As hunter-fisher-gatherers, the lives of Mesolithic humans in Britain would have revolved, to a great extent, around the daily encounters and interactions with animals that were necessary for the provision of nutrients for survival. Traditional narratives of human-animal relations have viewed animals through an economic lens, interpreting their significance in terms of the nutritional or material resources they provided Mesolithic humans. However, more recent studies argue human-animal relations in the past should instead be considered as developing through their daily interactions and engagements with each other, in which animals have the potential to play an active role in shaping human understanding. In such narratives, animals are no longer a resource: instead, they are potential agents. This thesis uses zooarchaeological data from four Early Mesolithic faunal assemblages from Southern Britain to characterise the appearance, habits and behaviours of the species and individuals within each assemblages. These are used to consider the specific encounters humans had at each site, and the particular understandings humans formed as a result. Ultimately, if human treatment of animal remains was guided by an understanding developed through encounter and engagements, it is vital these experiences are understood. Furthermore, negotiations of relationships developed through encounters are traced through processes of hunting, killing, butchery, consumption, and deposition, exploring how these understandings and relationships are manifest in the material record.

Le6 and Le7 are Early Iron Age settlements located in north-eastern South Africa in the Kruger National Park. These two open-air sites, immediately adjacent to one another on the west bank of the Letaba River, likely date to circa 500-800 AD. The wild-dominated Le6 and Le7 faunal assemblages allow for a site-level examination of the treatment of wild species within the highly variable spectra of Early Iron Age animal use. Using previously unanalysed faunal material, this study moves beyond basic procurement interpretation to examine more than just the pure subsistence choices present at these hunting-dominated sites. Instead, new socially-focussed zooarchaeological questions are asked by coupling traditional morphological analysis with taphonomic analyses and theoretical frameworks of intensification. Through this, both the procurement and processing methods utilised at Le6 and Le7 are identified and the significance of these choices are discussed. The occupants at these sites showed an intensive preference for predominantly adult large wild mammals. These were then processed in similarly consistent manners, with explicit focus on the largest, most easily accessible muscle groups and in-bone fat sources. Among other factors, the scant evidence of cooking and signs of speed in processing suggests the majority of preparation was focussed not on immediate consumption, but possibly on secondary transport of the animal resources off these sites. Altogether, rather than traditional residential Early Iron Age sites, Le6 and Le7 are considered as repeatedly re-used, shorter-term hunting bases for intensified, and possibly specialised, large wild mammal-use a potentially new faunal use strategy and site type for the period and region. The socio-economic implications and potential drivers of these faunal choices are then considered within the broader context of the southern African Early Iron Age. The place of expanded zooarchaeological methods and theories in social archaeological questions and more emic lines of site interpretation is also introduced, here specifically presented in the context of re-exploring the role and significance of wild animals at two Early Iron Age sites. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Anthropology and Archaeology / MA / Unrestricted

Zooarchaeological material from prehistoric settlements usually make up a large amount of the archaeological record. Despite this, research on the material is seldom utilized to its full potential. This is very much the case for the famous iron age settlement at Helgö. Therefore, in this thesis animal bones recovered from building group 4 at Helgö were analyzed using both osteological and taphonomic, as well as spatial variables as a mean to gain a better understanding of various aspects of the settlement and life at prehistoric Helgö. The results from the zooarchaeological analysis provide insight in social activities and practices concerning both human and animal interactions. The animals are found to have been an important part of the lives of the people at Helgö. Both spatial and structural differences in the material reveal various attitudes towards the animals and bring to light a diversity of activities and practices surrounding the settlement and Helgö.

Horses have played a large part in many cultures across the world, the Scandinavian Viking Age included. They are frequently found in graves and sacrificial sites, meant to denote, or represent the status and social caste of the humans they served. More and more studies and research projects are now taking place where the horses are allowed to take center stage, but these rarely touch on the subject of the horse’s agency. Were the abilities of the horses themselves what determined whether they be brutally sacrificed, or whether they keep serving the living? This is an area of study which hopes to introduce new perspectives into a complicated, lengthy debate over horses in sacrificial contexts, and shift focus away from the anthropocentric perspective that has dominated the subject. This study will discuss the archaeological and osteological finds in Scandinavia through a social zooarchaeological perspective, in an effort to offer a different perspective and to give agency to one animal that helped to shape our world.