Archaeobiology

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Archaeobiology, the study of the biology of ancient times through archaeological materials, is a subspecialty of archaeology. It can be seen as a blanket term for paleobotany, animal osteology, zooarchaeology, microbiology, and many other sub-disciplines. Specifically, plant and animal remains are also called ecofacts. Sometimes these ecofacts can be left by humans and sometimes they can be naturally occurring. [1] Archaeobiology tends to focus on more recent finds, so the difference between archaeobiology and palaeontology is mainly one of date: archaeobiologists typically work with more recent, non-fossilised material found at archaeological sites. Only very rarely are archaeobiological excavations performed at sites with no sign of human presence.

Contents

Flora and Fauna in Archaeology

The prime interest of paleobotany is to reconstruct the vegetation that people in the past would have encountered in a particular place and time. [2] Plant studies have always been overshadowed by faunal studies because bones are more conspicuous than plant remains when excavating. [2] Collection of plant remains could everything including pollen, soil, diatoms, wood, plant remains and phytoliths. Phytoliths are sediments and diatoms are water deposits. Each plant remain can tell the archaeologist different things about the environment during a certain time period. [3] Animal remains were the first evidence used by 19th century archaeologists. Today, archaeologists use faunal remains as a guide to the environment. It helps archaeologists understand whether the fauna were present naturally or through activities of carnivores or people. [4] Archaeologists deal with macrofauna and microfauna. Microfauna are better indicators of climate and environmental change than larger species. These can be as small as a bug or as big as a fish or bird. Macrofauna helps archaeologists build a picture of past human diet. [5]

Bacteria and Protists in Archaeology

Bacteria and Protists form two separate kingdoms, but both are fairly similar when compared. Bacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms, while protists are a group of eukaryotic organisms. Because both are microorganisms, both fall under the study of microbiology and special techniques are required for archaeologists to even see them. Archaeologists, in order to find these microorganisms in a site, have to first take samples from the site and bring them in for lab analysis. [6] Once in the lab, they can use equipment such as optical microscopes, in order to actually see evidence of micro organic remains. Archaeologists that look at these microorganisms do not actually find the living bacteria or protist, but instead find indentations left behind in material from where they had been. Depending on where the indentations [7] were in the strata, archaeologists can determine the age of the microorganisms. [8]

Paleomycology

Paleomycology is the study of fungi in the fossil record. The study of past fungi can lead to the evolutionary past. Much of fungi are made up of parasites of animals, plants or insects. Most of the contemporary fungi resemble its ancestors, dating back over a million years ago. For example, “In the Dominican amber, a mosquito was found with several types of parasitic fungi growing on its outside cuticle. What is interesting is that the fungi resemble modern day fungi in class Trichomycetes, which are common gut-inhabiting zygomycetes of insects, but they differ from Trichomycetes in that the fungi are on the outside of the insect rather than the inside.” The study of ancient fungi can be used to track the evolution of fungi through millions of years. [9]

Osteology in Archaeology

The study of osteology is a study of bones and can be a subdiscipline in archeology. Osteologists in archeology reconstruct bones of humans or animals from the past to find more about the past civilizations. Osteology is used in archaeology to determine the age, gender, and ethnicity of the remains. It is also helpful to rebuild past societies’ cultural background. Osteology shares past activities pursued by the ancient cultures including human and animal migrations as well as warfare. [10] Using the remains from the past can help modern archaeologist uncover the past from what they ate to their daily activities. This can help uncover the mysteries of past histories. [11]

Animals in Archaeology

Zooarchaeology: comparing an archaeological bone to a modern bone in a comparative collection Comparing1.jpg
Zooarchaeology: comparing an archaeological bone to a modern bone in a comparative collection

The study of animal remains in archaeology teaches how humans and animals interacted with one another in prehistoric times. This gives an insight on how humans began domesticating animals. In zooarchaeology, studies will show the animal and human husbandry, as well as the process of cultures adding animals into their diets. [12] Studying animals in archaeology requires the help from different fields such as zoology, anthropology, paleontology, osteology, and anatomy. [13] Zooarchaeologists gather and observe the fragments of the bones from reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and birds around an archaeological site. Thus, they will gather context clues on how humans and animals subsided together within their environment. Through the years, humans have learned the basics of how to domesticate, breed, hunt and consume animals. [14] This area in archaeology informs others on how humans have evolved into manipulating animals throughout prehistory and beyond.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microorganism</span> Microscopic living organism

