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Zusammenfassung:
First evidence of animal husbandry in Brittany goes back to the transition between the VIth and the Vth millenia BC. But elements attesting the occurrence of domestic cattle, pig and Caprinae on the islands of the Iroise Sea only become tangible at the end of the IVth millenium BC. Their presence may be explained by their transport from the continent as well as the establishment of animal husbandry practices on the spot. However, due to the scarcity of archaeological sites, the insular specificity of economic strategies is not well known. The aim of this paper is to improve our knowledge about the subsistence strategies of the inhabitants of Beg ar Loued site, on Molène Island, through the zooarchaeological study of large mammal and bird remains. The assemblage, as the previously studied insular sites of European Atlantic coasts, is mainly composed of skeletal remains of domestic cattle (Bos taurus), pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) and Caprinae (Ovis aries/Capra hircus). However, the material of Beg ar Loued revealed an unusual and important role of Caprinae in the husbandry systems of Molène Island which were largely ecploited for milk following the analysis of the patterns of the Bronze Age. Despite the large predominance of domestic mammels, the presence of birds likely to have been consumed (Anatidae, Scolopacidae, marine birds) in the assemblage indicates that wild animals were also possibly exploited. Furthermore, these remains provide new elements about the paleogeography of birds in Brittany during the IIIrd-IInd millenia BC. The overall results show that a local husbandry was astablished in this geographically isolated context for meat and milk. Faunal remains from Beg ar Loued are among the first evidences of animal farming in insular settlements and improve our knowledge about animal husbandry practices along the European Atlantic coasts during the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age.
