HumAnE Archaeology

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "HumAnE Archaeology," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeology is benefiting from an explosion of increasingly multidisciplinary research, specifically from projects which combine human-animal-environmental (HumAnE) approaches. These projects bring together researchers who analyse large quantities of data analysed a variety of techniques to unpick and model long-term bio-cultural dynamics. These data can address present-day issues with implications for human-animal-environmental health and well-being.

Archaeologists are uniquely placed to contribute deep-time perspective on contemporary humanitarian issues, as identified in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which are not exclusively modern phenomenon. Investigating the impact of increasingly intensive husbandry regimes and associated environmental responses, including not only the intensification of food production, but effects from urbanisation, globalisation, climate change, disease transmission and inter-cultural conflict are relevant for today and for understanding the past.

This interdisciplinary data can be collated, considered, and presented to address these modern global challenges, and inform policy and mitigation strategies using a suite of interdisciplinary analytical approaches, including traditional (zoo)archaeological methods, biomolecular analyses, and environmental studies. This session welcomes papers that demonstrate how studying the diverse inter-relationships between humans, animals and the environment it’s possible to obtain a more nuanced appreciation of past societies and inform on the lives and habitats of those in the present.

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-11 of 11)

  • Documents (11)

Documents
  • Adventures of the Mountain Hare: An Ancient DNA Study (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexandra Jamieson. Greger Larson.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mountain hares today can be found from Scandinavia to Eastern Russia with isolated populations in Ireland, Scotland and the Alps. While their modern distribution is well understood, the extent of their past range and interactions with humans remains unknown. The primary aim of my research is to assess the natural and human-aided distribution of mountain hares across...

  • Cause and Effect: Human-Animal Relationships and Zoonotic Brucellosis in Long Term Perspective (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Robin Bendrey. Guillaume Fournié.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Zoonotic diseases remain a persistent global challenge, with some 60% of human pathogens of zoonotic origin. They disproportionately impact the world’s most vulnerable populations, particularly those living in close proximity with their animals and who have less access to health information and care. Archaeology’s cultural and biological datasets have the potential to...

  • The Effects of Sedentism and Increased Agricultural Production on Migratory Bird Flyways: A Case Study from the American Southwest (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Robin Cordero.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent studies in avian biology have highlighted the plasticity of avian migratory flyways and location of wintering grounds for a range of taxa in response to agricultural production. This research provides a test of these studies to assess if pre-contact migrations in the American Southwest could have caused a shift in the wintering grounds of migratory birds along...

  • The Human-Chicken-Environment Nexus (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Greger Larson. Julia Best. Alison Foster. Ophelie Lebrasseur. Naomi Sykes.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The chicken is a relatively recent addition to global cuisine. Unlike cattle, sheep and pigs, which were domesticated 10,000-12,000 years ago, convincing evidence for the domestication of Red Junglefowl, native to Southeast Asia, does not emerge until at 5,000 years ago, at the earliest. Furthermore, multiple strands of evidence suggest that chickens were not...

  • The Legacy of the Oceans: Past Marine Exploitation and the Sustainable Development Agenda (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jon Henderson.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. SDG14 Life Below Water recognises the economic and social benefits that sustainable use of marine resources can provide including enhanced food security, sustainable energy generation, and poverty eradication through marine orientated livelihood opportunities. While environmental sciences and ecological approaches have had a major role in the development of solutions,...

  • The Materiality of Human-Animal Relationships: Animals as Hides, Furs, Fibres, Sinew, and Tools (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Linda Hurcombe. Theresa Emmerich Kamper.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Human relationships with animals include materials not just food. Animal products provide strong resistant materials for tools, and flexible ones for clothing and containers. Humans can wrap themselves and sleep warmer because they have turned animals into clothing, bedding and shelters. The tools made from them can enable hunting, food processing, and the preparation...

  • Pyric Herbivory in Ancient North America (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Roos.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fire is a powerful tool for hunting because fire effects have important consequences on habitat and forage for prey species. Using case studies from the northern Great Plains and the Southwest US, I explore how fire-use positively impacted prey abundances or location, resulting in higher encounter rates for particular hunting strategies. Specifically, these case...

  • Shifting Baselines of the British Hare Goddess(es?) (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Luke John Murphy. Carly Ameen.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Studies of past religions tend to fall into one of two camps: tightly-focused empirical examinations of a particular religious culture, or wide-ranging phenomenological studies divorced from any local context. Little scholarship engages with the middle ground of longue durée development in particular phenomena within the same geographic region or ecological niche....

  • The Significance of Robustly Identifying Microbes in Archaeological Samples of Humans and Domesticated Animals (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Evangelos Dimopoulos. Irina Velsko. Evan Irving Pease. Laurent Frantz. Greger Larson.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Genetic species identification of archaeological specimens is difficult due to low DNA content and degradation. Yet specific and accurate identification of microbes is essential not only for identifying how diseases affect human health, but also the health of domesticated animals. Therefore, we created a method for identifying microbes via aDNA, that quantifies the...

  • Tracing the Human Exploitation of Salmonids on the Pacific Coast of North America (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Margherita Zona. Edouard Masson-MacLean. Carly Ameen. Camilla Speller. Keith Dobney.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pacific salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) are important economic and subsistence resources for contemporary and past indigenous peoples of the Pacific coast of North America. The seven recognised Oncorhynchus species each occupy different ecological niches and exhibit diversity in seasonal spawning and migratory behaviours. Although salmonid remains are ubiquitous at...

  • Tracking Ancient Animals to Provide an Archaeological Perspective on Wild Mammal Management, Conservation and ‘Rewilding’ (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carly Ameen. Joel Alves. Thomas Fowler. Greger Larson. Naomi Sykes.

    This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Human immigration and biological invasions are high-profile topics in modern politics, but neither are uniquely modern phenomena. Migrations of people, animals and ideas were common in antiquity and are frequently incorporated into expressions of cultural identity. However, the more recent the migration, the more negative modern attitudes are towards them. Native is...