[Animal] Skeletons in the Closet: Decolonizing Comparative Faunal Collections

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Reckoning with Legacy Exhibits, Data, and Collections" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Northern Arizona University, Department of Anthropology, Faunal Analysis Laboratory (NAUDAFAL) prioritizes decolonizing zooarchaeology through our work. Despite this mission, the lab’s comparative collection is stored and organized in alignment with arbitrary Euro-Western epistemologies and lacks Indigenous perspectives for organizing and handling faunal remains. Our presentation outlines how we collaborated with Indigenous communities in northern Arizona to decolonize our comparative collection and create a safe space for Indigenous students interested in zooarchaeology. Our work included a physical reorganization of the comparative collection, the creation of a provenance recording protocol, and appropriate identification and dissemination of the animals present in the lab. Beyond implementing a material reorganization that is more inclusive of Indigenous students, the project wove stronger, more reciprocal relationships between anthropology students and Indigenous communities by training students in decolonizing methodologies. Additionally, this project confronts a gap in the discipline, as there is little existing literature on decolonizing comparative research collections.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Reckoning with Legacy Exhibits, Data, and Collections   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52169