Animals

Professional Backgrounds and Interests:

• The participants included two zooarchaeologists and a lecturer in archaeology from the University of Paris, all with varied backgrounds including veterinary practice and animal paleopathology.

Misunderstandings in Zooarchaeology:

• There's a limited understanding among other specialists about what zooarchaeology can reveal beyond species identification, such as body part representation and ageing.

• Fragmentation of carcasses poses challenges in analysis due to the often incomplete and fragmented material.

Industrial Use of Animals:

• Historically, there's been a strong focus on the meat yield from animals, with less attention to other products derived from animal carcasses, which becomes more prominent in archaeological studies from the medieval period onwards.

Material Conservation Practices:

• Differences in conservation practices across countries affect the availability of post-medieval assemblages, with some countries discarding later material which is considered less relevant.

Misconceptions Addressed:

• Zooarchaeologists face misconceptions: one being that their work is trivial, merely counting animal bones; another is the contrast from anthropologists who may not realize zooarchaeologists deal with disarticulated and fragmented remains rather than complete skeletons.

Challenges with Data and Context:

• A major challenge is the lack of context due to improper collection and recording methods in earlier excavations, which hampers the potential insights from otherwise valuable collections.

Database and Data Sharing:

• Attempts to create large, shared databases for osteometric data have generally failed, impacting the ability to standardize and compare data across different studies and sites.

Opportunities for Improvement:

• The future could see enhancements in DNA studies to explore more recent animal populations and their genetic diversity, which is crucial for understanding historical breed diversity and implications for modern food security.

Using Legacy Data:

• There is a significant amount of 'legacy data' from developer-funded archaeology that could be better utilized to gain insights into past animal populations and their interactions with humans.

Interdisciplinary Projects:

• The most promising results seem to arise from interdisciplinary projects that integrate genetic data and other analytical methods, enhancing the understanding of historical animal populations and their relationships with humans.