Applied zooarchaeology provides baselines which can be used in modern conservation biology to better understand how faunal communities have changed over time. This goal can only be accomplished, however, by first accounting for the multiple biases present within the archaeological record, and how they may affect sample representativeness. Taxonomic analysis was conducted on freshwater mussel shell from the late prehistoric (ca. A.D. 700 - 1200) Kinlock site, Sunflower County, Mississippi. Species-area curves and biodiversity indices demonstrate that random sampling of surface clusters of shell, up to about 4,000 valves, provides an adequate picture of the overall surface assemblage. Comparison of surface and subsurface contexts shows a highly significant difference in species numbers and proportions, indicating a need for multi-context sampling when dealing with archaeological shell deposits.

Yes / It has been argued that no fishing occurred during the British Iron Age. However, sites in the Northern Isles have been producing large assemblages of small fish bones, complicating the picture. This project reconsiders this argument by investigating fish bone assemblages excavated from the site of Swandro on Rousay, Orkney. Multiple analytical methods were applied to the assemblages in order to determine the range of species present, the method of capture and treatment of the fish, and their influence on diet. Preliminary work consisted of identifying each individual bone to element and species. Due to the size of the average specimen, scanning electron microscopy was employed to examine samples for any indication of butchery, charring, or digestion. Light isotope analysis was also utilised to determine the effects of fish on the diets of the inhabitants of Iron Age Swandro. Results from these analytical approaches indicated the occurrence of low intensity fishing activity and consumption that had no significant effect on diet. However, intensification in fishing would begin to occur during the Later Iron Age, as evident by a shift in the composition of fish bone assemblages. This project can be considered a pilot study in the successful application of analytical methods to faunal assemblages in order to develop a more detailed interpretation of the environmental aspects of a site.

Yes / Over the past two decades, archaeology has been confronting an ethical crisis with regards to the past treatment of human remains by specialists and institutions. From the creation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in the United States (McManamon 2000), to further calls for the repatriation of remains and artefacts to colonised communities from European countries (Fforde 2003), the archaeological community has been actively attempting to become more respectful in their approach to the handling and curation of human remains. However, there has been less consideration to the ethics of handling and curating faunal remains. This is arguably due to the inherent anthropocentrism of archaeology as a discipline, which automatically "others" animals and, in some cases, literally "objectifies" them as "artefacts" rather than the remains of a once-living creature. This can be observed in the process of handling faunal remains post-excavation, the lack of legal procedures regarding the ethicality of remains, and even the emotional reaction to remains on display (Fitzpatrick 2018). This paper utilises recent work in social zooarchaeology and post-humanist studies (Russell 2012; Overton and Hamilakis 2013) to critically examine the role of ethics in zooarchaeology, specifically from a non-anthropocentric perspective. By drawing comparisons with ethical concerns for human remains, this paper will further explore the possible reasons that cause such a different ethical approach for animal remains, as well as propose alterations to the currently accepted form of ethics in zooarchaeology.

Teotihuacan, Mexico, is an example of an early city that supported a substantial population in the absence of large, domesticated animals. This dissertation examines the diverse animal acquisition strategies employed by Teotihuacan’s inhabitants as part of the urban subsistence economy during its apogee (c. 200-550 CE). It integrates zooarchaeological methodologies with proteomic and isotopic techniques to analyze faunal material recovered from Tlajinga and Tlailotlacan, two neighborhoods on the urban periphery. The study has three components. The first component employs Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to examine the archaeological remains of birds at Tlajinga. It presents the first major set of avian collagen peptide biomarkers and demonstrates the utility of ZooMS for identifying birds to family and sub-family levels. This technique provides the means to categorize archaeological bird remains, which demonstrates that the residents of Tlajinga had access to a diversity of aquatic birds, illustrating lake exploitation in Teotihuacan’s urban subsistence. The second component analyzes excavated animal remains in two adjacent apartment compounds in the Tlajinga district to understand urban subsistence. It documents how animal consumption varies over space, while controlling for factors that affect taxonomic composition, such as depositional context, excavation strategies, wealth, and cultural affiliations. It appears that the variability found among different faunal assemblages at Teotihuacan may be due to local hunting practices and the choice of which activity areas of the residential compounds were excavated, rather than wealth differences among households. The third component examines the role of animals in the urban economy of Tlailotlacan and Tlajinga using new isotopic data from turkeys, deer, rabbits, and hares. The residents of these two neighborhoods employed diversified strategies to acquire wild animals for urban consumption from multiple natural and anthropogenic niches around the city. Hunting and trapping wild animals was supplemented with lake resources from the extensive lacustrine system in the Basin of Mexico, and small-scale turkey husbandry. Overall, Teotihuacan’s animal economy is relevant to understanding diversity in global urban subsistence systems; it reflects a diversified system of animal production at the household level, distinct from the specialized, and often institutionalized, large-animal economies that supported preindustrial Afro-Eurasian cities. / 2024-10-03T00:00:00Z

