The Future of Zooarchaeological Collections in Twenty First-Century Scholarship

Summary

Zooarchaeological research is nearly impossible without comprehensive comparative collections that aid in the identification and analysis of archaeofauna. Throughout her career, Diane Gifford Gonzalez has been a strong proponent of developing and maintaining comparative research collections of modern and ancient vertebrate specimens. In this paper, I discuss the current state of zooarchaeological collections in twenty-first century scholarship. I highlight the William R. Adams Zooarchaeological Laboratory at Indiana University, which contains over 10,000 modern specimens from all over the world. The lab recently completed a massive overhaul of its curation facilities, with the help of a large award for capital improvements from the National Science Foundation. The investment in comparative collections by the National Science Foundation demonstrates the fundamental importance of these resources. Quality comparative collections are the foundation of zooarchaeological research, and the quality of the research is directly limited by the quality of the comparative resources available. Efforts have now turned to three-dimensional scanning of the comparative collection in order to help overcome a major hurdle in zooarchaeological research: bringing irreplaceable research collections and comparative collections together from disparate geographic locations. I will also discuss digitization results within the context of broader anthropological and ecological research goals.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• "Bones are Not Enough": Research in Honor of Diane Gifford-Gonzalez   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

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