What the Animals Tells About Us. Survival Strategies of the Guerrilla Warfare in Northwestern Iberia Through the Faunal Remains

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The recent development of Contemporary Archaeology in the Iberian Peninsula has prompted the progressive incorporation of well-known archaeological methodologies to delve into recent historical processes. This is the case, for example, of taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis, even though its use for tackling contemporary contexts is still in its beginning, as we will discuss from a historiographical point of view. In this paper we will reflect on the possibilities of this type of analyses through a case study based on the archaeology of the Spanish anti-Francoist guerrilla in northwestern Iberia, which was active throughout the 40s of the 20th century. As we will show, faunal remains unearthed in different camp sites offer new insights on the guerrilla phenomenon and on their survival strategies. The high level of organization showed by the faunal remains actually challenges traditional ideological views on the guerrilla that stem from Francoist propaganda, remaining until today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow