Zooarchaeology and Conservation Biology

About this book

Many modern ecological problems such as rain forest destruction, decreasing marine harvests, and fire suppression are directly or indirectly anthropogenic. Zooarchaeology and Conservation Biology presents an argument that conservation biology and wildlife management cannot afford to ignore zooarchaeological research – the identification and analysis of faunal remains recovered from archaeological deposits. The editors contend that we can learn important lessons by studying long-term human and nonhuman influences on biota and ecosystems. From this perspective, we can begin to understand biogeographic dynamics and behavioural patterns that are invisible to researchers who study living organisms over just a small span of years.

The focus of Zooarchaeology and Conservation Biology is on the North American faunal record. Contributors identify a specific management or conservation issue, describe and analyse relevant zooarchaeological data, and offer recommendations or at least establish a baseline for possible resolution. Zooarchaeology and Conservation Biology brings together both case studies and research about past ecosystems and examines how such knowledge can be of current utility and relevance.
 

Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface and Acknowledgments

1. Applied Zooarchaeology, Because It Matters ~ R. Lee Lyman and Kenneth P. Cannon
2. Doing Zooarchaeology as if it Mattered: Use of Faunal Data to Address Current Issues in Fish Conservation Biology in Owens Valley, California ~ Virginia L. Butler and Michael G. Delacorte
3. Zooarchaeology and Wildlife Management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ~ Kenneth P. Cannon and Molly Boeka Cannon
4. Where the Muskox Roamed: Biogeography of Tundra Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) in the Eastern Arctic ~ Christyann M. Darwent and John Darwent
5. The Potential of Zooarchaeological Data to Guide Pinniped Management Decisions in the Eastern North Pacific ~ Michael A. Etnier
6. Zooarchaeological Implications for Missouri’s Elk (Cervus elaphus) Reintroduction Effort ~ Judith L. Harpole
7. Post-Contact Changes in the Behavior and Distribution of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Northwestern Wyoming ~ Susan S. Hughes
8. Prehistoric Biogeography, Abundance, and Phenotypic Plasticity of Elk (Cervus elaphus) in Washington State ~ R. Lee Lyman
9. Archaeological Evidence of Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) Migration in the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming: Implications for Wildlife Management ~ Paul H. Sanders and Mark E. Miller
10. Ecological Change in Western Utah: Comparisons Between a Late Holocene Archaeological Fauna and Modern Small-Mammal Surveys ~ Dave N. Schmitt
11. Archaeofaunal Evidence of the Native Ichthyofauna of the Roanoke River in Virginia and North Carolina ~ Thomas R. Whyte

References Cited
Contributors
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

R. Lee Lyman is a professor of anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia. Kenneth P. Cannon is an archaeologist with the National Park Service Midwest Archaeological Center, Lincoln, and doctoral candidate in the department of anthropology and geography, University of Nebraska.