Zooarchaeology merges the disciplines of zoology and archaeology, focusing on the analysis of animal remains within archaeological sites. This field, managed by specialists known as zooarchaeologists or faunal analysts, examines remnants such as bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, and proteins, such as DNA, to derive insights into historical human-animal interactions and environmental conditions.^[1] While bones and shells tend to be relatively more preserved in archaeological contexts, the survival of faunal remains is generally infrequent.^[2] The degradation or fragmentation of faunal remains presents challenges in the accurate analysis and interpretation of data.^[2]

Characterized by its interdisciplinary nature, zooarchaeology bridges the studies of ancient human societies and the animal kingdom.^[3] Practitioners, from various scientific backgrounds including anthropology, paleontology, and ecology, aim primarily to identify and understand human interactions with animals and their environments.^[4] Through the analysis of faunal remains, zooarchaeologists can gain insight into past diets, domestication practices, tool usage, and ritualistic behaviors, thus contributing to a comprehensive view of human-environment interactions and the sub-field of environmental archaeology.

The development of zooarchaeology in eastern North America can be broken up into three different periods.^[5] The first being the Formative period starting around the 1860s, the second being the Systematization period beginning in the early 1950s, and lastly the Integration period which began about 1969.^[5] Full-time zooarchaeologists came to be during the Systematization period.^[5] Prior to the Systemization period, it was just a technique that was applied but not specifically studied.

Zooarchaeological specialists started to come about partly because of a new approach to archaeology known as processual archaeology.^[6] This approach puts more emphasis on explaining why things happened, not just what happened.^[6] Archaeologists began to specialize in zooarchaeology, and their numbers increased.^[6]

One important aspect of zooarchaeology is using morphological and genetic evidence to answer questions zooarchaeologists have about the relationship between animals and humans.^[7]: 172 These questions include:

1. What was the diet like, and in what ways were the animals used for food?^[6]
2. Which animals were eaten, in what amounts, and with what other foods?^[6]
3. Who were the ones to obtain the food, and did the availability of that food depend on age or gender?^[6]
4. How was culture, such as technologies and behavior, influenced by and associated with diet?^[6]
5. How can faunal remains identify social differences such as class or ethnicity?^[8]
6. What purposes, other than food, were animals used for?^[6]
7. What was the environment like?^[7]: 170
8. How did hunter-gatherers collect food? ^[7]: 170
9. How have human populations changed over time? ^[7]: 171
10. How have humans domesticated animals over time? ^[7]: 171
11. How do modern animals compare to animals of the past, and how does this give context to human populations who interacted/still interact with those animals? ^[7]: 172

Another important aspect of zooarchaeology is its application to the migration patterns of humans. In areas where people are either closely tied to animal as companions or regularly follow the migrations of herds, the data collected from these animals can help give context to human movement as well.^[9]: 103 Studying animal remains can also give context to other remains and artifacts found in association with them.^[10]: 1

Faunal remains are parts of animals that have been left in the material record, which archaeologists study. These remains are important to the record because they can show cultural practices, such as what food they were eating, based on the remains left behind.^[11] Zooarcheologists can find out information like the species the animal is, the age the animal was when it died, and what its sex was.^[11]

Some common faunal remains found at sites include, as stated above, bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, proteins and DNA. These are often found in piles of waste left behind. This means zooarchaeology is part of the general study of waste or garbology. Archaeologists may have to sort through and identify the species and body region of faunal remains.^[12] The types of fauna that leave behind these remains will depend on where the archaeological site is located. These animals can be domesticated or wild, and sometimes they find both types of remains at sites.^[12]

In addition to helping us understand the past, zooarchaeology can also help us to improve the present and the future.^[13] Studying how people dealt with animals, and their effects can help avoid many potential ecological problems.^[13] This specifically includes problems involving wildlife management.^[13] For example, one of the questions that wildlife preservationists ask is whether they should keep animals facing extinction in several smaller areas, or in one larger area.^[13] Based on zooarchaeological evidence, they found that animals that are split up into several smaller areas are more likely to go extinct.^[13]

Human-animal relationships and interactions were diverse during prehistory from being a food source to playing a more intimate role in society.^[15] Animals have been used in non-economical ways such as being part of a human burial. However, the majority of zooarchaeology has focused on who was eating what by looking at various remains such as bones, teeth, and fish scales.^[15] In the twenty-first century researchers have begun to interpret animals in prehistory in wider cultural and social patterns, focusing on how the animals have affected humans and possible animal agency.^[15] There is evidence of animals such as the mountain lion or the jaguar being used for ritualistic purposes, but not being eaten as a food source.^[15]

Analyses of faunal remains are important to show how prehistoric and hunter-gatherer civilizations interacted with the animals in their environment.^[11] This information can be used to help reconstruct Paleolithic environments. Faunal remains with cut marks, teeth marks, burns, or butchering can signify human interaction which can be important to archaeological data.^[16] Sometimes these analyses can be difficult due to decomposition and weathering, which can cause damage to the remains. Not only do faunal remains help reconstruct environments from the past they can show other cultural practices as well. These remains are not always from food, but can be found in jewelry, tools, spiritual practices, and more.^[16] This information can show the fauna located in the area of analyses, as well as cultural significance.^{[citation needed]}

Animal burials date back to prehistory with examples emerging from the Mesolithic period. In Sweden at the site of Skateholm I, dogs were found buried with children under eight years old or were found buried by themselves. Some of the dogs who were buried alone have grave goods similar to their human contemporaries such as flint weapons and deer antlers.^[15] Meanwhile, during the same time period Skateholm II emerged and was very different from Skateholm I, as dogs were buried along on the North and West boundaries of the grave area.^[15] Another burial site in Siberia near Lake Baikal known as the "Lokomotiv" cemetery had a wolf burial among human graves.^[15][17] Buried together with, but slightly beneath the wolf was a male human skull.^[17] The wolf breed was not native to this area as it was warm and other research for the area shows no other wolf habitation.^[17] Bazaliiskiy and Savelyev suggests that the presence and significance of the wolf could possibly reflect human interaction.^[17] Another example occurred in 300 B.C. in Pazyryk known as the Pazyryk burials where ten horses were buried alongside a human male, the horses were fully adorned with saddles, pendants, among other valuables.^[15] The oldest horse as also the horse with the grandest attachments. Erica Hill, a professor in archaeology, suggests that the burials of prehistory animals can shed light on human-animal relationships.^[15]

Zooarchaeology overlaps significantly with other areas of study. These include: