Archaeological Finds of Rats: AD 1-1500

This database represents an attempt to unify reported finds of rat remains - particularly of the black rat (R. Rattus) - in archaeological contexts dated between 1 and 1500 AD, and was originally created to underpin the synthesis in McCormick 2003; it contains a few additions made since then. In recent years, historians and archaeologists have come to understand these remains to be an important proxy for the spread of disease, patterns of human migration and economic activity. When possible, attempts have been made to geocode these archaeological sites to present a database that will allow analysis of patterns over time and space. Although this database contains some records of rat finds (or potential rat finds) in contexts dated to the pre-Christian era, no attempt is made to cover these years comprehensively. Corrections and new information will gratefully be received by our team at darmc@harvard.ed