Current ICAZ Working Groups

Animal Palaeopathology Working Group—

The relegation of pathological observations in the literature to little more than a brief description, which is typically lacking in integration with the rest of the evidence, is unfortunately a frequent occurrence in zooarchaeology. To compound this problem there has been a general lack of consistency, and an absence of guidelines, in the recording of pathological information for animal bone assemblages. Consequently, despite the recognition of congenital anomalies and pathology in animals a shortage of comparable data has restricted many analyses to little more than case studies. Additionally there are still many aspects of palaeopathology that are poorly understood. The Animal Palaeopathology Working Group (APWG) was set up in order to try and address these problems as well as providing a forum for a multi-disciplinary discussion of the methodological and practical issues regarding the study of animal palaeopathology.

Since the inauguration of the group in 1999, the APWG has organized four meetings, participated in the 13th European Meeting of the Palaeopathology Association (2000) and organized a session entitled “Beyond ‘Interesting Specimens’: Palaeopathology and its Contribution to the Study of Animal Husbandry” at the 2002 ICAZ International Conference in Durham, England. As part of our ongoing commitment to disseminate knowledge regarding the study of animal palaeopathology, the proceedings of the latter session were published in 2005 in a volume entitled Diet and Health in Past Animal Populations: Current Research and Future Directions (Oxbow Books, Oxford).

The most recent meeting was held at the Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, Slovakia, in September 2004. The meeting included lectures on normal anatomy, histology and physiology of the animal skeletal system, pathological alterations of bones on both microscopic and macroscopic levels, and paper and poster presentations on current palaeopathology research projects. Abstracts from this conference are now accessible via our website (http://www.apwg.supanet.com/) and the publication of the proceedings is currently in progress.

The next meeting, entitled “Recording Strategies and Analytical Methods in Animal Palaeopathology: Practices, Possibilities and Problems” will be held at the Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, Kaunas, Lithuania. For additional information, contact Richard Thomas, University of Leicester, E-mail: rmt12@le.ac.uk or Linas Daugnora, Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, E-mail: daugnora@lva.lt.

In addition to regular meetings, the group has an e-mail list which allows members (which now number nearly 100) to receive a regular update of the latest news and developments in the field. We also encourage members to post questions on our discussion forum together with images on our photo center, both of which are accessible via our website. Other facilities available on the web site include a palaeopathology bibliography, details of past and future meetings, and links to a wide variety of palaeopathological resources.

Following the 2002 ICAZ International Conference, it was agreed that the APWG should have a formal committee; as such the following members volunteered to help organize future meetings and continue to promote the groups’ activities:

• Theo Antikas (Human Anatomy & Physiology Skagit Valley College, 2405 East College Way, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, USA) - co-opted for organisation of next APWG meeting.
• Robin Bendrey (CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France).
• Linas Daugnora (Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, Lithuania.)
• Ylva Telldahl (Osteoarchaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Lilla Frescativagen 7, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden).
• Fay Worley (Zooarchaeologist, English Heritage, Fort Cumberland, Fort Cumberland Road, Eastney, Portsmouth, PO4 9LD).

The APWG coordinator and official Liaison to ICAZ is Richard Thomas (School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK, E-mail: rmt12@le.ac.uk).

If anyone would like to contact the group, please e-mail us at apwg@supanet.com.

This information has been contributed by Richard M. Thomas, APWG Liaison to ICAZ.