9-10 October 2024
Background and Context
Over the past few decades, our generation has extensively built upon the "Man the hunter" concept, engaged in the "hunter vs scavenger debate," and developed taphonomic frameworks while grappling with equifinality issues. Despite these challenges, significant progress has been made, pushing back the origins of activities such as communal hunting and the exploitation of megaherbivores and small animals, as well as shedding light on modifications of the ecological regime.
Themes for Discussion
When the zooarchaeological record is examined within a highresolution temporal and palaeoecological context, the social aspects of human subsistence become immediately apparent. These findings often parallel observations in the ethno-historic record of hunter-gatherer societies. However, our ability to address the role of hunting in our social evolution is currently constrained by methodological and theoretical limitations, as well as issues on individual site integrity and context resolution.
Key Questions
Central to our discussions will be the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the social implications of various factors, including group sizes, dynamic seasonal land-use, home ranges and mobility, general diet reconstructions, food preparation and storage, as well as labour and task division. These social aspects are intricately linked to past ecologies and are influenced by feedback loops, such as in the case of prey choice and the presence of monospecific versus mixed archaeofaunas.
Workshop Objectives
Our workshop aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of Pleistocene zooarchaeology and to formulate a research agenda for the future.
Scientific Organizers:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser:
