Zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology: study of animal remains to elucidate past human life, in historic and prehistoric time (Diane Gifford-Gonzalez 2015). It is the “love child” of several disciplines and methods, including
Zoology: study of living animals, for their own sakes.
Paleontology: study of past animals and their evolution, for their own sakes.
Faunal analysis: any study of animal remains, to elucidate any topic.
How Zooarchaeology informs the study of human-animal relations.
Zooarchaeology complements several sister disciplines, such as paleoethnobotany, paleoecology, and historical ecology. Multi-faceted studies combining these specializations help us understand how humans in the past navigated diet, interacted with (and manipulated) their environment, and exploited animal resources in early economies.