The study of archaeology within an ecological and evolutionary framework began with the study of changes in human subsistence through time. Within the last few decades archaeologists have expanded applications of evolutionary ecology (EE) beyond the dietary emphasis of the prey choice model toward increasingly complex and novel applications. The chapters in this dissertation provide several examples of this expansion, through novel examinations of the complex relationships between humans and their environment, as well as thoughtful examinations of social systems and non-subsistence related behavior through the prism of EE. Appendix A asks at what transport distance from a central place does big game become costly to procure relative to smaller local game? Results from this study show that big game is an economical choice at a one-way transport distance of over 100 km. These results are then used in Appendix B where isotope geochemistry is used to show both large and small game from Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon were transported over 70 km to the Canyon. Without the results from Appendix A, one would be inclined to describe the long-distance transport of large game as a costly signal, when in fact it is an economical choice, particularly in a depressed or low productivity habitat. Appendix C, demonstrates the applicability of costly signaling theory to non-dietary artifacts, by showing how geochemically sourced non-local goods contain a variety of social meaning.

This study presents an analysis of the zooarchaeological remains from Klissoura Cave 1, a Middle Paleolithic through Mesolithic site in Peloponnese, Greece. Changes in subsistence patterns are evaluated across a long sequence (ca. 80,000-10,000 BP) against a backdrop of environmental change. Results are interpreted using models from evolutionary ecology, specifically prey choice, central place foraging, and patch choice models. Two major trends are apparent in the series. One is a decline in the exploitation of high-ranked ungulate species with an overall increase in lower-ranked small game animals. The second is an increase in low-ranked small, fast-fast moving animals (e.g., hares and partridges) at the expense of higher-ranked small, slow-moving animals (e.g., tortoises). These changes cannot be accounted for by environmental shifts alone, though shifts in ungulate diversity likely track the expansion and contraction of plant communities. The increase in use of low-ranked prey indicates human population growth and demographic pressure in southern Greece during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. In addition to these overarching trends, there are changes in site use during the sequence. In the Middle Paleolithic, foragers used Klissoura Cave 1 more during the winter and overwhelmingly hunted prime-aged adult animals, maternal herds of fallow deer in particular. In the Upper Paleolithic and later periods, the site continued to be used during the winter, in addition to other times of year, but the mortality profiles reflect a natural fallow deer herd structure. There was an intense period of occupation during the Aurignacian period. This is evidenced by numerous clay-lined hearth features, a possible rock-lined structure, and increases in ornaments, as well as abundant lithic and faunal materials. The ungulate faunas are particularly rich during this period, but there is evidence of resource intensification based on increased bone marrow processing and the transport of marrow-rich elements to the site. After this period there was a gradual decline in site use through the end of the Upper Paleolithic and into the Mesolithic, though the exploitation of low-ranked resources (e.g., small, fast-moving game) indicates that populations were on the rise in there region as a whole.

