Archaeozoology is the study of the animal remains from archaeological sites.
Archaeozoologists are interested in the relationship between humans and animals in the past.
Archaeozoologists answer questions about whether animals were scavenged, hunted or herded.
They also examine how animals were butchered, how much meat they contributed to the diet, when animals died, and the process of domestication.
Other information can be derived from faunal analysis as well.
Faunal studies can show what animals were hunted and eaten and in what proportion.
Faunal analysis can also provide an estimate of the ratio of adult to juvenile animals and of male to female animals.
Analysis of animal bones can yield important information.
A determination as to whether the animal was dismembered at human settlements or killed elsewhere can be made.
Fracture patterns in long bones may reveal intentional breakage to remove marrow.
Analysis of cut marks on bone can provide information on butchering techniques.
Identification and Counts
The archaeozoological work begins with cleaning, cataloging, and conserving the faunal remains recovered from fieldwork.
The bones are usually numbered so that information on their original provenience at the site is recorded.
Initial sorting of the animal remains often is based on size and type of bone.
Many bones cannot be identified beyond broad categories.
Archaeozoologists collect and deflesh dead animals for comparison purposes.
The species list is an important step in faunal analysis involving the identification of the finds.
This list contains the names of the different kinds of animals present in the faunal remains at a site.
Many bone fragments cannot be identified, or can only be determined to the genus or family level.
The number of individuals of each species is counted.
The NISP, the number of identified specimens, records the total number of bones from a species that have been identified.
The MNI, the minimum number of individuals, is based on counts of the number of a unique skeletal part from a particular species.
Calculating these numbers is difficult.
Example: Extinction is Forever
By the end of the Pleistocene about half the large land mammals became extinct in North America.
Two major explanations have been proposed to explain this pattern.
One explanation is that humans caused the extinctions.
They argue that very similar climatic changes during earlier periods did not result in the extinction of species.
The appearance of Paleoindian hunters around 11,000 years ago coincides with the demise of a number of the species.
A second explanation was that the environment was the key cause.
A number of extinct species are never found at archaeological sites.
There is no direct evidence of human predation on some animals species.
Other, non-mammalian species suffered extinction at the end of the Pleistocene.
Age and Sex
Age and sex determination is typically only done for the most abundant species or in situations of special interest.
This information can provide insight into the role of herding.
Questions of site seasonality can also be explored.
There are specific indicators that archaeozoologists look for in the bones and teeth to determine age and sex.
Sex distinctions are found both in the size of animals and in certain bones, teeth, and other body structures.
Age determination is more difficult in animals.
Many species are rather short-lived.
A few species of animals have clear age markers.
Tooth development is a commonly used indicator of animal age.
Another common and reliable method for determining animal age is the study of annual growth rings.
Archaeological Thinking: Animal Domestication In Southwest Asia
Domesticated species can typically be identified at archaeological sites.
Domesticated species are generally smaller than their wild ancestors.
The shape of horns often changes in the domestic form.
The microscopic structure of bone also undergoes modification in domestic animals.
Mindy Zeder and Brian Hesse found another way to identify domesticated species.
They identified the age and sex of animals that had been killed at a pre-farming site in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran.
Herded animals are slaughtered when the herder decides.
For most species, the average age of death for domesticated animals is younger than for wild animals.
A difference was found in the age of animals before and after 10,000 years ago.
Seasonality
Animal remains provide the best evidence for determining season of residence at the settlements of non-sedentary populations.
Some species of animals are only present during certain times of the year.
A number of species of deer lose their antlers at known times of year and replace them some months later.
Many species of animals have fixed and known seasons of birth.
Faunal and floral remains were analyzed at a Mesolithic site called Smakkerup Huse in eastern Denmark.
The site dates to approximately 4500 B.C.
Information from multiple animal species and plant remains suggests year-round occupation.
Example: Star Carr
The site of Star Carr lies in northeastern England and dates to around 9000 B.C.
The site contained thousands of artifacts, numerous barbed antler points, many animal bones, and a wide range of wood and bone tools.
Numerous animal species were represented.
There has been a long debate in archaeology about the time of year that people lived at Star Carr and the kind of site it was.
The original excavator suggested the site was a base camp for three or four families during the winter months of the year.
This interpretation has been questioned by a number of others.
The original evidence for seasonality was taken from the presence or absence of deer antlers.
Recent examinations of the data have led to different conclusions.
