Zooarchaeology

Zooarchaeology is a hybrid discipline that combines zoology (the study of animals) and archaeology (the study of past human culture). Zooarchaeologists, also called archaeozoologists and faunal analysts, study animal remains from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, proteins and DNA. Bones and shell are the best preserved at archaeological sites. Faunal remains do not usually survive. They may decompose or break because of various circumstances. This can cause difficulties in identifying the remains and interpreting their significance.

Zooarchaeology serves as a "hybrid" discipline: combining the studies of archaeology and zoology, which are the study of past human culture and the study of animals respectively. Therefore, zooarchaeologists may be anthropologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, zoologists, ecologists, etc. However, the main focus of zooarchaeology is to not only find remnants of past animals, but to then identify and understand how humans and their environment (mainly animal populations) coexisted. Faunal remains may provide information about diet, domestication, tool use, or ritual. Zooarchaeology plays a valuable part in contributing to a holistic understanding of the animals themselves, the nearby groups, and the local environments. Zooarchaeology allows researchers to have a more holistic understanding of past human-environment interactions, thus making this topic a sub-field of environmental archaeology.