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What is Archaeozoology Why is Archaeozoological Research Important? Animals have played a pivotal role in people's lives, from the very origin of the human species up to the present day. Meat, fat, milk, and blood have always provided humans with essential nutritional components. People have used fur, hair, wool, and bones to clothe and shelter themselves and to make tools that helped them in a wide variety of day-to-day activities. Animals have pulled plows, carts, and sleds, and have carried humans in both warfare and commerce. Animals have also always figured prominently in human social organization, religion, and in artistic expression, and they have served as companions and pets. Animal bones and other mineralized tissues are hardy and are usually found in some quantity in archaeological excavations, even those dating to tens of thousands years ago. With all the ways that animals have touched human life on earth, it is easy to see that durable remnants of ancient animals provide us with one of the best ways of looking at how humans adapted to their environment and to life with one another.
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