The Upper Paleolithic site of Vale Boi in coastal, southwestern Portugal currently represents the earliest known case of grease-rendering in Eurasia, with initial occupation occurring during the early Gravettian at ~ 27,000 BP. Long-term exploitation of marine resources is indicated by marine shellfish remains, mainly in the form of limpets (<italic>Patella</italic>), recovered from all three cultural periods (Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian). High-level exploitation of rabbits (<italic>Oryctolagus</italic>) began with initial use of the site and continued throughout the occupations, with a possible increase in intensity at the onset of the Solutrean. Grease-rendering of red deer (<italic>Cervus elaphus</italic>), horse (<italic>Equus caballus</italic>), European ass (<italic>Equus hydruntinus</italic>) and aurochs (<italic>Bos primigenius</italic>) bones was identified through multi-dimensional taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses. Ungulate remains demonstrated extensive fragmentation and abundant evidence of impact features such as cone fractures, crushing, denting and cracking. The intensity of fragmentation and impact damage to red deer remains is significantly correlated with quantities of marrow and bone grease within these portions. Lack of density-mediated attrition of either the leporid remains or the cranial bone of red deer and horse, demonstrates that the loss of low-density, grease-rich post-cranial skeletal portions is due to human subsistence activities. Balanced body-part representation of ungulates indicates that density-mediated attrition of post-cranial elements is not related to differential transport of carcass portions. Comparison of element portion frequencies to food utility indices further demonstrates that humans were systematically harvesting marrow and bone grease throughout the Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian culture periods. The co-occurrence of fire-cracked rock, stone anvils and hammerstones corroborates this suggestion. Although grease rendering at Vale Boi pre-dates other known sites in Eurasia by several thousand years, faunal assemblages in southeastern Spain indicate that resource diversification and intensification appeared there coevally with Vale Boi. The persistence and continued intensification of subsistence practices throughout the Upper Paleolithic suggests a sustained depression of large game in relation to human populations. This was likely due to patchy, spatially-restricted resources, resulting in territorial circumscription. Only through technological innovation and novel approaches to resource harvesting, were foragers able to maintain and ultimately expand their populations in southern Iberia.

Caractérisation de l’occupation des sites de la région de Témara (Maroc) au Pléistocène supérieur et nouvelles données sur la subsistance des Hommes du Paléolithique moyen d’Afrique du Nord : exemples des approches taphonomiques et archéozoologiques menées sur les faunes d’El Harhoura 2 et d’El Mnasra » Ce travail en taphonomie et en archéozoologie se concentre sur les faunes pléistocènes de la région de Témara où deux sites fouillés récemment, El Harhoura 2 et El Mnasra, ont retenu notre attention. Il porte principalement sur l’Atérien (Paléolithique moyen/MSA), faciès culturel du Pléistocène supérieur propre à l’Afrique du Nord, dont l’aspect comportemental - en particulier les pratiques cynégétiques, la fonction des sites, l’organisation spatiale du territoire - est peu documenté. Le croisement des résultats obtenus sur les restes osseux de grands Mammifères avec les rares données régionales a permis de proposer un modèle hypothétique d’occupation des sites. Les occupations pérennes de courte durée au cours desquelles les Hommes ont effectué de multiples activités sont datées du stade 5. L’exemple d’El Mnasra montre que les Hommes ont consommé des Ongulés de toutes tailles (Gazelles, Suidés, Alcelaphinés, Équidés, grands Bovinés…) et que les différentes étapes de la chaîne opératoire du traitement des carcasses ont été effectuées in situ. Outre la grande faune, leur régime alimentaire était composé également de Tortues et de Mollusques marins. Comme l’indique l’exemple d’El Harhoura 2, aux stades isotopiques 4 et 3, en concomitance avec une dégradation climatique et une baisse du niveau marin, les occupants principaux des cavités étaient les Carnivores qui ont consommé principalement des Gazelles. Il semble que les Hommes n’ont effectué que de brefs passages dans les grottes. À l’Ibéromaurusien (Paléolithique supérieur final/LSA), le seul exemple d’El Harhoura 2 témoigne que, malgré le changement culturel observé au sein de l’industrie lithique et l’utilisation de la cavité à des fins sépulcrales, les accumulateurs majoritaires des faunes restent les Carnivores alors que les proportions d’Ongulés de tailles supérieures aux Gazelles augmentent. Comparés à plus large échelle, ces résultats mettent en exergue des similitudes dans les stratégies de subsistance qui s’ajoutent à d’autres convergences telles que l’utilisation de pigments, de Nassarius sp. … Au stade isotopique 5, le milieu littoral est exploité en association avec la consommation d’Ongulés d’assez grande taille et de Tortues aussi bien en Afrique du Nord qu’en Afrique du Sud par les Hommes Anatomiquement Modernes (HAM). La diversification des ressources n’est pas le seul fait des HAM, puisque les Néandertaliens de la péninsule ibérique et d’Italie ont également exploité le milieu littoral. Ainsi, cette période semble cruciale pour l’appréhension des dynamiques évolutives et comportementales des Hommes du MSA/HAM, non seulement en Afrique du Nord, mais également dans d’autres régions. / The Upper Pleistocene occupation of the Témara Region (Morocco) and new data concerning Middle Palaeolithic subsistence behaviour in North Africa: A taphonomic and zooarchaeological approach to the fauna from El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra”This work presents a taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis focused on Pleistocene fauna from the Temara region of Morroco with particular emphasis on the recently excavated sites of El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra. Particular attention is paid to the Aterian (Middle Palaeolithic, MSA), a techno-complex specific to Upper Pleistocene North Africa and whose behavioural aspects remain poorly documented. This is especially the case for hunting practices, site function and the spatial organization of the territory. This work proposes an interpretative model based on large mammal faunas considered in conjunction with the little regional information that is currently available. The results suggest short occupations involving multiple activities during MIS 5. The example of El Mnasra indicates that Aterian groups consumed ungulates of various sizes (Gazelles, Equidae, Suidae, Bovinae, etc.) with the entire chaîne opératoire related to the butchery of carcasses carried out on-site. In addition to large game, these groups also integrated tortoise and shellfish in their diet. The example of El Harhoura 2 demonstrates carnivores who preyed mainly on gazelle to be the site’s main occupants during OIS 3-4, a period which can be correlated with more rigorous climatic conditions and lower sea levels. Aterian groups probably occupied the rockshelter only during brief stopovers. Despite culture changes evident in the lithic industry and the site being used as a burial ground during the ensuing Iberomaurusian period (Late Upper Palaeolithic/LSA), the accumulators of the fauna at El Harhoura 2 remain carnivores and the proportion of species larger than gazelle increases. On a larger scale, these results highlight similarities in subsistence strategies that can be added to other convergent behavioural features such as the use of pigments and the presence of Nassarius sp. beads. During OIS 5, anatomically modern humans (AMH) exploited coastal areas as well as fairly large ungulates and tortoise in both North and South Africa. However, this diversification of resources is not unique to AMH as Neanderthals are known to have exploited coastal environments in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. This period is therefore crucial for understanding Middle Palaeolithic/ MSA evolutionary dynamics and related behavioural traits not only in North Africa, but also in a broader geographical perspective.

