Theme:
Theories and methods in archaeological sciences
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each
Title:
Understanding activity patterns of animals: methods, applications, and human-animal relationships
Content:
Physical activity reconstruction through skeletal markers has been used to examine human activity patterns for a long time. For animals, skeletal changes such as pathological lesions, entheseal changes, bone cross-sections, and stable isotope analysis can similarly be used to assess physical activity and mobility patterns. Animal activity patterns are useful for multiple purposes, including analysis of animal management practices, transhumance, identification of working animals, and animal domestication. Analysis of activity patterns also plays a crucial part in the construction of osteobiographies of animals. Moreover, the recent ‘animal turn’ in social sciences as well as the growing body of archaeological studies on people’s engagements with animals have created a heightened need for methodologies suitable for the identification of the various activities animals performed with and without their human companions. This session focuses on the reconstruction of physical activity of animals from different perspectives. We welcome papers focused on methodological advances in animal activity assessment, as well as case studies and papers discussing the relevance of such studies for understanding human-animal relationships and animal agency in past societies.
Keywords:
Zooarchaeology, Mobility, Activity, Human-animal relationships
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Main organiser:
Dr. Anna-Kaisa Salmi (Finland) 1
Co-organisers:
Dr. Sirpa Niinimäki (Finland) 1
Dr. Charlotte Henderson (Portugal) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Oulu
2. University of Coimbra
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