OSTEOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF A GALLO-R OMAN OFFERING PIT IN RODEZ (AVEYRON, FRANCE)

An offering pit dated from the Ist-IInd centuries A.D. has been discov ered in Rodez (Aveyron, France). It is situated not far from the necro polis and its content is usual for Gallo-Roman cultual pits : ceramics , glass and animal remains (Number of Rests = 495). The osteoarchaeolo gical analysis allowed the determination of 414 fragments weighing 17 088 grams. Cattle represent 67.9 % of N.R., sheep and goat 16.9 %, pig 13.5 %, dog 1.4 %, chicken 0.2 %. Weight distribution is respectively : 73.4 %, 19 %, 7.1 %, 0.5 % et 0.02 %. It is supposed that these dis tributions, which are similar to those in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (Haute-Garonne, France), are representative of the organization of the meat market in Segodunum under the Roman rule. The variations with ot her sites with offering pits, the utilizations of animals (sheep vs pi g), and the (votive ?) presence of a single head of a dog are discusse d. The approximative height at withers of sheep was 67.6 cm, and of pi g 73 cm.