A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nutrition</span> Provision to cells and organisms to support life

Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient nutrients causes malnutrition. Nutritional science is the study of nutrition, though it typically emphasizes human nutrition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zooarchaeology</span> Archaeological sub-discipline

Zooarchaeology, also known as faunal analysis, is a branch of archaeology that studies remains of animals from archaeological sites. Faunal remains are the items left behind when an animal dies. These include bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, proteins and DNA. Of these items, bones and shells are the ones that occur most frequently at archaeological sites where faunal remains can be found. Most of the time, a majority of these faunal remains do not survive. They often decompose or break because of various circumstances. This can cause difficulties in identifying the remains and interpreting their significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Renfrew</span> British archaeologist

Andrew Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, is a British archaeologist, paleolinguist and Conservative peer noted for his work on radiocarbon dating, the prehistory of languages, archaeogenetics, neuroarchaeology, and the prevention of looting at archaeological sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeological site</span> Place in which evidence of past activity is preserved

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved, and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record. Sites may range from those with few or no remains visible above ground, to buildings and other structures still in use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artifact (archaeology)</span> Something made by humans and of archaeological interest

An artifact, or artefact, is a general term for an item made or given shape by humans, such as a tool or a work of art, especially an object of archaeological interest. In archaeology, the word has become a term of particular nuance and is defined as an object recovered by archaeological endeavor, which may be a cultural artifact having cultural interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fauna</span> Set of animal species in any particular region and time

Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora, and for fungi, it is funga. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as biota. Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics.

Environmental archaeology is a sub-field of archaeology which emerged in 1970s and is the science of reconstructing the relationships between past societies and the environments they lived in. The field represents an archaeological-palaeoecological approach to studying the palaeoenvironment through the methods of human palaeoecology. Reconstructing past environments and past peoples' relationships and interactions with the landscapes they inhabited provides archaeologists with insights into the origin and evolution of anthropogenic environments, and prehistoric adaptations and economic practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phytolith</span>

Phytoliths are rigid, microscopic structures made of silica, found in some plant tissues and persisting after the decay of the plant. These plants take up silica from the soil, whereupon it is deposited within different intracellular and extracellular structures of the plant. Phytoliths come in varying shapes and sizes. Although some use "phytolith" to refer to all mineral secretions by plants, it more commonly refers to siliceous plant remains. In contrast, mineralized calcium secretions in cacti are composed of calcium oxalates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora (microbiology)</span>

In microbiology, collective bacteria and other microorganisms in a host are historically known as flora. Although microflora is commonly used, the term microbiota is becoming more common as microflora is a misnomer. Flora pertains to the Kingdom Plantae. Microbiota includes Archaea, Bacteria, Fungi and Protists. Microbiota with animal-like characteristics can be classified as microfauna.

The archaeological record is the body of physical evidence about the past. It is one of the core concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record. Archaeological theory is used to interpret the archaeological record for a better understanding of human cultures. The archaeological record can consist of the earliest ancient findings as well as contemporary artifacts. Human activity has had a large impact on the archaeological record. Destructive human processes, such as agriculture and land development, may damage or destroy potential archaeological sites. Other threats to the archaeological record include natural phenomena and scavenging. Archaeology can be a destructive science for the finite resources of the archaeological record are lost to excavation. Therefore, archaeologists limit the amount of excavation that they do at each site and keep meticulous records of what is found. The archaeological record is the physical record of human prehistory and history, of why ancient civilizations prospered or failed and why those cultures changed and grew. It is the story of the human world.

Post-excavation analysis constitutes processes that are used to study archaeological materials after an excavation is completed. Since the advent of "New Archaeology" in the 1960s, the use of scientific techniques in archaeology has grown in importance. This trend is directly reflected in the increasing application of the scientific method to post-excavation analysis. The first step in post-excavation analysis should be to determine what one is trying to find out and what techniques can be used to provide answers. Techniques chosen will ultimately depend on what type of artifact(s) one wishes to study. This article outlines processes for analyzing different artifact classes and describes popular techniques used to analyze each class of artifact. Keep in mind that archaeologists frequently alter or add techniques in the process of analysis as observations can alter original research questions.

