This is the first book to provide a systematic overview of social zooarchaeology, which takes a holistic view of human-animal relations in the past. Until recently, archaeological analysis of faunal evidence has primarily focused on the role of animals in the human diet and subsistence economy. This book, however, argues that animals have always played many more roles in human societies: as wealth, companions, spirit helpers, sacrificial victims, totems, centerpieces of feasts, objects of taboos, and more. These social factors are as significant as taphonomic processes in shaping animal bone assemblages. Nerissa Russell uses evidence derived from not only zooarchaeology, but also ethnography, history and classical studies, to suggest the range of human-animal relationships and to examine their importance in human society. Through exploring the significance of animals to ancient humans, this book provides a richer picture of past societies.
• The first comprehensive overview of the emerging field of social zooarchaeology • Argues for the importance of recognising the symbolic and social roles of animals in past societies • Suitable for all zooarchaeologists and archaeologists with interests in animals
Contents
1. Beyond protein and calories; 2. Animal symbols; 3. Animals in ritual; 4. Hunting and humanity; 5. Extinctions; 6. Domestication as human-animal relationship; 7. Pets and other human-animal relationships; 8. Animal wealth; 9. Meat beyond diet; 10. Studying human-animal relations.
Review
'This is the textbook that the zooarchaeological community has needed and been waiting for over the last decade … Russell has successfully brought together an exceptionally diverse literature into a coherent textbook that will, I believe, become a classic in the long-term. In the short-term, it is already encouraging exciting research among the student body and will certainly help to support existing efforts to bring on a new generation of zooarchaeologists who are capable of more thought-provoking interpretation of the data they produce.' Naomi Sykes, Antiquity
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