Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments

Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments outlines the reconstruction of ancient climates, floras, and habitats on the basis of animal fossil remains recovered from archaeological and paleontological sites. In addition to outlining the ecological fundamentals and analytical assumptions attending such analyzes, J. Tyler Faith and R. Lee Lyman describe and critically evaluate many of the varied analytical techniques that have been applied to paleozoological remains for the purpose of paleoenvironmental reconstruction. These techniques range from analyses based on the presence or abundance of species in a fossil assemblage to those based on taxon-free ecological characterizations. All techniques are illustrated using faunal data from archaeological or paleontological contexts. Aimed at students and professionals, this volume will serve as fundamental resource for courses in zooarchaeology, paleontology, and paleoecology.

Illustrates how to implement paleoenvironmental techniques using fossil examples
Evaluates the diverse array of analytical techniques for interpreting past environments on the basis of fossil fauna
Outlines biogeographic and ecological fundamentals underpinning paleoenvironmental reconstruction

Table of Contents
1. Why a book on paleoenvironmental reconstruction from faunal remains?
2. Fundamentals of ecology and biogeography
3. Analytical assumptions
4. Background of select paleozoological samples
5. Environmental reconstructions based on the presence/absence of taxa
6. Environmental reconstruction based on taxonomic abundances
7. Taxon-free techniques
8. Environmental inferences based on taxonomic diversity
9. Transfer functions and quantitative paleoenvironmental reconstruction
10. Size clines as paleoenvironmental indicators
11. Some final thoughts.

J. Tyler Faith, University of Utah
J. Tyler Faith is curator of archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Utah. His research emphasizes the relationships between Quaternary mammal communities, environmental change, and human-environment interactions, with an emphasis on eastern and southern Africa.

R. Lee Lyman, University of Missouri, Columbia
R. Lee Lyman is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri, Columbia. A scholar of late Quaternary paleozoology and human prehistory of the Pacific Northwest United States, he is author of Vertebrate Taphonomy (Cambridge, 1994), Quantitative Paleozoology (Cambridge, 2008), and Theodore E. White and the Development of Zooarchaeology in North America (2016).