Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #classicalzooarchaeology

Most recents (8)

Hi old and new followers!

I’m an archaeologist who writes Twitter threads. They’re a window into the past looking at ancient people & a behind-the-scenes tour of 21st century #archaeology

Here’s an intro to my new project: #ZOOCRETE
/1 cc @CUHistArchRel @Cardiffuni @MSCActions
We’re all familiar with the popular picture of ancient Greece, from the Mask of Agamemnon to the Parthenon in Athens

But, to me, the most exciting revolution sweeping archaeology is a shift to ordinary people. With new questions & methods, we can see them in higher resolution
/2
I reveal ancient people through their trash: the fragmented bones of the animals they’ve eaten

These bones show how people interacted with the natural environment and tell us about the sacrificial feasts that brought together whole communities
/3

eidolon.pub/in-defense-of-…
Read 33 tweets
Today’s #ClassicalZooarchaeology thread is about my shit-hot database (😲!!!)

It’s designed in MS Access & uses touch-screen, speech-recognition, and an internal GIS

If you can’t do field/lab work this summer, maybe it’ll inspire you to optimize your DB for next summer
1/13
This DB comes from years of struggling to design an efficient, largely error-free system to record tens of thousands of artifacts

Typos are a huge problem. My dad & I ran experiments. It turns out typos occur about 5% of the time (which matches research in the business world)
/2
My dad had been doing this for a while, and wrote some nifty archaeological barcoding software to get rid of half the typos

You can read about it here: researchgate.net/publication/40…

Below are some sample barcode tags
/3
Read 18 tweets
This is a thread of threads of threads on my archaeology Twittering. Yes it is

The lore contained in each thread & thread of threads will inform and astound you, dear reader

Translation: This is some high-quality edutainment. And share to make this the viral strain of the day!
This thread of threads contains several interesting archaeological case-studies from Pompeii to erotic Athenian art to Neandertals

It includes some good introductions to problems/topics in archaeology

My most recent thread of threads explores the history and archaeology of health and disease

It includes a multi-part look at the Athenian plague and a haunting look at infant mortality via the Agora Bone Well

More to come on healing magic

Read 8 tweets
This #ClassicalZooarchaeology Twitter thread is about ancient food porn.

In an article I’m writing now, I argue that archaeology can reveal the meat-eating feasts of Homeric heroes as food porn. And Homeric food porn didn’t age well
/1
These feasts feature a blood bowl. mmm mmm good

Animal slaughter just isn’t as appetizing these days. A popular theory is that ancient sacrificial rituals were conducted to atone for animal slaughter

I know, I know, you’d rather hear more about the archaeology of food porn!
/2
But, Homer is difficult to reconcile with archaeology. Should we compare his poems w/ the archaeology from when he was writing (750ish BC) or w/ the supposed time of the Trojan War (around 1200ish BC)

Descriptions of spears match those used in both the Bronze and Iron Ages
/3
Read 22 tweets
Pull up your comfy chair. Grab a drink & plop your favorite pet into your lap

This thread presents “The True Story about Ancient Greek Dogs” for the 3rd Public Archaeology Twitter Conference #PATC3. I’m a zooarchaeologist, so the question is what can we learn from their bones?
The first story of an ancient Greek dog is the most famous. Homer’s tear-jerking description of Argos, the neglected hunting hound, still moves us thousands of years later

It is so easy to see ourselves and our own furry companions in this scene
/1 #PATC3
“He looks quite handsome, though it is hard to tell if he can run, or if he is a pet, a table dog, kept just for looks.”

These categories of dogs are easy to find in both ancient texts and art. Hunting hounds were commonly depicted from the Bronze Age onwards
/2 #PATC3
Read 18 tweets
This #ClassicalZooarchaeology thread is about ancient Greek sacrificial feasting. I want to focus on what the animal bones can add to our understanding of this important topic. While there are several good overviews of sacrifice in texts & art, bones offer new perspectives
/1
Sacrificial ritual was associated with Greek polytheism, which was extremely diverse & constantly changing. So, sacrificial ritual was pretty diverse across time and space

If you want an intro to Greek polytheism, you can also check out the thread below
Instead of going into exceptional sacrifices (next month, I’ll do a thread on dog sacrifice when @ASCSAPubs publishes the Agora Bone Well), this thread focuses on the canonical bones burned for the gods. The advantage w/ this focus is it’s easy to combine texts, art, and bones
/3
Read 24 tweets
A #ClassicalZooarchaeology flamingo thread (in 20 tweets)

Over lunch I checked out depictions of dancing flamingos from 5000+ yrs ago. h/t @ArchaicAnimals for drawing my attention to the super-cool image below

The research-hole didn’t take me where I thought it would…
/1
If you google around, these rows of dancing flamingos are depicted on vessels from Upper (southern) Egypt. They come from the cultural group labeled Naqada from predynastic Egypt, before the country was unified under a Pharaoh (we’re talking approx 4000-3000 BC)
/2
The research was made easy because the @metmuseum has many beautiful Naqada artifacts available online

Of course, I’m gonna show you all the best ones, like this vessel with feet or this figurine made of hippo-tusk ivory
/3
Read 25 tweets
Introducing #ClassicalZooarchaeology
This is my 1st thread highlighting how animal bones can answer important questions in the ancient Mediterranean
#Zooarchaeology is often thought of as a niche study, but it relates to traditional forms of evidence
#scicomm #humanities
/1
When we think of #Classics, ancient texts are often prioritized. Animals were an important topic for ancient authors
For example, according to the TLG the lemma hippos (horse) is the 13th most common term in Homer’s Iliad (417 mentions). Horses were important to epic warfare
/2
It’s no surprise that animals – especially plow oxen – are important to Hesiod’s agricultural poem Works and Days
But texts don’t tell the whole picture about #AncientAnimals
Pigs are only mentioned once in Hesiod: boars should be castrated on the 8th day of the month (WD 790)
/3
Read 17 tweets

Related hashtags

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!