Scientific Program

Thematic Sessions:

• A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: THE ROLE OF WILD ANIMALS IN FARMING SOCIETIES
• AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF ZOOS: HISTORIES, MATERIAL CULTURE, CONSERVATION
• ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS
• ANIMALS AND COMPLEXITY: HOW ARCHAEOZOOLOGISTS CONTRIBUTE TO THE STUDY OF COMPLEX SOCIETY IN THE NEW AND OLD WORLDS
• ARCHAEOMALACOLOGY
• ARCHAEOZOOLOGY AND COLONIALISM
• BONE RAW MATERIAL EXPLOITATION IN SOUTH AMERICA
• CATTLE AND COD : TRANSITIONS IN THE LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN NORTH ATLANTIC
• CAVES AND VERTEBRATES
• CUT MARK RESEARCH: NEW AND OLD WORLD PERSPECTIVES ON ADVANCES IN BUTCHERY ANALYSIS
• DOG/WOLF POSTER WORKSHOP
• ETHNOZOOARCHAEOLOGY
• EXPLOITATION OF COASTAL RESOURCES: NEW AND OLD WORLD PERSPECTIVE, Section I
• EXPLOITATION OF COASTAL RESOURCES: NEW AND OLD WORLD PERSPECTIVE, Section II
• HERDING PRACTICES AND TECHNIQUES: MODELS AND METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
• LANDSCAPE ZOOARCHAEOLOGY: MULTI-SITE ANALYSIS, HINTERLANDS AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
• METHODS FOR DERIVING SUBSISTENCE INFORMATION FROM FAUNAL REMAINS IN COASTAL CALIFORNIA SITES
• MOLLUSKS OF PRECOLUMBIAN MEXICO
• NEOTROPICAL ZOOARCHAEOLOGY AND TAPHONOMY
• REVISION AND REJECTION: REPORTING THE NEGATIVE RESULT
• SAVE AND PASS DOWN THE ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL HERITAGE: ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL DATABASES
• SMALL PREY AND THEIR HUNTERS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF SMALL-ANIMAL EXPLOITATION
• SUSTAINABLE USE OF WILDLIFE: THE VIEW FROM ARCHAEOZOOLOGY
• ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT: HUMAN IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON CULTURE
• ZOOARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LATE PLEISTOCENE/EARLY HOLOCENE IN THE AMERICAS

Session Abstracts and Organizers:

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: THE ROLE OF WILD ANIMALS IN FARMING SOCIETIES. Session organizer: Jacqui Mulville (MulvilleJA@Cardiff.ac.uk)

Session Abstract: This session focuses on the exploitation of wild animals in farming societies. Questions asked center on the whether wild animals were procured in these societies simply to provide resources unavailable from domestic species, to provide food at lean times of year, or to serve a social and symbolic role in these societies? In particular, papers explore how zooarchaeologists can go beyond economic interpretations of wild animal usage and explore the wider role of hunting in human societies.

AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF ZOOS: HISTORIES, MATERIAL CULTURE, CONSERVATION. Session Organizers: Hannah O’Regan (H.J.O'Regan@livjm.ac.uk), Sally Reynolds, Cornelius Holtorf

This session will bring together recent studies on zoos from an archaeological perspective. An archaeological approach to zoos can be undertaken on many levels, from a consideration of human-animal interactions, through landscape analysis of the zoo setting to the study of the remains of the animals themselves. The aim is not only to make a novel contribution to the understanding of zoo animals and their (past) cultural contexts but also to underline the potential of an archaeological perspective within the emerging interdisciplinary field of Zoo Studies. The results of such studies will inform much more than just archaeology, as there is scope for input into areas such as history and modern conservation biology.

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS. Session Organizers: Alice Choyke (h13017cho@helka.iif.hu; Choyke@ceu.hu); Lynn Snyder (SnyderL@SI.EDU)

All societies mix human and animal, as well as animal and animal, features in their religious and mythological imaging. The issue of animal transformations speaks strongly to cultural attitudes toward animals and has repercussions far beyond the spiritual life of people, reaching into the core of even the most prosaic of human-animal interactions (hunting, domestication, herding, etc.). Papers are encouraged from archaeozoologists, cultural anthropologists, art historians and all those interested in the many forms of human-animal interactions.

ANIMALS AND COMPLEXITY: HOW ARCHAEOZOOLOGISTS CONTRIBUTE TO THE STUDY OF COMPLEX SOCIETY IN THE NEW AND OLD WORLDS. Session Organizers: Justin S E Lev-Tov (jlevtov@uab.edu ); Susan D. deFrance (sdef@anthro.ufl.edu )

We hope in this session to demonstrate similarities and differences in New World and Old World approaches to the use of animals by complex societies. Through comparisons of method, theory, and application among diverse complex cultures in different geographic regions of the world we seek to establish a dialog between researchers working on similar themes. The session will concentrate on archaeological periods covering the first emergences of complex societies and continue on to include more recent states and other forms of politically complex cultures. We invite papers dealing with issues of zooarchaeology and complex society from any area of the world, but especially encourage contributions from archaeozoologists living or working in Third World and Latin American countries.

