Special Issue "New Trends on Prehistoric and Historical Zooarchaeology"
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Zooarchaeology, as an interdisciplinary subfield of archaeology, is focused on the interpretation of human and environment interactions based primarily on the systematic analysis of animal remains recovered from archaeological sites. Thus, the field of zooarchaeology transcends the traditional academic boundaries between zoology, anatomy, anthropology, palaeontology and social sciences.
Traditionally, zooarchaeologists have focused on the evolution of the environment and human actions’ impact on animals. However, because modern archaeologists pursue anthropological interests, zooarchaeologists research a great range of topics that include animals or parts of animals, such as dietary reconstruction, economic resources and trade, animal exploitation, environmental adaptations, human–animal interactions, animal husbandry practices, butchering practices, urban supply networks, seasonality, and use of animals in tools, ornaments and rituals, etc.
This Special Issue aims to present the most recent advances in the knowledge of the long-standing and complex relationships between past peoples and animals, based upon the study of physical remains, including osseous and dental structures, preserved soft tissues, shells, scales, feathers and subfossils at a range of methodological levels, from direct observation to molecular, chemical, histological and radiographic analyses.
Papers related to palaeopathological conditions and taphonomic processes affecting zooarchaeological assemblages are also welcome.
Dr. Joan Viciano Badal
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Zooarchaeology
- Animal evolution
- palaeopathological conditions
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Animal Life Histories in the Andes of Ancient Peru: Exploring Zooarchaeological, Isotopic and Theoretical Trends
Authors: Aleksa Alaica
Affiliation: Animals in Ancient Material Cultures, Canada
Abstract: Anthropological and archaeological scholarship on the exploitation of, cohabitation with and ritual use of animals attests to the global fascination with non-human beings. Animals are part of origin stories, daily meals and political negotiations. The role that animals have in the past and present can be determined through many methodological avenues. The Andes region is where seminal investigations on domestication took place decades ago and where much recent research is being conducted on species diversity, coastal and highland adaptation and agropastoral lifeways. By tracking the foundational and recent research on animals in the Andes region I argue that through zooarchaeological, isotopic and theoretical innovations we are interpreting the life histories of animals in more powerful ways. These insights are thus uncovering more nuance and detail about how animals lived in the past but also their human counterparts.
Title: Close companions? A study of the human-cattle relationship in medieval England
Authors: Matilda Holmes; Helena Hamerow; Richard Thomas
Affiliation: University of Leicester
Abstract: Cattle were the tractors of the medieval world, they provided power and were used widely for ploughing, haulage and carting. They commanded major, if shifting, economic and social values, and their use for meat, milk and traction is well established. However, their various roles throughout the period may be expected to translate into changing relationships between humans and cattle, but this has been largely neglected in historical and zooarchaeological studies. Data from nearly 700 archaeological assemblages of animal remains have been used to provide an overview of the herd structures (age and sex) of cattle populations for the major medieval periods in England between AD 450 and 1400. These have been analyzed alongside pathological and sub-pathological changes to over 2800 lower limb bones of cattle from seventeen archaeological sites to provide a better understanding of the use of cattle during the medieval period. The findings are considered alongside existing historical documents, ethnographic evidence, and veterinary studies to chart changing human-cattle relationships. Results indicate that human-cattle relations varied according to the economic, agricultural, and social ideologies of the period. From the mid-fifth century cattle were considered a form of portable wealth, which changed to that of a commodity with a monetary value from the mid-ninth century; from this period, close human-cattle bonds are likely to have been widespread between the plough hand and working animals, and less so from the increasing number of young beef cattle kept to supply the urban population from the mid-eleventh century.
Title: Communal meals, accidental deaths? An archaeozoological and GIS approach to study ancient accumulations of animal carcasses. The example of the Roman villa of Vilauba (Catalonia)
Authors: Lídia Colominas 1, Joan Frigola 2, Joaquim Tremoleda 3, Pere Castanyer 3
Affiliation: 1. Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica 2. Colaborator of the Museu Arqueològic de Banyoles 3. Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya-Empúries
Abstract: Some deposits of animal remains documented throughout prehistory and history are clearly something other than ordinary garbage from meat consumption. During the Roman period, based on their characteristics, these assemblages have been classified as butchery deposits, raw material deposits, deposits created for the hygienic management and discharge of animal carcasses, or ritual deposits. However, they are difficult to classify and the parameters that define each of them are not clear. Here we present a unique deposit from the Roman villa of Vilauba (Catalonia). 716 cattle remains were recovered from an irregular hold of 187 m2 created for claying extraction used in the construction of the walls of the villa during the end of the 1st century AD. These 716 remains correspond to the carcasses of about 13 adult cattle. During excavation, no articulated skeletons were documented, although some articulations between bones were observed. In the laboratory, no anthropic fragmentations were documented on long bones, although signs of meat removal were observed. A detailed archaeozoological study combined with a GIS analysis has allowed us to propose several hypotheses about the nature and formation of this singular assemblage.