An Ichnoarchaeological Perspective: Animal Footprints on Roman Tiles Found in Andriake

Abstract

Archeology is a science that tries to interpret the thoughts and behaviours of the society living in the past by documenting, researching, and analysing the physical residuals left behind by human behaviour. By doing this, it is benefitting from many branches of science. One of the branches of science that archeology benefits from is “ichnology”, which is derived from the Greek words “ἴχνος (ikhnos)=track” and “λόγος (logos)=science”, which studies fossil traces and residuals. From the joint work of ichnology and archeology, a new discipline, ichnoarcheolgy, has emerged. In this study, the animal footprints on the terracotta tiles found in the port settlement of Myra of Andriake were tried to be interpreted from an ichnoarcheological point of view. From the interpretation made, conclusions were reached regarding the formation processes of the traces, to whom and/or what they belong, and the environmental conditions of the production workshop. The results have revealed that the tile-producing workshop was located in a rural area close to the forest area and the workshop was visited by savage and wild animals.