3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course is intended to introduce students to the discipline of zooarchaeology, the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. Humans have long depended on their animal counterparts not only for nutritional value, but for their economic, symbolic, and social value, making the study of animals in the human past deeply revealing of the entangled worlds that humans and animals lived in together. In service of this investigation, zooarchaeology, or the study of animal remains from archaeological sites, has developed interdisciplinary techniques in order to address archaeological questions. Zooarchaeology has the ability to provide insight into ancient human behavior around the world including economic strategies, dietary practices, religious observances, ecological interactions, and more. The course will introduce students to the basics of archaeological investigation and the identification of faunal osteological remains on archaeological sites, as well as some of the basic tools and techniques used to derive meaningful conclusions from primary data. Students will be introduced to the principles of comparative anatomy and the major elements of mammalian, avian, and fish skeletons. Students will also be taught to recognize significant markers for taphonomy, sex, butchery, age, and pathology and how this information is used to generate archaeological knowledge. Supplementary readings that help illustrate the application of these techniques to archaeological interpretation will be provided and discussed in class.