By Zyara Morton, C2ST Intern, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Humans and animals have had complex relationships with one another throughout history. From domestication to silly cat videos, these complex bonds have shifted in response to changes in society. Dr. Kate Bishop is an assistant professor and archaeologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through her work, she studies these complex connections by drawing conclusions about the past through animal remains. I interviewed Dr. Bishop, and now we can dive deeper and ‘excavate’ the secrets behind her field of zooarchaeology.

What is Zooarchaeology? 

Zooarchaeology is the study of the relationship between humans and animals in the past, reconstructed through animal remains (specifically bones), at archaeological sites. Most of the remains found at these sites are fragmented bones, rather than complete bones or even full skeletons. Dr. Bishop stated that since these bones are fragmented, most of the analysis gets done in a lab setting, through the use of comparative skeletal collections. These collections possess complete skeletons and bones of various animal species and are usually stored in labs or museums. By comparing these to the fragmented bones, zooarchaeologists can draw conclusions as to what kind of animal bones were recovered. 

Alongside comparative skeletal collections, zooarchaeologists also utilize a practice known as isotopic analysis. Basically, different elements have different isotopes, or ‘variants’ of themselves with differing numbers of neutrons. As an example, carbon by itself (carbon-12) has 6 neutrons, but carbon-13 has seven neutrons. In zooarchaeology, researchers look at stable isotopes that do not decay over time, because they can be easily identified, and reveal specific diets of past animals–namely, whether they were eating wild or human-fed diets. “Essentially,” stated Dr. Bishop, “think, ‘you are what you eat.’” Different foods have specific isotopic signatures, and these isotopes can be stored in the bones of an animal long after death. Using a piece of equipment known as a mass spectrometer, researchers can then isolate the isotopes from the bone, and analyze them–looking over specific isotopic signatures of food items, and comparing if they are similar. As an example, Dr. Bishop mentioned turkeys. If there were turkey remains found at a site, their bones can be analyzed for specific isotopic signatures. Through this analysis, you can detect whether or not that turkey was eating a wild diet or a human-fed diet. This is significant because a human-fed diet would signal raising or domestication! 

When asked about collaborations in this field, Dr. Bishop shared that archaeology in general is highly collaborative, and there are a wide variety of specialists. Sometimes collaborations are done with other anthropologists, and sometimes they will be done with researchers in physics, chemistry, geology, or biography, among others. In more recent years, anthropologists have been working more closely with descendant communities of specific sites that are studied. Descendant communities are communities of individuals directly, or closely related to specific groups of people in the past, who resided in a specific place. Specifically, these groups usually involve indigenous individuals, especially in the Americas. An example of this kind of work is Dr. Bishop herself, who stated that she is fortunate to sometimes have the opportunity to work on collaborative projects with Indigenous community members from the American Southwest.

Dr. Bishop’s Personal Journey to Zooarchaeology 

Dr. Bishop first got into archaeology through her undergraduate at the University of Virginia. She entered as undeclared, but after taking a couple of anthropology classes, she ended up double majoring in French and Anthropology. Dr. Bishop stated that what drew her to anthropology was the combined aspects of academic learning and fieldwork, as well as amazing, supportive educators. In her Junior year, she ended up taking a course in zooarchaeology and was immediately hooked. Her professor encouraged her to pursue an internship at the Smithsonian after she graduated, and through this internship, she was mentored by a zooarchaeologist, whom she is still in contact with to this day. Afterward, she went on to get her Masters and PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles in Anthropology. Dr. Bishop emphasized that through it all, having supportive and positive female mentors really pushed her to explore the field and engage meaningfully with her interests in archaeology. 

The Future of Zooarchaeology and Getting Involved. 

Dr. Bishop shared that she can see the field of zooarchaeology changing in a multitude of ways. Specifically, she believes that in the future, research will be shifted and done through the incorporation of indigenous voices and scholars. This is incredibly important because understanding how descendant communities interact with animals can help in accurately reconstructing how these relationships were in the past. Climate change is another hot topic (no pun intended), and more zooarchaeologists are investigating how changing climates affected people and animals in the past, and how these communities reacted and adapted to these changes. 

So then, after all of this information, you might be wondering: how can I get involved? Dr. Bishop recommended that if you are an undergraduate, you should look into whether or not your school offers a class in zooarchaeology. If you take it and enjoy it, you can look into whether there is also a Zooarchaeology lab at your school–which there usually is if there is a class. There are also a wide array of other options, such as internships at institutions (e.g. the Smithsonian or Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Colorado, among others). Alongside this, Dr. Bishop stated that there is a vast array of literature in zooarchaeology online that is usually free to explore through your university library account. She urges individuals to look through some papers and see what topics pique their interests the most.