Zooarchaeology (2nd Edition)
by Elizabeth J. Reitz and Elizabeth S. Wing. Cambridge Manuals in
Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. xxiv+533 pp.
ISBN 978-0-521-85726-0 (hardcover) US$95. ISBN 978-0-521-67393-8
(paperback) US$45. ISBN 978-0-511-37270-4 (eBook) US$36. 2008.
Book Review
T
he first edition of Reitz and
Wing’s Zooarchaeology, published in
1999, provided a much-needed general
overview of all things zooarchaeological.
Although earlier publications presented
detailed coverage of specific topics
within zooarchaeology or less comprehensive introductions to the analysis
of animal remains from archaeological
sites, Zooarchaeology provided the needed
balance between introductory material
suitable for undergraduate students and
comprehensive coverage of zooarchaeological method and theory suitable for
more advanced students and researchers. As an example of the former, Zooarchaeology has been the standard text for
several years in my third-year zooarchaeology class at McMaster University,
and has generally been well received by
the students. The volume provides suitable coverage of the topics and issues
I address in this course and is a good
starting place for students to begin more
detailed research on specific aspects of
zooarchaeology. Perhaps more indicative
of the volume’s success is the fact that
in less than a decade it has been cited
by 95 academic sources listed in the ISI
Web of Science Cited Reference Search
(http://apps.isiknowledge.com/). This
is undoubtedly a minimal measure of
the total academic impact of the volume,
given the inherently limited coverage of
such search engines and the fact that
much zooarchaeological writing is limited to unpublished reports. Notably,
four of these citing sources are reviews of
the first edition, and while all reviewers
had minor complaints, they universally
applauded the book for filling a gap in
the zooarchaeological literature and for
providing a good introductory text for
undergraduate students.
The major structure of the volume,
including chapters and their subdivisions, is largely unchanged in the second
edition. The first five chapters provide
an introduction to the background
knowledge and theory necessary for
understanding and analysing zooarchaeological assemblages. These include
the nature and scope of the field of zooarchaeology (Chapter 1), the theoretical
and historical basis of zooarchaeological
studies (Chapter 2), basic animal biology
and key biological concepts (Chapter 3),
ecology (Chapter 4), and the taphonomic processes affecting zooarchaeological remains (Chapter 5). Chapter 6
presents an overview of the steps and
methodologies involved in gathering
primary zooarchaeological data, while
Chapter 7 summarises various secondary
data that can be calculated, including
estimates of body dimensions, construc-
Canadian Journal of Archaeology/Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 33: 158–161 (2009)
Zooarchaeology(2ndedition) • 159
tion of age classes and sex ratios, relative
frequencies of taxa, skeletal frequencies, estimates of dietary contributions,
modifications, and niche breadth. Three
chapters highlight interpretive aspects of
zooarchaeological study, including interpretations of human diet and subsistence
practices (Chapter 8), animal domestication (Chapter 9), and zooarchaeological
contributions to understanding past
environmental conditions (Chapter 10).
The concluding chapter addresses ways
in which zooarchaeologists can make
meaningful interpretations despite the
incomplete and taphonomically altered
nature of zooarchaeological assemblages.
Several appendices further contribute to the volume, including a
taxonomic list of species mentioned
throughout the text (Appendix 1), and
a series of specimen drawings that will
be of considerable use to introductory
students (Appendix 2). Appendix 3,
essentially a complete chapter itself,
outlines in detail four aspects of responsible zooarchaeology: care of reference
collections, management of archaeofaunal collections during study, disseminating the results, and long-term curation.
Appendix 4 presents a “hypothetical
collection” of faunal remains, based
on data from an 18th century Spanish
residential occupation in St. Augustine,
Florida. This collection is used throughout the methodological and interpretive sections of the volume to provide
a consistent case study of the various
approaches or methods described
throughout the text, and to exemplify
many of the analytical methods and
forms of quantification. The bibliography is extensive (82 pages; approximately 1,500 sources), though far from
all-encompassing, and is perhaps one
of the greatest resources in the volume,
both for introductory students and for
researchers interested in a wide range
of topics. This is further strengthened
by extensive systematic and topical
indices.
Despite expectations of considerable
new methodological advances since the
writing of the first edition, the authors
“found that over the past decade there
are few new techniques, but there are
many new applications and interpretations” (p. 350). Specifically, applications of stable isotopes, trace elements,
and archaeogenetics have increased.
