When luxury comes to an end: Animal production and consumption in the late Roman occupation of the aristocratic residence of Els Munts (Tarragona, Catalonia)

• Osteological and isotopic (δ13C and δ15N) data provide evidence of animal production and consumption at Els Munts. • Evidence demonstrates the practice of a mixed livestock economy during its late Roman occupation. • We propose the possible presence of vivaria and leporaria at this aristocratic villa. The end of the 3 rd century AD in the Western Roman Empire was characterized by social, economic, and demographic changes. The economic and political shifts experienced by the inhabitants of the aristocratic residence of Els Munts (Tarragona, Catalonia) are an example of these changes. After a fire that occurred in the villa at the end of the 3 rd century AD and its subsequent reoccupation, the villa began a period of austerity, far from the splendour and wealth in which its inhabitants were formally accustomed. In this article we aim to provide information about this late Roman occupation, in which very little is known, through the study of the faunal remains recovered there. This archaeozoological approach allows us to investigate animal production and consumption carried out in the residence during a period of possible scarcity. The osteological analysis of 813 faunal remains, and the isotopic study of 66 of these remains, dated from the late 3 rd c. to the 5 th c. AD have, allowed us to document that during this period the residence practiced a mixed livestock economy and was a productive villa. Its aristocratic splendour, however, was not erased completely all at once. We propose, as hypothesis, the existence of a possible vivarium and leporarium there. Its past richness is also reflected in the presence of horses at the estate that could have been used as mounts rather than for agricultural or load-bearing tasks.