In the 1980's the suggestion was made that there was year-round residence at the site, but with a clear emphasis on the summer months.
A recent study in 1998 used a new technique to age the red deer jaws and determined that the deer mandibles actually indicated a winter presence at Star Carr.
The sources of meat were also examined at Star Carr.
Clark argued that the hunters of Star Carr primarily focused on this animal red deer based upon the abundance of bone.
However, relative meat yields of the species present should also have been considered.
More meat came from the bigger aurochs and the European elk than the red deer.
Science in Archaeology: Seasonality in the Preneolithlic
Around 10,000 B.C. some human groups began to domesticate wild plants and animals.
The earliest known domesticates first appeared in Southwest Asia.
During the Preneolithic, there was a distinct increase in the use of plant foods.
Particularly noticeable is the range of equipment for processing plants.
Sites were often located in areas of cultivable land, but such settlements depended on wild cereals.
Hunting continued, and more immature animals were killed, including gazelles and wild goats.
Settlements were composed of a number of circular houses with stone wall foundations.
Graves were found inside and outside the houses.
The question of when sedentism appeared is important for understanding the origins of agriculture.
Seasonality is less pronounced in subtropical and tropical regions, including Southwest Asia where agriculture originated.
Daniel Lieberman studied gazelle teeth.
He found that sedentism developed during the Preneolithic.
Other archaeozoological evidence confirms permanent residence at these sites.
Sedentary residence began 2000 years before the origins of agriculture.
Taphonomy
Taphonomy is the study of what happens to an organism after its death.
The discipline includes decomposition, post-mortem transport, burial, and the variety of other biological, physical, and chemical changes that take place.
A number of indicators can be observed on the surface of bone that document various taphonomic processes.
The largely invisible physical and chemical changes that take place in bone after burial are known as diagenesis.
Butchery
Butchery is another taphonomic process that animal bones undergo after death and prior to burial.
Animal carcasses were often cut up in certain ways to obtain the most meat possible and to make portions transportable.
Identification of the size and shape of butchered parcels indicates the cuts of meat that were sought after.
Cutting and butchering often leave distinctive traces or cut marks on the bones themselves.
Example: Cut Marks And Early Humans
How early humans obtained meat is a controversial issue.
Some archaeologists believe that the first humans were primarily scavenging the kills of lions and other predators.
Others contend that early humans were in fact hunters.
Evidence from a number of sites suggests that early humans brought animal parts to a common location and removed meat and marrow with stone tools.
Potts and Shipman have observed that cutmarks are sometimes found on top the marks left by the teeth of carnivores.
Such a pattern suggests that the animal was killed by a large carnivore, scavenged by humans, and then eaten by smaller animals.
Other evidence suggests that early humans may have hunted small game but scavenged the carcasses of large game.
Example: Gold Rush Menus
Historical archaeology is the branch of archaeology that deals with the recent past.
There are very few written records of many of the everyday aspects of life.
Excavations in the center Sacramento, California uncovered a series of buildings dating from the early settlement of the city.
Gold was discovered in 1848, which led to a migration to the state.
The archaeological excavations uncovered four buildings of particular interest: the jail, a low-class saloon, a more prosperous bar, and a hotel for well-to-do visitors to the city.
Archaeozoologists examined the cattle bones that were found at the sites to get some idea of the quality of the meat that was being consumed at each place.
More than 1500 beef bones were recovered in the excavations.
The kind of bone found reveals the cut of meat that was popular at a particular place.
A relationship was found between the type of building and the quality of the meat consumed.
Secondary Products
Domestic animals provide a number of products besides meat.
These other uses and materials are sometimes referred to as secondary products.
Several animal species serve as draft animals for humans.
Milk is consumed directly or turned into a variety of dairy products.
Other resources include blood, wool, hair, hides, bones, horns, and antler.
Worked Bone
Bone, antler, ivory, teeth and horn have been used by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic and probably earlier.
Some have argued that our earliest human ancestors used osteodontokeratic tools.
Early humans did not modify these items.
It is impossible to prove that these objects were used since they are unchanged.
Bone tools are modified by intentional breakage, cutting, drilling, grooving, grinding, or polishing.
Bone, horn, antler, and teeth can be shaped in a variety of ways into a range of tools.
Needles, disks, plaques, hoes, weapons, and many other artifacts were crafted from bone.
Animal teeth were sometimes perforated in the root and used as pendants and bangles.