Expanded consideration of these issues
occurs largely in the third chapter, where
there is an extensive discussion of the
variety of “hard materials” in animals,
including the range of inorganic and
organic compounds that comprise the
hard tissues of vertebrates, arthropods,
molluscs, and echinoderms. New material in the section on “Seasonal Growth”
discusses stable oxygen isotopes, highlighting the relationship between δ18O
and temperature that allows for reconstruction of paleoenvironmental conditions and for the verification of seasonal
growth structures. Also new is a lengthy
section on “Genetic and Isotopic Studies,” which outlines such zooarchaeological applications of ancient DNA (aDNA)
analysis as determining relationships
of past populations of extinct or extant
animals, studying the evolutionary and
migratory history of humans, and identifying species that cannot be identified
based on morphology. This discussion
also includes the analysis of stable elements, which can provide insight into
a wide range of issues, including trade,
residence patterns, diet, trophic relationships, and food webs, as well as differentiating between morphologically
similar taxa. Consideration of these
subjects continues into the interpretive
Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 33 (2009)
160 • orchard
chapters of the volume, with a discussion
of technology in Chapter 8 that incorporates new material addressing the
analysis of lipids, proteins, sugars, stable
isotopes and DNA in residues. Similarly,
the discussion of animal domestication
in Chapter 9 includes a new section highlighting the potential for genetic studies of both archaeological and extant
animals to provide insight into domestication, particularly when combined
with traditional lines of archaeological
evidence. The need to avoid contamination of faunal samples during excavation
and curation, discussed in Appendix
3, is also particularly relevant in light
of increasing application of aDNA and
stable isotope analyses.
Notably, the discussion of aDNA analysis is entirely new to this edition, with
none of the cited references pre-dating
the year 2000. In contrast, much of the
discussion of stable isotopes was present
in the first edition, although it has been
expanded to include new applications
and incorporate recent literature. A
section in Chapter 4 describing “Dietary
Requirements for Energy and Nutrients” has been expanded considerably,
with much of this new material being
transplanted from Chapter 8 of the first
edition. Such re-organizations and movements of information within the current
volume result in more comprehensive
coverage of basic biology and ecology
in the third and fourth chapters, while
streamlining the consideration of human
subsistence in Chapter 8. Similarly, considerable reorganization of topics in
Chapter 5 makes for a more logical flow
of subjects through the course of the
taphonomic history that is likely to have
affected archaeological samples—from
death, through natural and cultural factors, through collection and analytical
factors, to the final dataset.
Canadian Journal of Archaeology 33 (2009)
Another significant addition to this
edition is an expanded discussion in
Chapter 10 of long-term human impacts
on the environment and increasing recognition of environmental dynamism
through the Holocene. Related to this is
an expanded consideration of the effects
of overexploitation of resources, which
highlights changes that such exploitation can have on the life history traits of
some species. Numerous fish, for example, have shown increased growth rates
and decreasing life spans in response to
such pressures. These issues are further
expanded in a new section on “Applied
Zooarchaeology,” which focuses on
zooarchaeological contributions to conservation biology and resource management. This involves a combination of
increasing understanding of long-term
trends in resource use and environmental impacts of humans with increasing
acknowledgement by resource managers
of the need for long-term (i.e., pre-20th
century) baselines of resource use and
abundance. The authors promote caution in these applications, however, as
simple answers to resource management
questions can rarely be gained from zooarchaeological data.
Other notable additions to the current volume include a new section in
Chapter 6 on “Identification of Human
Remains,” recognizing that human
remains are often mixed with faunal
samples due to difficulty in distinguishing them in the field. This is further
considered in a new section in Appendix 3 addressing “Special Concerns
Regarding Human Remains,” which
outlines increasing understanding of
ethical and legal issues surrounding the
recovery and analysis of human remains,
particularly in light of NAGPRA and
related legislation. A new discussion
in Chapter 7 involves a critique of the
Zooarchaeology(2ndedition) • 161
inconsistent use of terms, inconsistent
means of calculating quantifications,
and inadequate explanation of specific
methods in zooarchaeological publications. This is an important point, and
the vast array of differing approaches
to virtually all zooarchaeological quantifications in the published literature
makes standardization difficult, if not
impossible. The authors do a commendable job of striving for such standardization throughout the volume, and I
strongly agree with their suggestions for
which approaches should be labelled by
which acronyms. As the authors suggest,
“clarity in describing methods will do
a great deal to eliminate much of the
confusion that surrounds these applications and subsequent interpretations”
(p. 228).
Thus, while much of the volume has
remained unchanged from the first
edition, lengthy discussions of new
applications significantly improve this
edition of Zooarchaeology. Similarly, the
re-organization in several chapters contributes to better presentation and flow
of topics. Importantly, even the majority
of the volume, which has seen little struc-
tural change from the previous edition,
has benefited from the inclusion of new
literature. Unfortunately, I am less satisfied with the production quality of the
second edition. In particular, the quality of figures has noticeably declined.
Many of the figures have been reduced
in size, presumably to save space due to
the increased content of the volume.
Even many of the figures that have not
been reduced in size now appear highly
pixelated and are of much lower resolution and quality than the originals. Given
the inherent utility of figures in understanding zooarchaeological method and
theory, particularly for introductory students, these production issues are unfortunate. While additions to this updated
second edition may justify its purchase,
and this still, in my opinion, constitutes
the best available introductory text on
the subject for undergraduate students,
I will be retaining my copies of the first
edition, if only for the better figures.
Trevor J. Orchard
Department of Anthropology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario
Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 33 (2009)
Trevor Orchard