Zooarchaeology

This dissertation examines multiple scales of Indigenous history on the Northwest Coast from the disciplinary perspective of archaeology. I focus on cultural lifeways archaeologically represented in two key domains of human existence: food and settlement. The dissertation consists of six individual case studies that demonstrate the utility of applying multiple spatial and temporal scales to refine archaeological understanding of cultural and historical variability on the Northwest Coast over the Mid-to-Late Holocene (ca. 5,000-200 BP). The first of three regionally scaled analyses presents a coast-wide examination of fisheries data indicating that Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) exhibit a pervasive and previously under-recognized importance in Northwest Coast Indigenous subsistence practices. Next, I use zooarchaeological data from the southern British Columbia coast to identify a pattern of regional coherence in Coast Salish and Nuu-chah-nulth hunting traditions reflecting the scale of intergenerational cultural practice. The third study re-calibrates the settlement history of a small and historically significant locality in Coast Tsimshian territory (Prince Rupert Harbour) to clarify the temporal resolution of existing radiocarbon datasets and test inferences about social and political change. Following this regional exploration of scale, I document site-specific temporal variability in archaeological fisheries data from a Nuu-chah-nulth ‘big-house’ reflecting climatic and socio-economic change. I examine Indigenous oral histories and archaeological datasets to evaluate these parallel records of settlement in the neighbouring territory of an autonomous Nuu-chah-nulth polity before and during the occupation of a large defensive fortress. Finally, I demonstrate how everyday foodways are archaeologically expressed and reflect ecological differences and active management strategies within several spatially associated sites over millennial timescales. These linked case studies offer new clarity into long-standing debates concerning archaeologically relevant scales of cultural-historical variability on the NWC. They collectively demonstrate an enduring regional and temporal coherence for key aspects of Indigenous resource use and settlement and a historical dynamism at finer scales. I argue this has cultural, historical, and archaeological significance as well as relevance for contemporary understandings of the Northwest Coast environment. I conclude that a focus on the pervasive aspects of the everyday over millennia offers insight into individual actions across broader patterns of history.

The zooarchaeological data from rural settlements (casalia), castles (castra) and cities (civitates) of Medieval Apulia
during the late Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries) allow to recognize different ways of production and distribution of animal resources on the territory. Pig breeding played an important role in the diet of the region although it is difficult to establish a single pattern of exploitation for this animal that supplied meat and fats. In all the sites pigs generally lived more than one year and they were butchered during their second year of life. The killing of young individuals does not seem to reflect human privileged conditions, but it could indicate the difficulties to keep the animals until the sexual maturity, when they reached the maximum meat yield.

The Story of Garum recounts the convoluted journey of that notorious Roman fish sauce, known as garum, from a smelly Greek fish paste to an expensive luxury at the heart of Roman cuisine and back to obscurity as the Roman empire declines. This book is a unique attempt to meld the very disparate disciplines of ancient history, classical literature, archaeology, zooarchaeology, experimental archaeology, ethnographic studies and modern sciences to illuminate this little understood commodity. Currently Roman fish sauce has many identities depending on which discipline engages with it, in what era and at what level. These identities are often contradictory and confused and as yet no one has attempted a holistic approach where fish sauce has been given centre stage. Roman fish sauce, along with oil and wine, formed a triad of commodities which dominated Mediterranean trade and while oil and wine can be understood, fish sauce was until now a mystery. Students and specialists in the archaeology of ancient Mediterranean trade whether through amphora studies, shipwrecks or zooarchaeology will find this invaluable. Scholars of ancient history and classics wishing to understand the nuances of Roman dining literature and the wider food history discipline will also benefit from this volume. Sally Grainger is an independent scholar with degrees in ancient history and archaeology. She is a food historian, chef and experimental archaeologist. She has worked with many university institutions and museums helping to interpret the foodways of ancient societies. She has published widely in food history, and jointly with Andrew Dalby she wrote the acclaimed Classical Cook Book, and with her husband Dr Christopher Grocock she edited and translated the recipe text known as Apicius. She continues to collaborate with archaeologist in research into the various ways in which ancient fish sauces were made, traded and consumed.

