Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the session:

‘Putting the humor back into zooarchaeology’

The session will be held at the 13th ICAZ International Conference (Ankara, Turkey, 2nd-7th September 2018). It shall discuss how elemental philosophies, including humoral theory, can help to interpret zooarchaeological data (the session abstract is given below). 

We welcome papers (15 minutes in length) and poster submissions from students, academics and professionals. The deadline for 200-250 word abstracts is March 30th 2018. Submission details are given at: http://www.icaz2018ankara.com/index.html .

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Kind regards,

Rachel Small [log in to unmask]

Dr Richard Thomas [log in to unmask]

Session abstract: Putting the humor back into zooarchaeology

Western elemental philosophy, the understanding of the cosmos though the four elements (earth, fire, air and water), originated in ancient Greece. Humoral theory developed out of these ideas, linking the elements to the four bodily fluids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm), and became the dominant Western ontology during the Greek, Roman, medieval and early modern periods.

Humoral theory described an integrated world, explained the causes of events, and gave meaning to human experience, until its influence ended in the nineteenth century with the development of germ theory. Similar philosophies remain important today in many parts of the world and there have been growing calls for a return to the broad principles of this approach in contemporary society, such as the ‘One Health’ initiative.

Despite the centrality of this way of thinking in the past, archaeological interpretations seldom interpret the evidence within this ontological framework. Jones et al. (2016) have recently called attention to this problem arguing that “these ancient cosmologies … might provide fairer representations of past cultures, through the readoption of ideas that they understood rather than through the imposition of more recent and thus anachronistic frames of analytical reference”. 

In this session we welcome contributions from anywhere in the world, and in any time period, which evaluate archaeological evidence through the lens of elemental philosophy and humoral theory. Potential topics to discuss in this session include: diet (of humans and animals); animals as medicine; animal health; the perception of animals; and, farming practices.

Jones, R., Miller, H. and Sykes, N. 2016. Is it time for an elemental and humoral (re)turn in archaeology? Archaeological Dialogues 23: 175-192.