The exploitation of birds in Roman times in the Iberian peninsula

The scarce published studies on bird bones in the Iberian Peninsula have led to the identification of less than nine hundred remains from 38 roman sites. They correspond to an important number of species, even if most of them are only represented by 1 to 5 specimens. The comparison with the birds mentioned in written sources reveals the absence of Porphyrio porphyrio, Francolinus francolinus and Fulica atra, among others. The predominant species with 77 % of the remains is domestic fowl (Gallus gallus), followed by the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rzfa), the grey partridge (Perdix perdix), the greylag goose (Anser anser) and the rock dove (Columba livia). Some finds may indicate the consumption of large species like Otis tarda or Grus gnus.