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Zooarchaeology. What is Zooarchaeology? Recovery and Counting Comparative Collections Subsistence Strategies Seasonality. What is Zooarchaeology?. The Study of animal bones from archaeological sites.
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Zooarchaeology What is Zooarchaeology? Recovery and Counting Comparative Collections Subsistence Strategies Seasonality
What is Zooarchaeology? • The Study of animal bones from archaeological sites. • Studies can focus on subsistence, hunting strategies, environmental change, domestication of animals, and ceremonial use of animals.
History of Zooarchaeology • 50 years ago archaeologists had bones on their sites and they began asking zoologists to identify them. • Some people became more and more interested and involved in these bones and began to specialize in it. • Today most zooarchaeologists, such as myself, are trained as archaeologists and specialize in zoology. • Have taken a lot of zoology classes. • Including Malacolgy, Ichthyology, Avian Osteology, Vertebrate Osteology.
Recovery and Counting • Recovery of bones is subjected to bias depending on screen size and soil preservation. • Counting bones is not like counting flakes, flakes are extremely predictable in how they break, whereas bones are not predictable. • Several techniques can be used to count bones: • NISP-Number of Identified Specimens, counts each bone fragment as a unit. • MNI-Minimum Number of Individuals, first defined by T.E. White in 1953 to account for each animal as an individual unit. • need to identify lefts and rights of bones from a given species.
For MNIGiven an assemblage (group of bones): • How many individuals? 3 L proximal humeri (upper arm bones) 2 R proximal humeri 4 R distal femurs (upper leg bones) 2 L distal femurs
Meat Utility Indices • MNI can be used to calculate how much meat can be obtained from a given animal. • 2 deer @ 100 lbs. of meat=200 lbs. • 5 rabbits @ 5 lbs. of meat=25 lbs.
Comparative Collections • Cannot identify animal remans without having some comparative collection. • modern skeleton for comparative purposes. • must have a series of specimens in a particular species, representing different ages and sexes. • Zoologists generally have collections of skulls and animal skins because they are interested in identifying and classifying modern species. • Weights and measurements need to be recorded so that utility indices can be estimated.
Preparation • Maceration-in water • Dermestid Beetles • Bleach-Biz • Simmering-cooking the meat off • University of TN has a skeletal collection of over 12,000 specimens one of the best in the country.
Subsistence Strategies • The primary focus of zooarchaeology is to discover the subsistence techniques used by prehistoric and historic people. • It is important to study behavior through animal remains because most of what humans do is involved with eating. • celebrations-some foods have higher status than others. • nutritional stress-what do people eat and do when times are lean? i.e. increase diet breadth • habitat-a lot of what people eat (primarily prehistoric) is predicted and controlled by their environment. • Other aspect of diet reflects human behavior: • age and sex of animals • season of site occupation • cultural preferences
Strategies • Hunting and Gathering-wild animals • Pastoralism-herding domestic animals • Horticulture-wild and domestic animals • Agriculture-wild and domestic animals
How is seasonality documented? • Presence/Absence • Migratory birds • Cold-blooded Reptiles/Amphibians • Animal young • Skeletal Change • Antler Growth • Tooth Growth • Epiphyseal Fusion • Incremental Growth Structures-Fish Bones • most useful are otoliths and spines • otoliths are calcareous “ear stones” in the inner ear associated with balance. • Mammalian teeth • cementum annuli laid down during the year. • dark band slow growth, light band fast growth.
Case Study: Oronsay Island, Scotland • Wilkinson’s study of coalfish from Mesolithic sites on island (5300-4600 ya) • Otoliths-sectioned and season of death documented. • Found seasonal fishing at four sites • Cnoc Sligeach-July to August • Cnoc Coig-Sept-November • Priory Midden-Winter to Early Spring • Caisteal nan Gillean-Spring to Summer • Probably movement of one group from site to site over the course of the year.
