Interpretive directions for historical zooarchaeology in the twenty-first century

This chapter reviews the last two decades of zooarchaeological research on historical sites. Major themes in recent research include: 1) increased attention to the zooarchaeology of starvation and food stress; 2) new information from specialized methods such as stable isotope analysis; 3) better integration of zooarchaeological results with archaeological and historical data; 4) enhanced understanding of social and cultural variation across space and time; and 5) expanded insight into global processes of colonialism, urbanization, and the rise of the modern world. These themes, framed with an attention to human–animal relations, suggest directions for future research.