ARCH07061 2023 From Gods to Pests: The Role of Animals in Human Societies

The aim of this module is to reconstruct the relationship between past peoples and the animals around them. Animals have always been integral to human society as sources of food, labour, and raw materials, and have had very significant religious and symbolic roles. The module focuses on interpreting zooarchaeological, historical and anthropological information to develop a deeper understanding of past societies including economic, cultural and social aspects.

The first section of the book describes how zoo-archaeologists go about studying faunal remains from archaeological sites, and to explore the nature of these remains, and some of the information they provide. The second part discusses the relationship between humans and animals from earliest Africa to post-Medieval Britain. The latter can, of course, not be a complete survey; instead it sets out to describe some of the types of relationship that have existed throughout history, and the material consequences of those behaviours in the archaeological record. Helpful bibliography. `One of the most lucid expositions on archaeozoology available' New Scientist.

In growing numbers, archeologists are specializing in the analysis of excavated animal bones as clues to the environment and behavior of ancient peoples. This pathbreaking work provides a detailed discussion of the outstanding issues and methods of bone studies that will interest zooarcheologists as well as paleontologists who focus on reconstructing ecologies from bones. Because large samples of bones from archeological sites require tedious and time-consuming analysis, the authors also offer a set of computer programs that will greatly simplify the bone specialist's job. After setting forth the interpretive framework that governs their use of numbers in faunal analysis, Richard G. Klein and Kathryn Cruz-Uribe survey various measures of taxonomic abundance, review methods for estimating the sex and age composition of a fossil species sample, and then give examples to show how these measures and sex/age profiles can provide useful information about the past. In the second part of their book, the authors present the computer programs used to calculate and analyze each numerical measure or count discussed in the earlier chapters. These elegant and original programs, written in BASIC, can easily be used by anyone with a microcomputer or with access to large mainframe computers.

The author provides a focused overview of the field, emphasizing how bones are used to study past human-animal interactions.

This book serves as an introductory text for students interested in identification and analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites. This revised edition reflects developments in zooarchaeology that have occurred during the past decade. It includes new sections on enamel ultrastructure and incremental analysis, stable isotyopes and trace elements, ancient genetics and enzymes, environmental reconstruction, people as agents of environmental change, applications of zooarchaeology in animal conversation and heritage management, and a discussion of issues pertaining to the curation of archaeofaunal materials.

This module is primarily based around a series of lectures and readings from the literature, however the books shown give an overview of the principles being discussed.   A more detailed listing will be provided in the class. 

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Environmental Archaeology

Journal of Archaeological Science

http://envarch.net/
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/animal-bones-and-archaeology/
http://www.iai.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/EnvironmentalSamplingGuidelines-2007-comp-1.pdf

Beglane, F., Coogan, A., Duffy, S., Fhionnghaile, R.M. and Murray, E. (eds) 2021. Zooarchaeological Sampling Guidelines: best practice for the treatment, analysis and curation of animal bones from archaeological excavations. Transport Infrastructure Ireland. https://www.tiipublications.ie/library/DN-ARC-03078-01.pdf