Zooarchaeology, also known as archaeozoology, is the subdiscipline of archaeology that analyzes animal remains recovered from archaeological excavation contexts. These remains include bones, teeth, antlers, horns, mollusk shells, fish scales, and avian eggshells. By examining faunal assemblages, zooarchaeologists reconstruct prehistoric human diet and subsistence strategies, the timing and anatomical markers of animal domestication, pastoral herd management, environmental conditions, and the ritual or symbolic roles of animals in ancient communities. The discipline connects natural biological sciences with human cultural history, demonstrating how human societies adapted to their ecosystems and reshaped wild species through selective breeding and pastoral economies.
A fundamental theoretical pillar of zooarchaeological analysis is taphonomy, a concept introduced in 1940 by Soviet paleontologist Ivan Efremov to study how organic tissues transition from the biosphere into the lithosphere. Zooarchaeologists systematically differentiate between cultural modifications made by humans (such as stone-tool cut marks, chopping marks from carcass dismemberment, intentional bone fractures for marrow extraction, and thermal discoloration from roasting) and natural non-human processes (such as carnivore gnawing, rodent chewing, root etching, weathering, and trampling). To quantify faunal assemblages, analysts employ two standard metrics: NISP (Number of Identified Specimens), which counts every individual identified fragment attributed to a given taxon, and MNI (Minimum Number of Individuals), which calculates the smallest number of individual animals required to account for the identified skeletal elements by tracking paired bones (such as left versus right femora) and developmental age stages.
Zooarchaeology provides primary empirical evidence for tracing animal domestication during the Holocene agricultural transition. Morphological markers of domestication include a reduction in overall body size compared to wild progenitors, shortening of the facial skull, crowding of teeth, reduction in horn and tusk dimensions, and the retention of juvenile physical characteristics into adulthood (neoteny). Demographically, pastoral management produces distinct slaughter profiles: a high mortality rate among juvenile and subadult males combined with high survival rates for adult females indicates managed dairy and breeding herds, in sharp contrast to the non-selective mortality profiles typical of wild game hunting. In South Asia, excavations at Mehrgarh in Balochistan by Jean-François Jarrige documented the progressive transition between 7000 and 5500 BCE from hunting wild gazelle, deer, and wild sheep to herding domesticated zebu cattle (Bos indicus), sheep, and goats. At mature Harappan urban settlements, zooarchaeological studies confirm that humped zebu cattle were the predominant domestic animal used for milk, traction, and meat, accompanied by water buffalo, sheep, and coastal marine fishing.
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