ARCHAEOMALACOLOGY. Session Organizer: Canan Cakirlar (canancakirlar@yahoo.com )

Papers for this session will focus on a broad range of topics: comparing and discussing molluscan evidence in terms of global ecological trends; aquatic adaptations; human impact on environment; continuity and discontinuity in cultural traditions; trade relationships; gender and social identity. Papers dealing with regional, inter-regional, methodological, environmental, and anthropological problems, bringing in multiple proxy-data together are encouraged rather than restrictively site-specific discussions or merely descriptive presentations.

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY AND COLONIALISM. Session Organizers: Pam Crabtree, Douglas Campana (PamCDougC@comcast.net )

This session will examine both the zooarchaeology of Spanish, French, and British colonialism in the Americas and zooarchaeological approaches to Roman colonialism in the Old World.

BONE RAW MATERIAL EXPLOITATION IN SOUTH AMERICA. Session Organizer: Vivian Scheinsohn (scheinso@mail.retina.ar)

Bone technology has not been a topic of study in South American zooarchaeology until relatively recently. This is gradually changing and interest in bone as a raw material is increasing. In this symposium we will try to reinforce this trend, supporting the informational potential of bone artifacts in order to enhance the development of this exciting line of inquiry. A variety of papers will be presented, to cover the wide array of environmental and cultural contexts where bone raw materials were utilized.

CATTLE AND COD : TRANSITIONS IN THE LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN NORTH ATLANTIC. Session Organizer: George Hambrecht (ghambrecht@gmail.com)

This session will examine the transitions between the Early and Late Medieval periods as well as the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods in the North Atlantic. This session will use the zooarchaeology of the North Atlantic to define the relationship of this region to our traditional period delineations as well as to the European and American continents.

CAVES AND VERTEBRATES. Session Organizers: Terry O’Connor (tpoc1@york.ac.uk); Luis Alberto Borrero (laborrero2003@yahoo.com)

In this session, we propose to review the state of our knowledge regarding the use of caves by people and other vertebrates, and our understanding of caves as places that both attracted and preserved bone assemblages generated by people and other predators and scavengers. How do we distinguish the activities of the many possible users of a cave? How do we integrate the archaeological evidence from caves with open sites in the same region? And how do we preserve and curate zooarchaeological assemblages in situ, in caves that are often attractive for recreational reasons?

CUT MARK RESEARCH: NEW AND OLD WORLD PERSPECTIVES ON ADVANCES IN BUTCHERY ANALYSIS. Session Organizer: Krish Seetah (kseetah@hotmail.com )

The session will explore a range of issues concerning the zooarchaeological study of animal butchery, including species variation and differences in the butchery techniques; the expression of cultural and ethnic identity through butchery in varying geographic localities; variation in methods used for researching butchery based on species, period, location; the extrapolation of economic trends from butchery data. The session will highlight research that focuses on conceptual attitudes as opposed to purely socio-economic interpretations. It will provide a forum for new research techniques and methods used to study butchery and demonstrate the importance of understanding overall process and links with implements.

DOG/WOLF POSTER WORKSHOP. Session Organizers:Â Susan Crockford (sjcrock@shaw.ca); Raul Valadez, Mexico (raul_valadez@hotmail.com)

We encourage all participants to report on any dog and/or wolf remains in their possession (including undisputed fully domestic dogs, early breed morphotypes, putative early dogs, wild wolves, tamed wolves and wolf/dog hybrids). The ultimate objective is to start a global dog/wolf database on prehistoric canid remains. The idea is to record the critically important traits and measurements of these remains in a consistent format (no more than two pages), and present them in poster form.

ETHNOZOOARCHAEOLOGY. Session Organizer: Umberto Albarella (u.albarella@sheffield.ac.uk)

This session will address archaeological questions through the study of human-animal relations in recent human societies. Any activities of traditional societies interacting with animals, such as hunting and husbandry strategies, slaughtering and butchering, ceremonial and ritual practices, techniques of deposition and disposal, etc., can be included. It is hoped that such diversity of papers will also be reflected in the internationally of the participants, and in the variety of approaches, ranging from anthropology, to ethnohistory and pure zooarchaeology.

