Den urbana borgen och den lantliga staden

Animal bones from the town and castle of Sölvesborg dating to the 13th-15th century have been analysed. The study indicates social differences in food and in animal husbandry between a household in quarter Uttern and the castle. Wild game is unusual frequent represented in the bone sample from the castle. The kill-off pattern of cattle from the town, with most juvenile animals, is typical of a self-sufficient unit, while the slaughter of mainly adult animals at the castle is similar to medieval towns supplied with older milk cows and draught animals from the countryside. The animal bones indicates that Sölvesborg castle functioned as an urban center, while the town was more similar to a rural settlement, at least when it comes to subsistence and animal husbandry.