The West Kendall Tree Island site (8DA1081) is a black dirt midden situated on the northeast end of an everglades tree island. The site has been intensely disturbed by excavation pits, particularly on the highest elevations of the site, and becomes increasingly disturbed by a growing Kendall population. Faunal remains recovered in 2008 are examined to reconstruct past ecological habitats, comparing the faunal composition to tree island sites within the Florida Everglades. Based upon identifications, the composition of the site is similar to those of the region, being comprised primarily of freshwater aquatic species and aquatic reptiles, with minimal selection of terrestrial faunal resources. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This thesis presents the results of zooarchaeological investigations into diet in Neolithic central Europe. The aim of these investigations was to gain a better understanding of animal carcass processing, particularly dietary decisions made concerning intensity of exploitation of meat and fat resources. The primary focus was the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture, a sedentary community of farmers dating from c. 5500-4900BC in central Europe suspected to be the first society to utilise milk and its products in this region. The adoption of dairying, currently under scrutiny by the NeoMilk project, would have increased the availability of fat on settlements, and could have affected the way in which people utilised primary animal products. Using in-depth zooarchaeological analysis of butchery, fracture and fragmentation, this thesis presents a snapshot of Neolithic meat and fat exploitation. Patterns of butchery and heat exposure suggest differential cooking practices between sites, with a possible focus on nutrient retention at some, contrasted with a cultural preference for roasting at others. Intensive processing of bone fats, namely bone grease, was not detected at any site and it is likely that the domesticated LBK diet rendered this practice unnecessary to subsistence. Bone marrow was a much more commonly exploited resource, but variation was considerable between sites. It is possible that the intensification of dairying had a significant effect on the utilisation of bone marrow. Sites with the most evidence for milk use, detected through lipid residue and osteoarchaeological evidence, show less intensive exploitation of bone marrow than those with little or no evidence of dairying. This thesis therefore presents evidence of zooarchaeologically detectable dietary decisions being made in the face of adoption of new foodstuffs.