ABSTRACT
For the past century, zoo archaeology has to a great extent been concerned with larger mammals. Mammal species are not distributed evenly along a linear weight gradient. Blackmore and Alston provided an important classification of fossil voles, and in the final quarter of the century additional studies appeared, but for the most part these were generally of a paleontological flavour and predominantly concerned with Pleistocene fossils. As in paleontology and zoology, problems of correct identification and naming occur when dealing with archaeological small mammals. Enlarging the distributions of some small mammals has also clearly occurred as a result of human activity. Considering small mammals as pests, agricultural development must at times have vastly changed at least some rodent populations. In some areas of the world, and perhaps especially in Africa and other regions of malnutrition, small mammals have been an important food category.
