Course Description

The aim of this lecture is to understand the research methods and latest trend in zooarchaeology, and to reconsider the history of human – animal/environment relationship. Shell middens will be the theme of the second semester. Shell middens tend to be regarded as a garbage heap in the Jomon period. However, they are found from other periods, and were sometimes production sites, graves, or ritual sites. With the development of diverse of analytic methods, enormous data are extracted from them leading to detailed reconstruction of past environment and life ways.