Dog burials are known from Egypt from the Predynastic period from c. 3500 BC onward and continue into the Roman era. Different burials have been interpreted in a variety of ways: companion/pet/working animals, associated with divinities, and as guardians. This paper presents a unique interment of a single human and a group of dogs found in the cemetery of Deir el-Banat in the Fayum (Egypt), which can be interpreted as either a religio-magical protective deposit for the cemetery, or a religio-medical one, involving the sacrifice of several animals.

The number of exotic animal species that were introduced in Iberia during the Middle Ages constitute a defectively documented area of research, mostly addressed through historiographic methods. In this paper we evidence that even in the case of large, exotic animals exchanged as gifts among dignitaries the documentary data can be painfully incomplete. This is the case of the animal embassy that the Mamluk sultan Baybars al Bunduqdari sent in 1261 to the Castilian king Alfonso X. Although the written sources do not specify the complete list of species nor the reasons for mentioning some but not others, documentary and iconographic data suggest that, in addition to an elephant, a giraffe and a zebra, this lot included, in a decreasing order of probability, a lion, a dromedary, an ostrich, and a Nile crocodile. If such conspicuous beasts could pass unnoticed in a royal chronicle, one may contend that even in the most thoroughly documented cases, written sources may refer but a minimal fraction of the animals translocated into Iberia during the Medieval period. Such information vacuum stresses the difficulties of granting “indigenous” status to species traditionally assumed to constitute elements of the Iberian fauna when their historical contingencies are defectively known, a matter of concern for the current rewilding debate in Spain.

Two major settlements were established in the Empordà region (north-eastern Iberian Peninsula) in the Iron Age (6th-2nd centuries BC), 15 km from each other: the Greek colony of Empúries and the Iberian city of Ullastret. This coexistence of two different ethnic entities in the same region – and the same environment – presents an opportunity to shed light on the variability of livestock practices in these settlements, as well as their relationship with the environment. For this purpose, in addition to traditional zooarchaeological approaches, we reconstructed the animal palaeodiet and seasonality of death using three different proxies: dental meso- and microwear analyses, and cementum analysis. The results of the study, conducted on caprine and bovine teeth from both sites, support the hypothesis proposed in previous works, namely that the environment was exploited differently depending on livestock species. Caprinae (sheep and goats) were fed in marginal areas and less suitable areas for agriculture while, in contrast, cattle grazed on rich grassland and/or in wetland areas. The combination of cementochronology and dental microwear suggests a lower consumption of grasses in summer for Caprinae and cattle. Seasonality results show that Caprinae were mainly slaughtered during spring and summer.

The study of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is one of the topics of more interest in the field of human evolution, where the differences in the subsistence strategies carried out by Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans have generated numerous debates during recent years. Hornos de la Peña cave (Cantabria, Northern Iberia), excavated during 1909-1910, contains archaeological levels attributed to this transition, which have provided se-veral publications about the human groups that occupied the cave. However, the stratigraphic sequence proposed by Obermaier at the beginning of the 20th century has been questioned due, among others, to the lack of reliable dating. From 2016 to the present, new excavation works are being carried out to review the integrity of the stratigraphic sequence and its chronology and to analyze the new faunal remains. In this article, we present the first radiocarbon dates performed on the levels attributed to the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, as well as the archaeozoo-logical and taphonomic results of the macrofauna recovered. Our results have revealed the complexity of the stratigraphic sequence, confirming that the previous stratigraphy proposed by Obermaier must be reconsidered. For that reason, although the activity of human groups inside the cave has been proved due to the presence of different anthropogenic modifications (mainly in horses, red deer and large bovids), it is not possible to construct hypotheses about their subsistence strategies. In summary, this new study has made it possible to reassess the stratigraphic sequence and provide new data on the chronology and the activities carried out by the human groups that occupied the cavity. In addition, this work highlights the importance of reviewing and dating levels from ancient excavations without reliable dating.

In 2014 due to the projected layout of the Madrid – Jaén high-speed railway line, a preventive archaeological intervention was carried out on a hill near the Guadalbullón riverbed within the farmland of Grañena Baja (Jaén). During the work, a multi-sequential Late Prehistory occupation, starting from the mid-5th millennium and reaching the end of the 3rd millennium, was documented. The phase corresponding to the last quarter of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd millennium Cal BC stands out for the presence of circular features containing complete or partial human and domestic animal skeletal remains, in some cases, clearly related. The isotopic values of human collagen are relatively homogeneous (?15N = 9.0 ± 0.6; ?13C = -18.9 ± 0.4) and consistent with a diet based on proteins of animal origin.

Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis were performed on the macrofaunal remains from Solutrean levels XIII and XIV (ca. 17 and 20 ka cal BP) of Cova de les Cendres. The faunal assemblage shows predominance of red deer, followed by Spanish ibex and equids, among which wild ass (Equus hydruntinus) was identified. Carnivores are well represented in level XIII, especially the lynx, whereas they are very rare in level XIV. Different activities of the butchery process were documented in the main taxa, showing an intensive exploitation of different animal resources, such as meat, fur, and raw material for tools and ornaments. Our results provide new zooarchaeological data on the Solutrean hunting system and shed light on the human subsistence variations in response to late glacial climate changes in the central area of the Mediterranean Iberia.

A large number of zooarchaeological remains have been documented at El Castillón archaeological site (Province of Zamora, north-western Spain) and dated to Late Antiquity, in the 5th and 6th centuries cal AD. While most of them belong to domestic mammals, and a few to wild ones, remains of other vertebrates have been reported, among them birds. This article details the archaeofaunistic investigation of the galliform remains documented at the site. It focuses on the anatomic analysis of age profiles and taphonomic and biometric aspects. Through this research, we may conclude that the village practised poultry livestock and that domestic chicken was part of the inhabitants’ diet.

The faunal remains are described from Nkile and Bolondo, two archaeological sites in the equatorial rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both river-side settlements, located in the Ruki-Tshuapa basin and dating to between the 14th century to the second half of the 20th century, show a heavy reliance on aquatic food resources. The animal remains show that fishing was a major subsistence activity, whereas hunting, slaughtering of domestic stock and harvesting of molluscs were less frequent activities. The contribution to the diet of the different animal taxa suggested by the zooarchaeological data is in line with recently published stable isotope results obtained on humans and animals from Bolondo. The type of fish, and in particular their reconstructed sizes, show that the major exploited fishing grounds were shallow waters that became accessible during the low water seasons (nowadays July-August and a minor season in March at both sites). The proportions of the exploited fish taxa are comparable to those marketed nowadays in larger urban centres. Juvenile fish, and to some extent, small crocodiles, were heavily exploited but it is argued that at the time this was still a sustainable activity that did not deplete the fauna as much as today since human populations were smaller and the fishing gear less effective.

Eels are ubiquitous throughout the Pacific and New Zealand, and offer a rich source of protein and fat. However, bones of eels are rare in archaeological sites. This contrast has been noted several times in archaeological literature, not just in the Pacific, but also in Europe. Explanations for the dearth of bones range from taphonomic processes, the bones are too small, or too fragile, or they preferentially self-destruct because they are rich with oil. We show that each of these reasons is false. We review the presence and absence of eel bones in 144 archaeological sites in the Pacific region, finding only 1,151 eel bones of a total NISP of 188,351 (0.61%). Allometric equations are established for estimating live length and weight from cranial bone measurements of freshwater eels. Prehistoric catches were mostly in the range of 430 to 500 mm, length with only 5 greater than 800 mm, with no sign of the huge eels about 1800 mm long recorded in historic episodes of mass harvesting by M?ori. A review of myths and oral traditions in the Pacific about eels revealed some common themes. Eels represent the incarnation of a male deity, symbolising the penis, and that the personified eel tempts and defiles a woman sexually. A male, often an heroic ancestral figure, punishes the eel by cutting him up into pieces. We found that there is often a strong association of eels with danger, and that eels are either venerated or feared, but seldom considered food. In some Pacific societies, the arrival of Europeans resulted in the lifting of the prohibition of eels as food. We also found two historic instances in among M?ori that eels were tapu, requiring an elaborate tapu removal ceremony before they could be eaten by people who were starving. We conclude that mass harvesting of eels in New Zealand, so evident in the historic era, was a post-European development with important implications for M?ori settlement patterns, making it possible to establish permanent villages in the interior of major river systems in Central New Zealand.

The aim of this paper is to present some new data concerning the systematic identifications of several terrapin findings documented in three Iberian Iron Age sites from the Northern Meseta and Basque-Cantabrian Basin: El Soto de Medinilla (Valladolid), La Mota (Valladolid) and La Hoya (Álava). New interpretations concerning the first-hand study of these remains are presented. With the aim of comprehending the interaction of humans with these reptiles, we consider that they were mainly captured as a food resource. The previous identification of Emys orbicularis (i.e., the European Pond Turtle) in El Soto de Medinilla and La Mota is confirmed and justified. The identification of the same taxon in La Hoya constitutes the youngest archaeological reference of its presence in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin.