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Dear all,
This is a final call for papers for the 'Zooarchaeology of Pastoralism' session at ICAZ 2014, San Rafael, Argentina. Please find below the session abstract. The deadline for submissions is 1 March 2014. Submissions can be made at the following address: http://www.icaz2014argentina.com/inicio/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=24&lang=en
Please contact us if you have any questions.
with best wishes,
Robin Bendrey (University of Reading) and Lee G. Broderick (University of York)
ZOOARCHAEOLOGY OF PASTORALISM
Organizers: Lee G. Broderick ([log in to unmask]) and Robin Bendrey ([log in to unmask])
Pastoralism is a form of agriculture (food production) which is focused on the raising of livestock. Societies that have chosen to engage in pastoralism as a subsistence strategy may find that it becomes the defining feature of their individual
lives and their collective culture – at the very least their livelihoods come to depend upon the successful and regular creation of animal based products (either for direct consumption or for trade) and, thus, they form symbiotic relationships with their herds.
The interdependence of people with particular animals has led to the adoption of a broad spectrum of land-use patterns and labour divisions around the world, ranging from full nomadism, through transhumance to more closely managed pasture
exploitation as individuals, families and (occasionally) larger groups of humans direct their herds towards the most abundant and best quality sources of food and water.
Zooarchaeologists, with a de-facto research interest in the relationship between people and animals through time, are uniquely placed to investigate the development of pastoralism and its variations. This session aims to investigate issues such as how much variation in pastoralism is culturally driven and how much it is geographically or climatically driven? To what extent do people directly control their animals and to what extent are they equal partners in their enterprise or else animal-led? To what extent does the type of animal define the type of pastoralism (e.g. is it possible to live in the same way with bovids, suids, cervids and camelids)? How and why do the compositions of herds and human-animal relationships vary? How does pastoralism develop through time?