The application of ethnographic, ethnoarchaeological and ethnohistorical analogies to inform interpretations of animal bone accumulations is deep-rooted in the history of zooarchaeology (eg Binford Reference Binford1978). Such research has been used to cast light on assemblage formation processes (most especially taphonomic histories), subsistence and consumption behaviours and relationships between people and animals in the past more generally. This tightly edited and well-produced collection of sixteen papers, stemming from a session at the International Council for ArchaeoZoology quadrennial conference in Mexico City in 2006, testifies to the continued strength of this tradition. In the process, it firmly establishes the term ethnozooarchaeology within academic literature.
The breadth of research represented in this volume is impressive: eleven different countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania are represented. The topics covered are equally broad, but partitioned into four coherent sections: methods; fishing, hunting and foraging (ie subsistence); food preparation and consumption; and husbandry and herding.
The geographic diversity is matched by diversity in theoretical and methodological approaches. Indeed, it merits emphasis that the lead editor does not seek to establish or impose a rigid framework for ethnozooarchaeology; rather, his ambition is to emphasize the value of ethnography, ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory as heuristic devices to provide a ‘healthy reminder’ (p 2) of the complex, entangled relationships that exist between people and animals within and between societies in the past and the present. In particular he underscores the value of this approach in moving beyond the simplistic dichotomy between economic/ecological or socio-cultural explanations. I wholeheartedly agree with these motivations, although I would argue that zooarchaeologists have made considerable headway in dispelling the notion that they are ‘restricted to the reconstruction of palaeoenvironments and palaeoeconomics’ in recent years (for example, O'Day et al Reference O'Day, Van Neer and Ervynck2004).
As is typical of conference proceedings, there is some variability in the quality and depth of research underlying each paper. Nevertheless, each contributor identifies important issues regarding the relationships between people and animals, demonstrating that animals remain ‘good to think with’; the inter-connections between ‘socio-cultural’ and ‘economic’ are especially well drawn out. Particularly stimulating papers included explorations of the deployment of dogs in hunting in Central Africa (Lupo); causes of calf mortality in Masaai herds (Ryan and Kunoni); and family-level subsistence fishing in the Pacific (Hudson). The absence of acritical uniformitarianism throughout the volume is to be applauded. Somewhat frustratingly, however, the majority of contributors go no further than contemplating the implications of their research for zooarchaeological interpretation and reflecting upon the challenges of doing so, rather than negotiating archaeological data in light of their findings. This criticism aside, this volume does contain a useful compendium of current research and will be of relevance to zooarchaeologists and ethnoarchaeologists working in many different geographic and temporal contexts. I have no doubt that it will act as a stimulus for future research in this established, but newly defined field.