Until the 1970s, it was widely believed that real lions did not exist in Greece in the Bronze Age. However, archaeozoologists have found the remains of Panthera leo at thirty-eight
sites in Greece and Southeastern Europe, establishing that the large-maned lion roamed freely during
the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages and even into the Archaic period in Greece and the Balkan
peninsula. This osteological evidence has not yet been integrated into Mycenaean studies. My
paper explores specific ways in which real lion bones do, and do not, overturn our previous
understandings of the relationship of people and predators, and of nature and convention, in
Mycenaean art.
Lion bones not only illustrate instances of people/predator interaction, they also offer
new options for explaining what the bones themselves mean. For example, at Durankulak in
Bulgaria, excavators found a Neolithic family of three lions—a youth and two adults—one of
whom, according to the publisher, was “plus grand, mâle probablement.” The crania and
claws of all three of these animals were missing, suggesting that the lions were probably killed,
skinned, and butchered at the hunting site and that their heads and claws were taken back to
the village as trophies. This find demonstrates that, contrary to past opinion, teeth and claws
could indicate the presence of local, wild lions, rather than simply being the residue of
imported pelts or amulets, as was said about the first lion bone found at LH Tiryns. As
archaeologists continue to turn their attention to hunting sites as well as to habitations and
graves, more evidence will accrue on the relationships of people and predators.
Real lion bones also force us to reassess the impact of nature on convention in
Mycenaean art. For the first time we can now ask: how many of the scenarios and encounters
depicted in Mycenaean art could actually have been experienced by a lion? Apparently
Mycenaeans could have trussed a lion, butchered it, and carved a seal depicting the ritual.
Were wild lion cubs captured and tamed to serve a priestess and then depicted in an orientalizing,
heraldic format? Did real lions battle Mycenaean elites as the men tested—and illustrated—
their mettle? As a corrective to overly optimistic answers, we must also remember that griffins
were depicted in many of these same scenarios, as were leopards, though as yet no leopard (or
griffin) bones have been found in Bronze Age Greece. Furthermore, Mycenaean art presents
many unreal images of lions, such as male lions with teats nursing their young. What should
we conclude when wild nature was available but not used?
A lion’s eye view of Bronze Age Greece provides a lens for recognizing the ways in
which wild nature could have impacted Mycenaean social and religious experience as
expressed in Mycenaean art. The art itself demonstrates that, with rare exception, convention,
not wild nature, triumphed in Mycenaean imagery. This paper investigates the implications of
these contrasting outcomes. Lion bones give us real vignettes of the interactions of people and
predators in Mycenaean Greece. Bones and imagery together affirm, and contradict, our
earlier explanations of the imprint of natural lions on conventional lion art. A catalogue of lion bones found in Greece and Southeastern Europe accompanies this article.

In the Negev and Sinai deserts, excavations of tens of cult and burial sites, radiometrically dated to the 6th to 3rd millennia BC, have yielded assemblages of artefacts and faunal remains. Many of the objects can confidently be identified as cult or mortuary offerings, while the animal bones are identified as remains of sacrifices and food offerings. This article describes finds from fifteen excavated cult and burial sites with standing stones, as well as from the “nawamis” tombs of Sinai. The nature and role of cult and mortuary offerings and sacrifices in past desert societies, is discussed within this context.

SUMMARY: Chapter 7, in Renfrew & Bahn's textbook (Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice), covers how to assess past subsistence and diet, including plant food (e.g., macro- and microbotanical remains; plant residues; seasonality; domestication), animal resources (e.g., macro-faunal remains; age, sex, and seasonality; domestication; small fauna; types of exploitation), and assessing diet from human remains (e.g., stomach contents; feces; teeth; isotopic methods; bone collagen).  A small case study is placed at the end of this ppt. lecture, emphasizing some aspects of subsistence.  In my view, this is one of the best college textbooks available, and is invaluable for students, archaeologists, and the public in general, to obtain a top notch overview of approaching and interpreting the archaeological record. UPDATED May 2023.

