On this ‘holiday special’, Alex and Simona once again push their endurance to the limit by talking about food before dinner-time. Tune in to learn more about feasting in the archaeological record, and why it is not all that different from present day feasting. To demonstrate this, our hosts describe some of their favourite holiday feasts (in addition to some listeners’ suggestions) and the reasoning behind them.

Ps. Happy birthday APN 🙂

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This episode, Alex and Simona take the road less traveled and explore two staple desert pack animals: donkeys and camels! From extravagant pets to Sicilian carts, learn more about these two beasts of burden in the archaeological record and present day.

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On this episode of ArchaeoAnimals, (a very hungry) Alex faces one of her many nemeses: pig teeth! Learn more about pig domestication, the wealth of information you may gather from archaeological pig remains and some exciting archaeological projects featuring pigs. Simona’s fascinating insight into Roman tax law is a bonus ;)

Sources:https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/taming-pig-took-some-wild-turnshttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/257607859_Distinguishing_Wild_Boar_from_Domestic_Pigs_in_Prehistory_A_Review_of_Approaches_and_Recent_ResultsKing (1978) A comparative analysis of bone assemblies from Roman sites in Britain. The Institute of Archeology, London. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/taming-pig-took-some-wild-turnshttp://www.rubiconheritage.com/2011/06/14/cooking-a-pig-bronze-age-style-part-1/ https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/neolithic-food-miles.htm https://www.naturkundemuseum.uni-halle.de/forschungsprojekte/sus_100/ContactAlex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitzSimona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLadyMusic"Coconut - (dyalla remix)"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY

For this episode, Alex and Simona delve into the realm of native and introduced species. How long does a certain species have to consistently live in a geographical location to be considered native? What do introduced species tell us about past populations? What is it with the Romans introducing a horde of animals to Britain? Are squirrels real? These are but few of the questions they shall attempt to answer.

Sources:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/6574709/Mouse-and-rabbits-among-non-native-species.htmlhttps://www.mammal.org.uk/species-hubhttps://animalpeopleforum.org/2017/05/21/archaeologys-role-animal-conservation-environmental-protection-past-matters/Wolverton, S. and Lyman, R.L. (2012) Conservation Biology and Applied Zooarchaeology. Tuscon, AZ: The University of Arizona Press.O’Connor, T. & Sykes, N. (Eds.) (2010) Extinctions and Invasions: A Social History of British FaunaWindgather PressReturn of pine martens could save Britain's red squirrels, say scientists https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/07/return-of-pine-martens-could-save-britains-red-squirrels-say-scientistsEaster Bunny Project: https://www.easter-origins.org/about On the trail of the Fallow Deer project: https://ahrc.ukri.org/research/readwatchlisten/features/onthetrailofthefallowdeer/Wild Boar: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/mammals/wild-boar/

ContactAlex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitzSimona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLadyMusic"Coconut - (dyalla remix)"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY

Simona and Alex finally get to be experts in this fun episode imagining the zooarchaeologies of video games! Using the hundreds (and, if you're Alex, THOUSANDS) of hours of gaming experience, Simona and Alex go through popular video game series (The Witcher, Fallout, Dragon Age, and Skyrim) and try to reconstruct and compare some of the weirder creatures you encounter.

Links and ReferencesGalinas, B. et al. (2015) Dragon Age: The World of Thedas - Volume 2, Dark Horse ComicsJohnson, E. (2018) Fantastic Bones and Where to Find Them. I Feel It In My Bones.Merciel, L. (2014) Dragon Age: Last Flight, Tor booksSapkowski, A. (2015) The Sword of Destiny, Gollanczhttps://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Skyrimhttps://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout_Wikihttps://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Age_Wikihttps://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Witcher_WikiContactAlex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitzSimona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLadyMusic"Coconut - (dyalla remix)"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY

Alex and Simona attempt to make it through an entire episode of our most hated type of bone: fish bones. Listen as they talk about the difficulties of dealing with archaeological fish and why they are actually quite important! Oh, and lots of complaining. Ugh...fish bones.

BibliographyKillgrove, K. (2019) Vat of Ancient Fish Sauce May Confirm Date that Pompeii Was Destroyed. Forbes.Luff, R. (1984) Animal Remains in ArchaeologyGreat Britain: Shire ArchaeologyRackham, J. (1994) Interpreting the Past: Animal BonesRyder, M. L. (1968) Animal bones in archaeologyGreat Britain: Blackwell Scientific PublicationsWilkes, E. (2018) Lamprey teeth identified for the first time in London's archaeological record. Phys.org.Archaeological Fish Resource from the University of NottinghamThe North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation (NABO) Fish Identification ManualSwandro-Orkney Coastal Archaeology TrustContactAlex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitzSimona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLadyMusic"Coconut - (dyalla remix)"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY

Alex and Simona are going ‘wild’ for this month’s episode. Tune in to find out more about wild animal remains in the archaeological record and what traces hunting and butchering may leave behind (some assumptions and biases MAY apply!).

Further ReadingBinford, L.R. (1981) Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, INC.O'Connor, T. (2000) The Archaeology of Animal Bones. Gloustershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd.Rackham, J. (1994) Interpreting the past: Animal BonesBritish Museum Presshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-28951148Fallow Deer ProjectCarHengeContactAlex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitzSimona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLadyMusic"Coconut - (dyalla remix)"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY

This episode is all about chickens! How to eat them. How to identify them. Different types. All things chicken. There’s even a few chicken jokes.

On today's episode of ArchaeoAnimals, we'll be talking about horse bones! Why are they so venerated in the past? How is this reflected in the way we find horse burials? And why are their bones just so large and scary?!

When identifying ritual, context is everything. In the case of zooarchaeology, the location of the remains alone has much inference on whether ritual activity is involved. A notable example is perhaps the burial of dogs (or parts thereof) at the threshold of a structure, which is seen from the Neolithic down to Iron Age, from Italy to Kazakhstan, through Sweden and Britain.