EXPLOITATION OF COASTAL RESOURCES: NEW AND OLD WORLD PERSPECTIVE, Section I. Session Organizers: Florencia Borella (fborella@soc.unicen.edu.ar); Wietske J. Prummel (w.prummel@let.rug.nl)

This session explores the worldwide exploitation of coastal resources during the history of mankind. Papers and posters may be proposed that are dealing with: 1. the provision of food, such as molluscs, crustaceans, fish, birds and sea and coastal mammals; 2. the provision of raw materials, such as shells and bones; 3. the transportation of wild and domestic animals along coasts, between mainlands and islands, and between continents; 4. the impact on the wild fauna by human activities on the coast, such as dwelling, hunting, gathering, animal husbandry, introducing exotic plants and animals, and building dikes and damming gullies; 5. the contribution of marine and non-marine food to human and animal diet through stable isotope research; and 6. other topics related with the exploitation of coastal resources.

EXPLOITATION OF COASTAL RESOURCES: NEW AND OLD WORLD PERSPECTIVE, Section II. Session Organizers: Tiina Manne (tmanne@email.arizona.edu); Daniela Klokler (dklokler@email.arizona.edu)

Our session aims to integrate current coastal zooarchaeological research in the Old and New Worlds. We will focus on themes of shifting coastal dynamics, the relationship between terrestrial and coastal resources, intensification of marine subsistence exploitation and the connections between social organization of human populations and coastal resources. In this way, we hope to connect research that is separated by sometimes vast geographical and temporal settings. We aim to highlight both the similarities and differences in contemporary research and provide an opportunity for discussion between participants as well as the audience. Our session, with its participants involved in research from many areas of the coastal Old and New World, promises to be an informative, rewarding and enjoyable experience.

HERDING PRACTICES AND TECHNIQUES: MODELS AND METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. Session Organizers: M. Balasse (balasse@mnhn.fr ), H. Yacobaccio, N. Goepfert, D. Helmer & J.-D. Vigne

This session aims to highlight diversity in herding practices and techniques, by distinguishing between constraints and choices, among physiological, environmental and cultural factors modeling the herding system. Ultimately the aim is to define how reference models should be used (how transferable are they, from one species and/or environment to another and how they reflect management practices) and to discuss the appropriate methodological tools to be used to infer this diversity in archaeozoological assemblages.

LANDSCAPE ZOOARCHAEOLOGY: MULTI-SITE ANALYSIS, HINTERLANDS AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS. Session Organizers: Polydora Baker (polydora.baker@english-heritage.org.uk); Andy Hammon (andy.hammon@englsih-heritage.org.uk)

Ideally zooarchaeologists would like to comment upon how animals and animal products moved through the landscape and the degree to which husbandry practices and exploitation determined socio-economic and -cultural settlement hierarchies. The aim of this session is to draw together case-studies and methodological approaches that address these issues. It is envisaged that papers will cover a range of chronological epochs from both the Old- and New Worlds to provide an eclectic overview of diverse approaches to this under-developed component of zooarchaeological analysis.

METHODS FOR DERIVING SUBSISTENCE INFORMATION FROM FAUNAL REMAINS IN COASTAL CALIFORNIA SITES. Session Organizers: Michael A. Glassow and Terry L. Joslin

Scholarly attraction to shell middens dates very early in California archaeology. Starting in the 1870s, shell mounds along the Santa Barbara coast and the Channel Islands were the first archaeological sites in California to attract museum-financed artifact collectors. Through time, researches have gradually shifted from a strict emphasis on artifact descriptions and distributions to incorporating faunal analysis as a means for exploring prehistoric ecological adaptation. Technical innovations borrowed from other disciplines have made it possible to employ a range of methods to explore the varying roles and contributions of marine and terrestrial fauna in prehistoric diets. In this session, participants will present and evaluate techniques and methods being used for the analysis of faunal remains from coastal California prehistoric sites. These techniques and methods, some of which are still under development, will be related to ongoing efforts to understand the nature of and change in subsistence systems of California's prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fishers.

MOLLUSKS OF PRECOLUMBIAN MEXICO. Session Organizer: Norma Valentin

Mollusks were very important for the societies of Precolumbian Mexico. The meat of tehse animals were eaten, and the shells were transformed into different sorts of objects, mainly ornaments and ritual implements. Some species were so valued that they were traded from the coasts to inland sites, sometimes miles away. The purpose of this symposium is to present recent researches carried out in Mexico about different aspects of the usage of mollusks by the societies of ancient Mexico: as food resource, as a valuable item traded in some regions, the manufacture techinques used to transform the shells into objects, and its symbolic and religious value.

This session focuses on ecological and biogeographic issues in Neo-tropical archaeozoology. It will highlight specific research problems in the region from ecological, evolutionary, and biogeographical points of view. It will seek to identify both the primary research problems in Neo-tropical archaeozoology and ways of addressing these problems.