azı durumlarda insan ve hayvan kemikleri birbirine kolaylıkla karıştırılabil-mektedir, yapılacak bu hatayı önlemek için osteoloji bilgisine sahip kişilerin karar vermesi gerekmektedir. Ülkemizde Antropoloji bölümlerinde hem insan hem de hayvan osteolojisi dersleri verilmektedir. Hayvan osteolojisi üzerine çalışma yapan birçok araştırmacı zooarkeolog/arkeozoolog olarak geçmiş dönem in-sanlarına ilişkin birçok bilgiye hayvan kemiklerini çalışarak ulaşabilmektedir. Diğer bir deyişle Zooarkeoloji, hayvan kemik kalıntılarını inceleyen ve insanın çevrele-riyle ilişki kurmasına yardımcı olan bir bilim dalıdır. 1 Bu kapsamda özellikle hay-van kemiklerinin insan kemikleriyle karşılaştırılması durumunda bu kişilere danışılması gerekmektedir. Antropologların alan çalışmalarında yanıtlamaları gereken birçok soru mev-cuttur, bunlardan ilki arazide bulunan kemiklerin insana ait olup olmadığıdır. Bu durumda insan kemiklerini hayvanlardan ayırt edebilmek için osteolojik bilgi bi-rikimine sahip olmak gerekir. Özellikle kırık veya parçalanmış iskelet malzeme-Turkiye Klinikleri J Foren Med-Special Topics 2017;3(1):21-6 21 İnsan ve Hayvan Kemiklerinin Ayrımı DERLEME Ö ÖZ ZE ET T İçeriği adli veya arkeolojik olsa da insana ait olan veya olmayan kemiklerin doğru bir şekilde tanımlanması için osteoloji analizlerinin yapılması gerekmektedir. Ancak, kemik gelişimi sırasında çok fazla değişime uğradığı gibi tür bazında da gerçekleşen varyasyonlar, yapılan tanımlama çalış-malarını hem kısıtlamaktadır hem de kemiklerin ayrımının yapılmasını zorlaştırmaktadır. Bu ne-denle adli antropolojik çalışmalarda ve arkeolojik alanlardan gelen iskelet veya fosil insan kalıntılarının tanımlanmasında uzman kişilere başvurulması gerekmektedir. Bunun yanı sıra insan-hayvan kemiklerinin ayrımında iyi bir referans koleksiyonun bulunması yapılan çalışmaların gü-venirliğini arttırmaktadır. Bu çalışma kapsamında insan ve hayvan kemiklerinin ayrımında kullanılan morfolojik kriterler ele alınmıştır. A An na ah ht ta ar r K Ke el li im me el le er r: : Adli antropoloji; zooarkeoloji; insan hayvan kemik ayrımı; antropoloji A AB BS ST TR RA AC CT T Distinguishing between human and nonhuman bone is a task that should only be un-dertaken anthropologists. In particular, when bones are highly weathered, eroded, and fragmented, identification may be difficult and limited. Thus, an experienced forensic anthropologist will have help to distinguishing no osseous material from bone. In addition, osteologists can become familiar with animal bones by putting together a comparative collection to determine the species. They can then use this collection to determine the species of questionable bones. In this study, the morphological criteria used to distinguish human and animal bones are discussed. K Ke ey yw wo or rd ds s: : Forensic anthropology; zooarcheology; distinguish nonhuman skeletal; anthropology

It is a well‐known and geographically widespread problem in archaeozoology that the discrimination between remains of domesticated animals and their wild ancestors is not always possible. Due to an overlap in size as well as other features substantial parts of bone and teeth assemblages sometimes cannot be assigned either to the wild or the domestic form. In this paper we apply the logarithmic size index (LSI) method as a tool for discrimination between aurochs (Bos primigenius) and domestic cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus). By comparing LSI data from definite aurochs with data from Neolithic bovids within a limited geographical area we show that the overlap of both groups is larger than previously thought.

Our analysis also shows that the LSI width values are suited for both differentiating domesticated vs. wild animals as well as sexes within the single groups. For future studies but also for correcting known results we present division lines between LSI values of aurochs and cattle. The analysed data indicates that female and male aurochs had comparable heights while the latter had a generally more sturdy physique in southern Scandinavia. We consequently expect that the investigated Middle Neolithic assemblages contain a significantly higher number of aurochs bones than previously assumed.

