Waste management at early medieval rural sites in northern Spain: Taphonomic issues for interpreting faunal remains

The aim of this paper is to explore the taphonomic aspects of faunal remains recovered in early medieval rural sites in central and northern Iberian Peninsula, in order to understand site formation processes and the ways of refuse management and disposal, key aspects for archaeological interpretation. To do so, a methodology that allows intra-site and inter-site comparison of recovery bias and fragmentation has been designed and applied to five rural settlements dated between the 6th and the 10th centuries AD. Discussion of the primary and non-primary deposits at these sites is presented.