BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

What Is Zooarchaeology?

How animal remains deepen our understanding of the past

An example of animal bones collected from an archaeological context. Photograph by Sasha Flit; courtesy of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.

What is zooarchaeology? Anyone who works in the field of zooarchaeology has been asked this question on numerous occasions. One of the more memorable queries was by a student who thought it meant that it was the study of the archaeology of zoos. While it could be interesting to excavate a zoo, this is not what zooarchaeologists do. Simply stated, zooarchaeology is a subfield of archaeology that focuses on the examination of animal remains in an archaeological context. Though they both study animal remains, zooarchaeology is distinct from paleontology. Paleontology is focused on plant and animal fossils, generally predating the appearance of humans, whereas zooarchaeology is focused on animal and human interactions.

Animal remains are some of the most abundant finds in archaeological contexts, but it was not until the rise of “processual archaeology” (also called the “New Archaeology”) in the 1960s that zooarchaeology took off as a distinct subfield. The processual archaeology movement was more anthropologically based than earlier archaeological approaches and it focused on understanding material remains—including ceramics, lithics (stone tools), and bones—from a more scientific perspective to understand the past. Archaeological excavations began to employ experts to study each type of material culture. Animal bones thus came to the spotlight against the background of a heightened interest in the wide array of artifacts that a society left behind.

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Unlike the study of ceramics or lithics, faunal studies focus on remains that were once living. Zooarchaeologists can study a wide array of remains, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, molluscs, and even insects. In southern Levantine studies, the most abundant animal remains belong to mammals that ended up in archaeological contexts because they were either hunted or raised by people. This relationship between mammals and humans is the main interest of zooarchaeology. But what can animals leave behind? The most abundant among faunal remains are bones and teeth, but other remains include hair, hide, wool, scales, and tools made from bone as well as the byproducts of bone production.

Zooarchaeology seeks to answer several major questions. At the basic level, zooarchaeologists study animal remains to understand what they are and why they are in the context in which they have been found. These specific questions help zooarchaeologists better understand larger questions related to human behaviors, such as human diet, cultural practices, and social organization, or how humans and animals interacted in the past, including hunting practices and domestication. Scientists can also gain insights into the ancient environment of the site and the past climate.

Examining excavated animal bones using a comparative collection. Photograph by Sasha Flit; courtesy of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.

Before zooarchaeologists can reconstruct how humans and animals interacted in the past, they must study the faunal remains excavated from a site. They study faunal remains to identify the species, size of the animal, bone element (e.g., cranial, vertebral, long bone), age of the animal when it died, skeletal completeness (i.e., is more than one bone from the same animal present), and condition of the bones. Specifically, it is necessary to examine the morphology of the bones—that is the structure and form of a bone, including size, shape, and arrangement—to determine the portion and species. Ancient samples are compared to modern skeletons to get a more precise identification (see image above). Bones are also measured to determine size ranges of the mature animals present in the collection. One of the main ways to answer questions related to domestication of animals concerns the size of animals and changes to their morphology. Bones are also estimated for the age at death of the animal, and zooarchaeologists do this by examining the completeness of bone parts that fuse over time. On many species, certain bones have a proximal and/or distal epiphysis and diaphysis. These bone portions fuse over time and at predictable rates with the maturation of individuals, as bone tissue replaces cartilage, which then indicates the animal’s age when it died. With certain animals—notably gazelle, sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs—it is also possible to use the teeth of lower jaws to determine their age at death. This estimation is based on the known ratio in which teeth erupt and are replaced, as well as their following wear. The examination of modifications to the bone surface is also of great importance, and it can provide information about the process that the bones went through, from the time of acquisition, through preparation for consumption, to their discarding and modern excavation.

Examining and documenting cut marks. Photograph by Sasha Flit; courtesy of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.

After completing the methodological studies of the bones (described above), the data may be used to answer questions related to human diet, since humans have relied on animal resources for food. Zooarchaeologists examine the faunal remains from an archaeological context to understand the meat diet in a specific context. Understanding what animals are present and in what percentages helps us piece together the overall food choices of a city, village, or settlement. Also, examining how the food was prepared (cut marks, size of meat portions, cuts of meat, and cooking choices) helps understand questions related to cuisine and the larger food practices (see image above). As the choice of food and the methods of its production, preparation, and consumption may reflect the people’s culture, social status, trade routes, hunting opportunities and more, many aspects of the human past can be reconstructed through understanding the faunal remains.

