Zooarchaeology is a specialized branch of archaeology that examines animal remains from archaeological sites.
Zooarchaeology involves collecting and identifying faunal remains to answer questions about the people who occupied these sites. In contrast to zoology, the focus in zooarchaeology is on animals as they relate to past human activity or past human environments. The particular animal taxa and the types of skeletal elements in an archaeological assemblage can lend insight into past animal use, and provide clues about the local landscape and climate at the time of occupation.
The UC Davis Department of Anthropology’s animal skeleton comparative collection consists of more than 530 different species encompassing more than 1,800 mollusc, fish, reptile, bird and mammal specimens from California, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Hawai'i, Alaska, Mexico, Canada, Greenland, China and Britain.
The Zooarchaeology Lab is in 320 Young Hall on the UC Davis campus.