Experimental Zooarchaeology: Research Directions and Methods

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Anthropology and Museum Studies

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

Zooarchaeology, put simply, is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites (Reitz and Wing 1999:1). In the United States the term is used interchangeably with terms such as faunal analysis, archaeozoology, and osteoarchaeology (Baker, Shaffer, and Steele 1997:298). The research goals of zooarchaeologists can be divided into three broad camps: those primarily biological in nature (e.g., paleoenvironmental studies, paleozoogeography), those primarily anthropological in nature (e.g., studies of human mobility, diet, butchery, hunting patterns, exchange systems), and those focused on methods (e.g., quantification, identification, field methods for recovery).

Comments

This book chapter was originally published in Designing Experimental Research in Archaeology: Examining Technology through Production and Use.

Due to copyright restrictions, this chapter is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Rights

Copyright © 2010. University Press of Colorado. All rights reserved.

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