Global Perspectives on Biomolecular Approaches to Human-Animal Interactions Past and Present

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Global Perspectives on Biomolecular Approaches to Human-Animal Interactions Past and Present" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Applications of biomolecular approaches in archaeology are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in the field and encompass a wide range of methods, including stable isotope analysis, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis. These methods provide previously unattainable long-term data that informs our understanding of past and present environments.

Increasingly, we see these methodologies being implemented into the study of human-animal interactions. Integrating biomolecular methods into archaeological research increases our understanding of dietary patterns, domestication and animal husbandry, human migration patterns through the trade and exchange of animals and their byproducts, the study of health and disease transmission between humans and animals and impacts of long-term human mediated change on faunal populations.

This symposium highlights how biomolecular approaches are being implemented into archaeological studies around the world to increase our knowledge of human-animal interactions, both in the past and present.