REVISION AND REJECTION: REPORTING THE NEGATIVE RESULT. Session Organizer: Jill Weber (jweber@sas.upenn.edu )

The purpose of this session is to assemble examples of "negative results" that might not otherwise be publicized, in order to strengthen our collective protocols. Identification of the reasons for which specific failures occur may lead to revision of a particular theory or method and even a better understanding of why it does work in other cases. Ultimately, this will foster more reasoned integration of the results of different types of archaeological inquiry.

SAVE AND PASS DOWN THE ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL HERITAGE: ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL DATABASES. Session Organizers: Cecile Callou (callou@mnhn.fr); Joaquin Arroyo; Roel Lauwerier & J.-D. Vigne

Everywhere in the world, the number of archaeozoological data are more and more increasing. They are very diverse in type both because of the diversity of the information which can be drawn from archaeozoological remains and because of the variety of techniques used to produce and to present the data. In addition, in each country, the publication of archaeozoological data is scattered into many different media, either paper or electronic. Consequently, according to the countries and chronological periods, a more or less important part of these data get out of reach and finally are lost for science. It is thus urgent to inventory archaeozoological assemblages, either already studied or not, and to collect archaeozoological data, either officially published or not. Classical research databases which have been proposed and used by numerous archaeozoological groups since the 1980s are no more able to manage such an amount of so diverse and dispersed data. However, the technological progress in the field of electronic databases and international communications permits both sustainable saving of these data and worldwide access to them for any potential user, scientific or not. This situation makes a true heritage management possible, but asks the questions of the intellectual property, of the institutional status of the databases and of the funding for their management. The challenge of sustainable saving and electronic displaying archaeozoological heritage poses numerous questions: what kind and what form of data? How to give guaranties of intellectual property for unpublished data? Do we have to save and display only validated data and, if so, what are the validity criteria to be chosen? If all the data are displayed, how could we avoid misuse by people unable to criticize the validity? Which technical organization of the database is needed and what protocol for encoding? How to get specialized staff and funding for this kind of heritage work? This session will be the opportunity to compare experience and points of view of different scientists in different countries, and to try to converge toward a relative homogeneity of the different ventures on hand or to be undertake in the future.

SMALL PREY AND THEIR HUNTERS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF SMALL-ANIMAL EXPLOITATION. Session Organizers: Karen Lupo (taphos@gte.net ); Dave Schmidt

This symposium presents a collection of papers that utilize pointed, fine-grained techniques to investigate when, why and how human hunters pursued small game. From Europe to the Caribbean to Central Africa, small prey assemblages from archaeological and ethnoarchaeologicl contexts are examined to identify hunting strategies and technology, changes in diet breadth and human organization, and food sharing patterns.

SUSTAINABLE USE OF WILDLIFE: THE VIEW FROM ARCHAEOZOOLOGY. Session Organizer: Jack Frazier (kurma@shentel.net )

This symposium will promote the exchange of recent information and idea from a variety of regions, marine and terrestrial. It will also provide a forum for the frank exchange and scholarly debate of hypotheses and opinions bearing on varying positions in regard to the importance of prehistoric human activities on wildlife species. In order to put the results of the archaeozoological work into a broader perspective, the final part of the symposium will explore linkages with other disciplines that are fundamental to understanding the conceptual and theoretical constructs basic to the sustainable use debate.

ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT: HUMAN IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON CULTURE. Session Organizers: Christopher M. Gotz (mayaicaz_06@yahoo.com ); Kitty F. Emery (kemery@flmnh.ufl.edu)

This session explores the close interaction between environment and culture, as it is expressed in the zooarchaeological record of the ancient Maya. The papers in this session will discuss the zooarchaeological evidence for the impact of the ancient Maya culture on the environment and its animal populations, ancient responses to environmental conditions and changes, and the synergystic relationship of humans and environments in this area. The research topics can range through all phases of this culture: Preclassic, Classic, Post-classic and Colonial. We also welcome papers about modern interaction and use of faunal resources in the Maya area under the above described general topic. Theoretical and methodological discussions are appreciated, as are papers presenting faunal analysis from any site or area in the subregions of the Maya world.

ZOOARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LATE PLEISTOCENE/EARLY HOLOCENE IN THE AMERICAS. Session Organizer: Matt Hill (matthill@email.arizona.edu)

The early settlers of the Americas (12,000 to 8,000 14C yrs BP) are often presented as small, highly mobile groups who relied primarily on large mammal hunting. Participants in the proposed session will debate this view using current zooarchaeological evidence collected from multiple regions of North America (Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, American Southwest, Great Basin, Pacific coast of California, Beringia, Northeast) as well as Central and South America. The goals are to (1) highlight regional and temporal variation in the use of faunal resources at this time and (2) compare and contrast the diverse methodological and theoretical perspectives used by investigators.

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