Members may be interested in a conference session which I am organising at the next ICAZ conference in Paris (August 2010). Further details about the conference can be found at: http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/icaz/ICAZ2010/00-1st%20page/1st%20page.htm

 

Please get in touch if you are interested in participating.

 

Best wishes

 

Richard

 

Lecturer in Zooarchaeology,
School of Archaeology and Ancient History,
University of Leicester.

 

 

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ANIMALS, AND THEIR BONES, IN THE MODERN WORLD (AD 1750-1950)

 

Animal bones are ubiquitous archaeological finds and it is well-recognised that their detailed study can shed light on a diverse range of past human activities. These include the identification of: subsistence strategies; economic regimes; the use of animals and animal parts in craft and industry; attitudes to animals; and the symbolic role of animals in cosmology, ritual/religion and as food items. The importance of these lines of investigation, together with the abundance of faunal remains on many sites, has meant that analyses of animal bone are now routinely undertaken as part of the post-excavation process. Despite their centrality, however, zooarchaeological studies deriving from the modern era, defined here as dating from AD 1750, have in many parts of the world remained undervalued, despite the frequency with which modern materials are encountered by archaeologists - particularly within the commercial sector.

 

This oversight is surprising when one considers the profound changes in the nature of human-animal relationships that took place in this period. In domestic livestock husbandry, for example, major technological changes were occurring, which included: the development of new breeds of livestock; the introduction of new forms of agricultural machinery; and the expanded use of artificial feed and hay, which decoupled the relationship between seasonality and natural biological cycles. Social change also profoundly affected agriculture practice. The urban population boom facilitated the industrialisation of meat and dairy production and the emergence of trans-continental food-trade networks, while the drive to increase output resulted in major changes to the conformation and appearance of domestic livestock through breeding programmes. Profound changes in attitudes to animals also occurred in the modern period, with the emergence of sentimental attitudes, the formalisation of veterinary care and the appearance of bodies dedicated to protecting animals. Yet, these attitudes coincide with a period that witnessed the widespread exploitation of certain species and their environments to satisfy growing human demand, which in some cases lead to extinction or major habitat changes.

 

There are good intellectual reasons for studying the zooarchaeology of the modern era. The wealth of documentary records, photographs, and sometimes oral history and folklore, can potentially provide for a much richer and nuanced understanding of past human-animal relationships. The combination of these sources can also afford zooarchaeologists with the opportunity to test the reliability of their models against known historical events, before those models are applied to earlier periods where such supporting evidence is sparse or missing altogether.

 

This session therefore welcomes papers from around the world that consider the zooarchaeological (and associated) evidence for animals in the modern period; specific areas of interest include (but are not limited to):

 

► The impact of the mechanisation and industrialisation of agricultural practice.

 

► The emergence of global food networks and changing consumption habits.

 

► The use of animal products as raw materials for industry.

 

► Changing attitudes to animals.

 

► The roles of animals within exploration, warfare and sport.

 

► The introduction, spread and impact of new species, or the extirpation and changing habitat preferences of existing species.