Beastly questions
Subtitle: animal answers to archaeological issues
By: Naomi Sykes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc; Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2014
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
ISBN-13: 9781472506757; 9781472506245; 9781472514943
Subjects: Animal remains (Archaeology); Human-animal relationships; History; Social archaeology; Antiquities; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology
Description: "Zooarchaeology, or the study of ancient animal remains, is a vital but frequently side-lined subject in archaeology. Many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and geography, recognise human-animal interactions as a key source of information for understanding cultural ideology. Archaeological records are also composed largely of debris from human-animal relationships, be they in the form of animal bones, individual artefacts or entire landscapes. By integrating knowledge from archaeological remains with evidence from texts, iconography, social anthropology and cultural geography, Beastly Questions : Animal Answers to Archaeological Issues provides an intellectual tool-kit to enable archaeological students, researchers and those working in the commercial sector to offer more engaging interpretations of the evidence at their disposal. Going beyond the simple confines of 'what people ate', this accessible but in-depth study covers a variety of high-profile topics in European archaeology and provides novel insights into mainstream archaeological questions. This includes cultural responses to wild animals, the domestication of animals and its implications on human daily practice, experience and ideology, the transportation of species and the value of incorporating animals into landscape research, the importance of the study of foodways for understanding past societies and how animal studies can help us to comprehend issues of human identity and ideology: past, present and future"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Animals and people : mirrors and windows; title: Animal "revolutions"; title: Wild animals and human societies; title: Animal diaspora and culture change; title: Ideas of landscape; title: The chapter about ritual; title: Friends, confidants and lovers; title: Meat; title: Animals and ideology : past, present and future.