Dear all,
Arek Marciniak and I are hoping to organise a session for ICAZ
2010, focusing on the development of concrete methodologies
for addressing social questions from zooarchaeological data.
If you'd be interested in contributing please drop me a line
so we can start to gauge interest.
Here's a full abstract:
"Grounding social zooarchaeology: bringing methodology to bear
on social questions"
In recent years zooarchaeologists have increasingly recognized
the social and symbolic roles that animals play for human
societies, and have sought to consider these alongside more
traditional concerns with subsistence and economy. Beyond the
interpretation of discrete ‘special’ deposits, however, it is
rarely clear how ideas drawn from anthropological theory and
ethnographic studies might actually be applied to
(zoo)archaeological data.
In this session we invite papers exploring the application of
diverse methodologies to social questions. Detailed
quantitative and qualitative analysis is crucial if an
interpretative, social zooarchaeology is to move beyond the
superficial and speculative. Participants are encouraged to
consider analytical and interpretive frameworks with potential
for bridging the gap between theory and data in social
zooarchaeology.
In particular, the session intends to scrutinize a promising
methodological direction that involves the explicit use of
taphonomic analyses to elucidate contexts of consumption,
depositional practices and differential post- mortem treatment
of species. Demonstrative case studies are also very welcome,
as are papers which step outside conventional frameworks of
taphonomic analysis.
Thanks,
David
David Orton
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Anthropology Department
SUNY Binghamton
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