Understanding human movement and interaction through the movement of animals and animal products

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of human migration has re-emerged in archaeological discussion. However, to date there has been no explicit review of the role that zooarchaeology may be able to play in this field of debate. A variety of zooarchaeological techniques may be exploited; species biogeography, metric and non-metric variation are all important areas of research. Furthermore, several other techniques may help to elucidate the problem of related human and animal movement, including the recognition and sourcing of animal products, and genetic analysis of modern animal populations and ancient faunal remains. The integration of these fields of study with other methods (including some often considered to be outside of the archaeological canon) is fundamental to the understanding of human movement and interaction, and the current lack of a theoretical framework for the study of such phenomena is a major problem