"Ethics of Care in Zooarchaeology: Towards a More Compassionate Practice"

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Animal Matters: Ethics in Zooarchaeology from Discovery to Display" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Historically, the treatment of animal bodies in archaeology has normalized viewing them as resources, reflecting a perspective disconnected from animals as agentive beings. In this way, settler science centers Care for animal bodies around availability for future research, naturalizing their position in colonized spaces such as zooarchaeology laboratories. We propose a reorientation that centers anti-colonial approaches to standard operating procedures, organizing zooarchaeological laboratory practice around respectful, empathetic, and ethically responsible care for all. Recently, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Social Zooarchaeology Lab (SZL) created and implemented ethical protocols in conjunction with its summer undergraduate internship program. Acknowledging our position at a land-grab institution, we emphasize transparency, reflection, and accountability, and seek to provide care to all humans and nonhumans in the SZL. This includes providing transparency regarding the origins of animals in our comparative collection and committing to their ethical obtainment; prioritizing mindfulness surrounding archaeological and comparative animals’ status as once-living beings; and attempting to ensure that our practices respect Indigenous, Native American, and descendant communities' perspectives, not just western scientific priorities. By redefining care in the SZL, we aim to disrupt the false naturalization of traditional archaeological practices and foster a more ethical approach to studying past human-animal interactions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Animal Matters: Ethics in Zooarchaeology from Discovery to Display   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51951