The Zooarchaeology of Pleistocene Africa
Zooarchaeology is the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. Africa has the longest archaeological record in the world, potentially extending into the Pliocene and spanning the entire Pleistocene epoch. However, in comparison to other regions of Eurasia, this extended chronology in Africa has not translated to larger numbers of identified sites, more even distribution of sites, or more abundant faunal data. Here, we describe the methods commonly used by zooarchaeologists to analyze faunal assemblages, followed by a summary of general faunal taxonomic patterns across the continent. We then compile data from all Pleistocene zooarchaeological assemblages in Africa for which there is a published record of the site in a peer-reviewed journal or book as of the end of 2020. This facilitates a region-by-region discussion of trends in readily available zooarchaeological data and evaluation of their potential to inform about past environments and hominin interactions with faunal communities. We note that faunal remains exclusively recovered from surface contexts are not included as it is not possible to ascertain their chronological coherence or certainty of association.
