Umberto Albarella

Peter Rowley-Conwy

Anton Ervynck

Keith Dobney

Pigs are one of the most iconic but also paradoxical animals ever to have developed a relationship with humans. This relationship has been a long and varied one: from noble wild beast of the forest to mass produced farmyard animal; from a symbol of status and plenty to a widespread religious food taboo; from revered religious totem to a parodied symbol of filth and debauchery. Pigs and Humans brings together some of the key scholars whose research is highlighting the role wild and domestic pigs have played in human societies around the world over the last 10,000 years. The 22 contributors cover a broad and diverse range of temporal, geographical, and topical themes, grounded within the disciplines of archaeology, zoology, anthropology, and biology, as well as art history and history. They explore such areas as evolution and taxonomy, domestication and husbandry, ethnography, and ritual and art, and present some of the latest theories and methodological techniques. The volume as a whole is generously illustrated and will enhance our understanding of many of the issues regarding our complex and ever changing relationship with the pig.

10,000 Years of Interaction

Pigs and Humans

Cleia Detry

Sónia Gabriel

Catarina Ginja

Ana Elisabete Pires

This new collection of papers from leading experts provides an overview of cutting-edge research in Old World zooarchaeology. The research presented here spans various areas across Europe, Western Asia and North Africa – from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Several chapters focus on Iberia, but the eastern Mediterranean and Britain are also featured. Thematically, the book covers many of the research areas where zooarchaeology can provide a significant contribution. These include animal domestication, bone modifications, fishing, fowling, economic and social status, as well as adaptation and improvement. The investigation of these topics is carried out using a diversity of approaches, thus making the book also a useful compendium of traditional as well as more recently developed methodological applications. All contributions aim to present zooarchaeology as a discipline that studies animals to understand people, and their richly diversified past histories. This will be a valuable source of information not just for specialists, but also for general archaeologists and, potentially, also historians, palaeontologists and geographers, who have an interest for the research themes discussed in the book. The book is dedicated to Simon Davis, who has been a genuine pioneer in the development of modern zooarchaeology. It presents hugely stimulating case studies from the core areas where Davis has worked in the course of his career.

From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic

Themes in Old World Zooarchaeology

Despite the fact that the human life of the past cannot be understood without taking into account its ecological relationships, environmental studies are often marginalized in archaeology. This is the first book that, by discussing the meaning and purpose we give to the expression `environmental archaeology', investigates the reasons for such a problem. The book is written in an accessible manner and is of interest to all students who want to understand the essence of archaeology beyond the boundary of the individual subdisciplines.

Environmental Archaeology: Meaning and Purpose

Umberto Albarella

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