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While most of the faunal remains, as mentioned above, represent leftovers of meals, some animals arrived at the site for various other reasons. The non-food animals include those that were scavenging the leftovers of human consumption or sought shelter from predators. They also include animals buried as part of a ritual (see image below), or animals that had many roles in the service of humans. For example, the dog that aided in hunting, herded small livestock and guarded the settlement, and the camel, donkey and horse that were used for riding and movement of goods. Some animals that were eaten were exploited earlier for other aims. Sheep and goats could be milked and exploited for their wool or hair, and cattle were sometimes used for plowing the field.

Goat forelimb found buried near the threshold of an Iron Age I Philistine house. Photo courtesy of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon.

In the past, faunal studies tended to focus on animal remains to simply understand people’s diet or subsistence strategies (i.e., how a society acquires their food). But more recent studies take a more holistic approach to understanding human-animal relationships. This movement, called “social zooarchaeology,” highlights that animals have always served as more than food. They were companions, helpers, symbols of status and wealth, healers, and spirit guides. They’ve also served as victims of sacrifice, the centerpiece of feasts, and even the objects of taboo. This novel approach to understanding human-animal interactions considers their importance in all aspects of human society.

Any zooarchaeological study requires knowledge in several other fields of study, including ecology, anthropology, and archaeology. Ecology can look at how animals relate to the environment in which they were born, raised, and died, which helps zooarchaeologists understand human subsistence patterns and effects to the ancient landscapes. Anthropology considers the ancient human in their context, which is essential for understanding the relationship of the animal remains to the humans who raised or hunted them. Finally, understanding the archaeological context in which the animals were excavated helps piece together the story of how the animal may have come to rest in a particular spot, and for what purpose.

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By reconstructing all the above ways in which animals were parts of human life, zooarchaeologists can understand cultural practices and social processes on the regional level, within a group, society, or civilization. To do so, zooarchaeologists compare the data from one site to data found at another site and in different locations within that site. Contextualizing a site within broader patterns of animal exploitation helps answer questions related to specific cultural practices. Meat consumption practices may be evident in the choice of specific animals and in the ways meat is prepared and consumed. For example, in the southern Levant, eating sheep is very common throughout many historical periods. But if the faunal remains uncover something more unusual that was consumed at a given site, such as dog or pig, then comparing it to another site may be helpful for understanding if the practice was specific to the one site or common within a region (see image below). If one finds that several nearby sites show evidence of a unique consumption, but this is not the case in the larger area, then it may be a marker of a specific cultural practice. Contextualizing the site within broader patterns may also tell us about trade routes, economic opportunities and constraints, and about the forces that work behind these behaviors.

Cut dog mandible, indicating butchering and dog consumption in Iron Age I Ashkelon. Photo courtesy of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon.

Contextualizing different locations within a site may reveal certain details of social hierarchy and organization. An understanding of social hierarchy requires an understanding of the context in which bones are uncovered. For example, if certain animal species appear in elite domestic spaces but are missing in smaller and less opulent domestic spaces, then these meat choices may be evidence of how social standing may affect dietary choices. This understanding can be used in the opposite direction, to aid in the understanding of the archaeological context—if certain animals and meat choices are found in a specific location, and not in another, it may indicate a social organization. Additionally, studying animals buried as part of rituals or consumed in feasts may tell us about ancient cultural habits and the society that carried out these ceremonies.

This is still only a small portion of what zooarchaeological studies may offer to the larger discipline of archaeology. Without this important area of research, it would be impossible to understand human-animal interactions and the attitudes of past people toward animals and (meat) food.

Deirdre N. Fulton is Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. She specializes in the history and archaeology of the southern Levant, particularly focusing on faunal remains in archaeological contexts.

Lidar Sapir-Hen is Associate Professor and head of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. Her main research interests include the interaction between humans and animals in the past, from prehistoric to historic periods, in the context of economic, political, social, and environmental changes.

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