dairy herds were kept. The cattle population at Moncín in northern Spain also suggests milking (Legge, 1994), so that the use of milk herds seems to have been more common in Bronze Age than in recent historical Spain. The age structure of goats suggests an important use for the production of milk, while sheep were principally used for meat or wool – although manure is also likely to have been a further important secondary product, used to maintain the fertility of the fields. Pigs were less frequently used in the Bronze Age, and seem to have served mainly as a meat supply.