Christopher John Scarre, FSA is an academic and writer in the fields of archaeology, pre-history and ancient history. He is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham and was head of its archaeology department 2010-2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biofact (archaeology)</span> Found organic material of archaeological significance

In archaeology, a biofact is any organic material including flora or fauna material found at an archaeological site that has not been technologically altered by humans yet still has cultural relevance. Biofacts can include but are not limited to plants, seeds, pollen, animal bones, insects, fish bones and mollusks. The study of biofacts, alongside other archaeological remains such as artifacts are a key element to understanding how past societies interacted with their surrounding environment and with each other. Biofacts also play a role in helping archaeologists understand questions of subsistence and reveals information about the domestication of certain plant species and animals which demonstrates, for example, the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a farming society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protist</span> Eukaryotic organisms that are neither animals, plants nor fungi

A protist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor, the exclusion of other eukaryotes means that protists do not form a natural group, or clade. Therefore, some protists may be more closely related to animals, plants, or fungi than they are to other protists. However, like the groups algae, invertebrates, and protozoans, the biological category protist is used for convenience. Others classify any unicellular eukaryotic microorganism as a protist. The study of protists is termed protistology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microbiology of decomposition</span>

Microbiology of decomposition is the study of all microorganisms involved in decomposition, the chemical and physical processes during which organic matter is broken down and reduced to its original elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine microorganisms</span> Any life form too small for the naked human eye to see that lives in a marine environment

Marine microorganisms are defined by their habitat as microorganisms living in a marine environment, that is, in the saltwater of a sea or ocean or the brackish water of a coastal estuary. A microorganism is any microscopic living organism or virus, that is too small to see with the unaided human eye without magnification. Microorganisms are very diverse. They can be single-celled or multicellular and include bacteria, archaea, viruses and most protozoa, as well as some fungi, algae, and animals, such as rotifers and copepods. Many macroscopic animals and plants have microscopic juvenile stages. Some microbiologists also classify viruses as microorganisms, but others consider these as non-living.

Robert W. Lichtwardt was a Brazilian-born American mycologist specializing in the study of arthropod-associated, gut-dwelling fungi (trichomycetes). He is known for his online monograph and interactive keys to trichomycete taxa.

This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains.

<i>Amoebidium</i> Genus of eukaryotes

Amoebidium is a genus of unicellular, symbiotic eukaryotes in the Opisthokont group Mesomycetozoea, family Amoebidiidae. Amoebidium species attach to the exoskeleton of freshwater aquatic arthropods such as midge larvae and water fleas (Daphnia). The type species is Amoebidium parasiticum, which is also one of the only species to be cultured axenically.

References

  1. ↑ Kelly, Robert (2014). Archaeology: Down To Earth. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. p. 133. ISBN   978-1-133-60864-6.
  2. 1 2 Renfrew, Colin (2005). Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice 5th Edition. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson. p. 245. ISBN   978-0-500-28713-2.
  3. ↑ Renfrew, Colin (2005). Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson. p. 248. ISBN   978-0-500-28713-2.
  4. ↑ Renfrew, Colin (2005). Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice 5th Edition. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson. p. 253. ISBN   978-0-500-28713-2.
  5. ↑ Renfrew, Colin (2005). Archaeology: Theories, Methods, Practice 5th Edition. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson. pp. 253–256. ISBN   978-0-500-28713-2.
  6. ↑ Herring, Angela (22 October 2013). "Ancient bacteria go under the lens". Northeaster.edu. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Weiner, Stephen (2010). Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record.
  8. ↑ Powell, Devin (2 January 2013). "Bacterial traces from 3.5 billion years ago are oldest fossils; experts say". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  9. ↑ Hodge, Kathie. "Paleomycology: Discovering the fungal contemporaries of dinosaurs". Cornell University. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  10. ↑ Cox, Margaret, 1950- Mays, Simon. (2006). Human osteology in archaeology and forensic science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0-521-69146-X. OCLC   1076633117.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ Mackinnon, Michael (July 2007). "Osteological Research in Classical Archaeology" (PDF). State of the Discipline: 1. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Rowley-Conwy, Peter, editor. Halstead, Paul, editor. Serjeantson, D. (Dale), editor. (9 July 2019). Economic zooarchaeology : studies in hunting, herding and early agriculture. ISBN   978-1-78925-340-5. OCLC   1110449832.{{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Broughton, Jack M. (2016). Zooarchaeology and field ecology a photographic atlas. The University of Utah Press. ISBN   978-1-60781-486-3. OCLC   1105437265.
  14. ↑ Hill, Erica (2013-01-01). "Archaeology and Animal Persons: Toward a Prehistory of Human-Animal Relations". Environment and Society. 4 (1). doi:10.3167/ares.2013.040108. ISSN   2150-6779.
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