Glossary Archaeological method and dating
Zooarchaeology
Also called: archaeozoology, faunal analysis
The study of animal bones and shells from archaeological sites, used to reconstruct diet, herding, hunting and the ancient environment.
Zooarchaeologists identify bones by species, age and sex, count them, and record butchery marks and burning. The results show which animals were kept or hunted, how herds were managed, how meat was shared, and sometimes which species people brought with them.
Cyprus suits this work because, after the endemic dwarf hippopotamus and elephant died out, the island held no mammal larger than a mouse until settlers ferried animals across. Bones show wild boar, sheep, goat, pig and, briefly, cattle arriving in the Cypro-PPNB, and fallow deer that were hunted, never domesticated, yet supplied more meat than any farm animal at most Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites (Food and Diet).
Related terms
- Assemblage
A group of objects found together in one context, such as a tomb, pit or floor, and studied as a set.
- Residue analysis
Chemical identification of traces of food, drink, oils, resins or drugs absorbed into or left on the inside of ancient vessels.
- Radiocarbon dating
A scientific method that dates once-living material such as charcoal, seeds and bone by measuring the decay of the carbon-14 it contains.