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Zooarchaeology

Zooarchaeology

Zooarchaeology

3rd Edition
Elizabeth J. Reitz, University of Georgia
Barnet Pavão-Zuckerman, University of Maryland, College Park
Elizabeth S. Wing, Florida Museum of Natural History
November 2025
Not yet published - available from November 2025
Hardback
9781108475891
c.
£100.00
GBP
Hardback
GBP
Paperback

    This leading textbook introduces students and practitioners to the identification and analysis of animal remains at archaeology sites. The authors use global examples from the Pleistocene era into the present to explain how zooarchaeology allows us to form insights about relationships among people and their natural and social environments, especially site-formation processes, economic strategies, domestication, and paleoenvironments. This new edition reflects the significant technological developments in zooarchaeology that have occurred in the past two decades, notably ancient DNA, proteomics, and isotope geochemistry. Substantially revised to reflect these trends, the volume also highlights novel applications, current issues in the field, the growth of international zooarchaeology, and the increased role of interdisciplinary collaborations. In view of the growing importance of legacy collections, voucher specimens, and access to research materials, it also includes a substantially revised chapter that addresses management of zooarchaeological collections and curation of data.

    • Provides a global perspective on the history and practice of zooarchaeological research
    • Situates zooarchaeological research within a interdisciplinary context and provides concrete advice to zooarchaeologists collaborating with diverse scholars
    • Provides a clear roadmap for high-quality zooarchaeological research that can be implemented by researchers around the world at all career stages

    Product details

    November 2025
    Hardback
    9781108475891
    575 pages
    254 × 178 mm
    Not yet published - available from November 2025

    Table of Contents

    • List of figures
    • List of tables
    • Preface
    • Acknowledgments
    • 1. Zooarchaeology
    • 2. Zooarchaeological history and theory
    • 3. Basic Biology
    • 4. Ecology
    • 5. Collections, curation, and dissemination
    • 6. Disposal of faunal remains and sample recovery
    • 7. Gathering primary data
    • 8. Secondary data
    • 9. Humans as predators: subsistence and other uses of animals
    • 10. Domestication
    • 11. Evidence for former environmental conditions
    • 12. Zooarchaeology in the twenty-first century
    • Appendix 1. Taxonomic list
    • Appendix 2. Anatomical drawings
    • Appendix 3. Hypothetical Collection Data
    • Bibliography
    • Systematic Index
    • Topical Index.
      Authors
    • Elizabeth J. Reitz , University of Georgia

      Elizabeth J. Reitz is Professor Emerita at the University of Georgia. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of the International Council for Zooarchaeology Committee of Honor, and recipient of the Society for American Archaeology Fryxell and Southeastern Archaeological Conference Lifetime Achievement awards.

    • Barnet Pavão-Zuckerman , University of Maryland, College Park

      Barnet Pavão-Zuckerman is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. She is a recipient of the Society for American Archaeology's Outstanding Public Archaeology Initiative Award, and the Society for Historical Archaeology's Gender and Minority Affairs Committee Diversity Field School Award.

    • Elizabeth S. Wing , Florida Museum of Natural History

      Elizabeth S. Wing is Curator Emerita at the University of Florida. She is a National Academy of Sciences inductee, International Council for Zooarchaeology Committee of Honor member, and recipient of the Society for American Archaeology Fryxell Award and the University of Florida's President's Medallion.