Cutmark frequencies are often cited in discussions of Oldowan hominid behavior, yet their interpretation remains enigmatic. To strengthen inferences derived from cutmark data, we conducted experiments with Turkana butchers. We test two hypotheses: (1) cutmark frequency is related to the amount of meat present, and (2) cutmark frequency is related to the size of the bone/carcass being butchered. Hypothesis 1 is not supported, while hypothesis 2 is supported. We document a positive correlation between bone/carcass size and cutmark frequency. We therefore advocate treating bones/ carcasses of different sizes as analytically discrete units.

En la presente tesis se presentan los primeros resultados obtenidos del análisis del registro óseo faunístico correspondiente a las diez primeras unidades de recolección provenientes de las prospecciones superficiales sistemáticas efectuadas en el año 2003 en el sitio Laguna El Doce (LED). Dicho sitio se encuentra ubicado en la margen noreste de la laguna homónima (Departamento General López, Provincia de Santa Fe), a 13 km del pueblo de San Eduardo, en el sector del borde occidental de la Pampa Húmeda, más específicamente en lo que se denomina Pampa Deprimida (Frengüelli 1950) o Pampa de las lagunas del sur de la provincia de Santa Fe (Pasotti y Castellanos 1967).
Este análisis pretende ponderar la información arqueológica que puede ser obtenida de sitios de superficie, frente a la tradicional perspectiva que considera la excavación controlada por niveles como aproximación excluyente en arqueología. En ocasiones, diferentes modificaciones en el paisaje generan las condiciones que posibilitan el estudio de evidencias antrópicas de sitios previamente en estratigrafía, que fueron expuestos a causa de una serie de dinámicas y complejas modificaciones erosivas, eólicas y/o hídricas y/o sus combinaciones. En el caso de LED, las fluctuaciones periódicas en el nivel de agua de la laguna debido al régimen pluvial, han remodelado la línea de costa produciendo el desmoronamiento progresivo de la barranca, exponiendo una importante magnitud y diversidad de evidencia arqueológica. Esta ha sufrido una serie de fenómenos naturales que han producido su sesgo, transporte, mezcla y/o fragmentación. Conocer y medir estos procesos, resulta imprescindible como primer paso previo a realizar cualquier análisis interpretativo del sitio.
En este sentido, el objetivo principal de este trabajo de tesis es examinar los
diferentes agentes involucrados en los procesos de formación y transformación que
tuvieron lugar en el sitio arqueológico LED desde el estudio de los restos de fauna
recuperados en el mismo. Para llevar adelante este objetivo se considero importante
realizar el estudio desde una perspectiva tafonómica (Behrensmeyer 1991; Borrero 1988; Lyman 1994a, 1994b; Mengoni Goñalons 1999). Ya que consideramos que los
estudios tafonómicos proveen un marco de referencia que permite identificar los agentes y procesos culturales y naturales que afectan y afectaron la distribución espacial, estructuración y preservación del material recuperado en sitios arqueológicos, tanto desde una perspectiva local como regional.

The paper reviews fish remains retrieved in Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic sites from the Fucino basin. A general scarcity of fishes in many samples as well as an almost dominance of trout seems to have been caused by both natural and anthropic agents.

Preserved herring from a 16 century ship (Biddinghuizen, the Netherlands) and the myth of Willem Beukelszoon, the supposed inventor of gutting herring.

  - 2006b: R.C.G.M. Lauwerier & F.J. Laarman: Hollandse Nieuwe en de mythe van Willem Beukelszoon, Holland 38 (3), 150-160; 195-196.

We describe archaeozoological and extant small mammals from Isla Mocha, an island located in south-central Chile. Species composition was compared among past and present assemblages. Also composition, as well as individual and population parameters were compared among island habi- tats. Specimens from archaeological sites included Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, Abrothrix sp., and Octodon pacificus, whereas Abrothrix longipilis, A. olivaceus, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus,  and Geoxus valdivianus were captured. Higher richness was observed in intermediate-disturbed habitat. Body size and tail length, as well as body mass did not vary among island habitats for A. longipilis or A. olivaceus. Higher abundance was associated to less perturbed habitat.

