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| Cache of animal bones (Image Source: www.phys.org) |
Archaeology is the study of past peoples and cultures. It involves the investigation of various material
remains, the most notable of which is material cultural evidence (e.g. pottery,
weapons, clothing, etc.), but this is an incomplete understanding of all of the
aspects of archaeological investigations.
Archaeological studies focus on a variety of features, artifacts, and
ecofacts that exist at the site, and today’s blog post will focus on a
discussion of what zooarchaeology is, its purpose and importance to the overall
study of archaeology, as well as career options for zooarchaeologists.
Zooarchaeology is a branch of archaeological research that
focuses on animal remains (i.e. bones, ivory, antler, furs, and skins) that
exist in the archaeological record and at archaeological sites. This subsubdiscipline also goes by other
names, including osteoarchaeology, faunal analysis, and archaeozoology. Archaeologists can gain various insights into
past cultures through the study of animal remains, specifically expanding the
knowledge base concerning domestication patterns, seasonality of sites (or when
sites were occupied), paleoclimate, cultural traditions around ritual and diet,
trade patterns, as well as chronology of the site. This makes zooarchaeology a very useful and
dynamic field of study.
Zooarchaeologists, however, have to undergo extensive study
within their subsubdisciplines. Not only
do they have to have an understanding of archaeological investigation
techniques they also have to know how to identify various species of animals
that exist both today as well as existed in the past. This means that they have to be able to
differentiate among mammalian, reptilian, avian, marine/riverine, etc. species. Not only that but zooarchaeologists also must
be able to identify age at death of the animals under study (albeit not to the
specificity that bioarchaeologists/physical anthropologists must), as well as
the bone element and side. All of this
information allows scholars to understand the details required to answer the
research questions derived from the above topics, but zooarchaeologists must complete these analyses most often on fragmentary and worked bone! Therefore zooarchaeologists must be very patient and disciplined.
Zooarchaeologists are valued members of archaeological
teams. They often acquire employment on
academic as well as private archaeological teams as either excavators or lab
technicians (and often times both). They
are also employed in museums and conservation organizations. Ultimately, the possibilities are quite
endless within this field, and zooarchaeologists enjoy a wide variety of career
options.
Bibliography
Keenan, E.
2014. “Study Animals from the Past
with the Techniques of the Future.”
University of York. https://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/postgraduate-study/taught-postgrads/masters-courses/zooarchaeology/
McClelland, J. No Date. “What is Zooarchaeology?” Stanley J. Olsen Laboratory of
Zooarchaeology. Comparative Vertebrate
Collections. Arizona State Museum. http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/zooarch/
No Author. No
Date. “Zooarchaeology.” University of North Texas. http://geography.unt.edu/sites/geography.unt.edu/files/TXT_Zooarchaeology_0.pdf
No Author. No
Date. “Zooarchaeology.” University College-London Institute of
Archaeology. University
College-London. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/tags/zooarchaeology
Schlesinger, JW.
2008. Zooarchaeology: The Language of
Faunal Remains. Undergraduate
Thesis.
