The human-animal relationship is one that has been pondered by scholars
for ages. It has been used to define both what it means to be human and
what it means to be animal. Birds, Beasts and Burials examines
human-animal relationships as found in the mortuary record within the
area of Verulamium that is now situated in the modern town of St.
Albans. Once considered a major centre, the mortuary rites given to its
people suggest high variabilities in the approach to the personhood of
certain classes of both people and animals. While 480 human individuals
were examined, only a small percentage was found to have been afforded
the rite of a human-animal co-burial. It is this small percentage that
is examined in greater detail. Of major concern are the treatments to
both the human and animal pre- and post- burial and the point at which
the animal enters into the funerary practice.