Zooarchaeology

Abstract

This is an introductory text for students interested in identification and analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites. The emphasis is on animals whose remains inform us about the relationship between humans and their natural and social environments, especially site formation processes, subsistence strategies, the processes of domestication, and paleoenvironments. Examining examples from all over the world, from the Pleistocene period up to the present, this volume is organized in a way that is parallel to faunal study, beginning with background information, bias in a faunal assemblage, and basic zooarchaeological methods. This revised edition reflects developments in zooarchaeology during the past decade. It includes 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 conservation and heritage management, and a discussion of issues pertaining to the curation of archaeofaunal materials.

Holocene molluscs from Rio de Janeiro state coast, Brazil

“…In addition, because these sites contain sets of organisms representatives of the fauna and flora existing at the time they were built, they enable the reconstruction of paleoenvironmental aspects related to species biodiversity and biogeography (Fürsich 1995;Scheel-Ybert et al 2006;Lindbladh et al 2007;Froyd and Willis 2008). Thus, from zooarcheological studies at sites of the shellmound type it is possible to retrieve important information on the mollusc fauna of the recent Holocene (Reitz and Wing 2008).…”

« Weight Method »: nouvelle approche de l’estimation des poids de viande pour les sites laténiens

“…P210-8822-2017-11 employé l'allométrie à partir des années 80. Récemment, la réédition de « Zooarchaeology », par E. J. Reitz et E. S. Wing (Reitz, Wing 2008) -dans lequel un chapitre complet traite de la question de l'emploi de l'allométrie en archéozoologie et fait le point sur l'ensemble des méthodologies applicablesconstituent des synthèses exhaustives de l'historiographie de la méthode et en rappelle notamment le principal bénéfice : « Allometry can provide the most accurate estimate of the relative contribution of species in subsistence strategies and is a useful tool that can be used to overcome the shortcomings of bone count, bone weight, and MNI » (Reitz et al 1987, p. 314).…”

Archaeology, taphonomy, and historical ecology of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus)

“…Archaeologists and other researchers often use allometric relationships to predict animal size dimensions (total length, width, etc.) from measurements of archaeological specimens (Reitz and Wing, 2008;Reitz et al, 1987). Our analysis provides the results of size estimates for prehistoric and historic crabs based on measurements of archaeological cheliped and cheliped fragments using landmarks depicted in Fig.…”