Archaeozoology

Zooarchaeology enables the study of the relationships between human groups and their animal environment by analyzing the faunal remains found on archaeological sites. And thus, to answer various economic, social and environmental problematics.

Therefore, as part of the ROAM project, the study of the faunal remains has, as a first objective, to reconstruct the animal protein component of the Mesolithic diet. For this purpose, several taphonomic and zooarchaeological methodologies will be applied in order to know more about the conditions of acquisition (faunal spectrum, seasonality…), transport (skeletal representation…) and carcass exploitation (cut marks, combustion…)

Moreover, the presence of animal bone fragments into the archaeological layers provides radiocarbon dating. This, in order to complement or compensate the lack of relative dating based on the typology of artefacts, particularly lithic pieces.

Lastly, faunal remains determined upstream will be selected in order to undertake the establishment of reference data libraries for both isotopes and proteomes. It will facilitate future studies, notably for taxonomic identifications of animal remains as well as on the diet and movements of Mesolithic communities.