Como surge la mente humana, su funcionamiento y sus particularidades, son preguntas que vienen de tiempos remotos. Gracias a la teoría evolutiva, establecida por Charles Darwin y desarrollada ampliamente como un hecho y como un paradigma científico, sabemos de nuestra gran cercanía con los chimpancés, de la que solo nos separa el 1% de la configuración genética, y podemos reconocer nuestros antepasados comunes en un trecho que abarca casi cinco millones de años, desde los primeros intentos de bipedalismo, lo que nos permite afirmar quiénes somos y de dónde venimos, como especie biológica.

This study examines diverse animal management practices through the application of δ13C and δ15N analyses to collagen extracted from faunal skeletal remains. The faunal remains analyzed were recovered from eight archaeological sites in three distinct ecological settings in Siberia and the Russian Far East. The archaeological record of these sites recorded thousands of years of human-animal interactions, from the hunter-fisher-gatherer societies of the Neolithic along the coast of southern Primorye, to Iron Age dog sledding groups at the Arctic Circle in the Lower Ob, to the agricultural peoples of Transbaiikal and Primorye during the medieval period. Samples were selected to reflect the suite of taxa represented at each site and include both domestic and wild animal species, as well as aquatic and terrestrial fauna. The values reported in this study are among the first faunal comparative stable isotope data for these areas. In addition to the faunal skeletal samples, human skeletal samples from two sites were also available, providing an opportunity to explore the utility of animal dietary stable isotope values as proxies for human ones.

The results of this study demonstrate local strategies to animal management in each of the three regions and highlight the human use of locally available resources to provision domestic animals. At Ust’-Polui, Iron Age peoples likely relied upon the abundant fishery provided by the Ob River to feed sled dogs, which require massive quantities of dietary resources to perform labour in extreme temperatures. Inferences from the medieval Proezzhaia I hillfort in Transbaikal suggest dogs, pigs, and caprines provisioned themselves, while horses and cattle may have been provided with supplemental fodder or given access to pasture. In southern Primorye, human dietary stable isotope data indicate Late Neolithic and Early Iron Age peoples relied on high trophic level marine resources, at odds with the abundance of shellfish remains at Boisman II and Pospelovo I. Additional data from other coastal shell midden sites and the inland Cherniatino II show no dietary isotopic separation of suids over thousands of years, suggesting the local environment provided adequate accommodation for the management of domestic pigs with natural resources. However, the dietary stable isotope data from Cherniatino II show extensive use of cultivated millet among other domestic species, particularly during medieval occupation of the site.

The dietary stable isotope data generated by this study provide some support for the use of animal δ13C and δ15N values as proxy information for contemporaneous human diets, particularly those of domestic dogs. Though humans and dogs from Ust’-Polui, Boisman II, and Pospelovo I broadly shared dietary inputs from aquatic resources, consistent δ13C and δ15N value offsets between the two hint at more specific provisioning practices.

Archaeological sites at Affad (Sudan) are the only ones in northeastern Africa providing ostological remains of both African aurochs (Bos primigenius), dated to 50 kya, and domestic cattle, dated to 7–6 kya. The evidence enables studies of behavioral diversity between taurids. Strontium isotope analyses of the tooth enamel of both Pleistocene and Holocene ruminants suggest the local origin of these animals. The archaeozoological analysis reveals the temporal variability of environmental conditions was linked to a humid climate during the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3), which was more humid than the dry fluctuations during the African Humid Period. In addition, changes in the phenotype of cattle indicate that humans influenced domesticated animal behavior in the sub-Saharan region.

Cattle were the most common domestic livestock animal throughout much of the Neolithic period in the area now occupied by modern day Switzerland, home to a significant number of sites dating to between approximately 4400 and 2500 cal BC. Many of these sites were located in wetland locations, resulting in very well-preserved large faunal assemblages which can be dated using dendrochronology with rare precision. This region is also particularly important for our knowledge of the spread of culture and innovation through Central Europe during the Neolithic period-its topography results in a natural corridor through which influences travelled from both the east and west. This study is the first to combine cattle data from across the whole of Switzerland, focusing on %NISP and biometrical data, in order to investigate how cattle husbandry changed over time, comparing the east and west of the region. A number of different temporal scales are used in order to look for broad patterns and then focus in for more detail. Results indicate that there is a clear correlation between %NISP and body size of cattle throughout much of the Swiss Neolithic and that cattle husbandry changed broadly in line with perceived cultural changes in both the east and west. Of particular interest is a clear increase in both %NISP and body size around the time of the introduction of the Corded Ware culture, contrary to the general pattern of cattle body size decrease seen across Europe at this time. This change is seen, however, in the west of Switzerland prior to the east and raises questions around alternative origins and areas of influence. Either way, the most likely explanation for the increase in cattle size is the introduction of a new population (or populations) of larger cattle into the region, which are incorporated into herds over a few hundred years, providing perhaps some of the earliest evidence for cattle "improvement" in Europe.

Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the Albuquerque Basin of New
Mexico saw a significant increase in population from Puebloan peoples
migrating into the valley. By the time of the Coronado expedition in 1541–1542, this area contained 12 large pueblos along the roughly 55 km long by 5 km wide Rio Grande floodplain, resulting in one of the densest concentrations of pueblos and agricultural fields in the Eastern Pueblo region. Zooarchaeological analyses of Classic Period faunal assemblages have yielded an abundance and diversity of wild bird remains with an emphasis towards migratory birds that reside in the region during the winter. These avifauna are almost entirely absent from the archaeological record of the preceding Developmental Period. This paper argues that changes in Puebloan farming practices between the two periods had a direct effect on shifting the traditional wintering grounds of these migratory birds northwards into the Albuquerque Basin.

Although scholars have long recognized the mythic status of bears in Indigenous North American societies of the past, this is the first volume to synthesize the vast amount of archaeological and historical research on the topic. Bears charts the special relationship between the American black bear and humans in eastern Native American cultures across thousands of years.  These essays draw on zooarchaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence from nearly 300 archaeological sites from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. Contributors explore the ways bears have been treated as something akin to another kind of human—in the words of anthropologist Irving Hallowell, “other than human persons”—in Algonquian, Cherokee, Iroquois, Meskwaki, Creek, and many other Native cultures. Case studies focus on bear imagery in Native art and artifacts; the religious and economic significance of bears and bear products such as meat, fat, oil, and pelts; bears in Native worldviews, kinship systems, and cosmologies; and the use of bears as commodities in transatlantic trade. The case studies in Bears demonstrate that bears were not only a source of food, but were also religious, economic, and political icons within Indigenous cultures. This volume convincingly portrays the black bear as one of the most socially significant species in Native eastern North America.

Various environmental niches influence stable isotope values of plants, herbivores, and their consumers. Previous stable isotope analyses conducted on animal remains in Roman Italy have served primarily as isotopic baselines for available diet to be compared with human data. Directed stable isotope analyses of faunal samples can provide considerably more information than acting as the foundation for human studies. This paper examines how δ13C and δ15N values are used to investigate manuring and penning in other archaeological contexts in order to re-evaluate previous interpretations of faunal isotopic data from the Italian sites of Isola Sacra and Velia (both dating from 100–300 CE). Re-interpreting isotopic data is not only a sustainable archaeological method, but can identify new information related to past lifeways.

This work updates the zooarchaeological and taphonomic data available for La Peña de Estebanvela (Ayllón, Segovia). Diverse subsistence strategies appear to have been followed, making use of a wide range of resources. Rabbits, goats, chamois, red deer, roe deer, horses and even carnivores such as the lynx were hunted and processed by humans. The simultaneous presence of these animals in certain layers suggests that Magdalenian hunters exploited many ecological niches, making use of open areas favourable to horses and Equus hydruntinus, wooded areas favourable to red deer, roe deer and rabbits, and mountainous areas favourable to chamois. The skeletal profiles for the different taxa suggest game was brought intact to the site and, therefore, that hunting took place close to the site.

Documentary and faunal evidence from the 17th-century
English colony at Ferryland, Newfoundland, illustrates how
the settlers adapted traditional English dietary practices to
suit their new situation. The role of both domestic and
wild mammals in the diet changed little over the course
of the century. Pigs were consistently the most important
mammal, supplemented by cattle, sheep/goat, caribou, and
seal. The continuity of dietary patterns at the site indicates
that the colonists very quickly developed a subsistence regime
to maximize fresh meat consumption, given the scheduling
demands of the cod fi shery and the limitations and potential
of the Newfoundland environment.