麻豆淫院

The Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (UIB-CSIC) reports that thrush bones discarded in a Roman cesspit at Pollentia reveal the songbirds were routine street food rather than an elite rarity.

Roman authors recorded high praise for thrushes as banquet delicacies for the wealthy, making reference to specialized farms, fattening techniques, and high market prices. Written evidence left uncertainty about whether ordinary townspeople also dined upon the birds.

In the study, "Urban Consumption of Thrushes in the Early Roman City of Pollentia, Mallorca (Spain)," in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, UIB-CSIC researcher Alejandro Valenzuela analyzed a cesspit assemblage to reconstruct thrushes' place in everyday Roman food markets. In cesspit E-107 he found the answer.

Roman cesspits were a sort of sewer-based dumpster that either flushed out into the sewer or served as stand-alone trash receptacles. E-107 is 3.9 m deep, linked by a drain to a food shop (taberna Z) beside Pollentia's forum, and filled rapidly between 10 BC and AD 30. Among the 3,963 mostly pig and rabbit animal remains, 165 belonged to thrushes, making them the most abundant bird taxon in the deposit.

From the large assemblage of bone fragments, a combined morphological and biometrical approach was employed for the identification of bird species. The greatest lengths of carpometacarpus, ulna, and proximal tarsometatarsus were compared with modern reference collections.

Biometric overlap showed no significant difference between the archaeological sample and modern song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in all tested elements. Cranial pieces, distal wing, and lower-leg bones dominated, while meat-rich humeri, femora, and coracoids were scarce. Sterna appeared only as keel fragments, indicating removal during butchery.

No carnivore gnawing or burning was recorded. Element patterning, together with the shop's embedded amphora counter, implies on-site flattening and quick frying of thrushes for sale to walk-up customers.

Valenzuela concludes that street-food economies offered seasonal variety where winter-migrating thrushes were trapped in bulk, cooked in the taberna, and served to a broad clientele, challenging literary-based portraits of thrushes as foods reserved for the Roman elite.

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