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We review current zooarchaeological practice in Australia, identifying major research themes and key methodological gaps where opportunities exist for the development of Australian zooarchaeology as a discipline. We demonstrate that marsupial remains form a significant component of Australian zooarchaeological assemblages, yet high resolution taxonomic identification of these remains continues to prove challenging, owing to a combination of high species diversity and few resources which provide diagnostic criteria for discriminating morphologically similar, but ecologically variable taxa. The lack of robust protocols for discriminating marsupial taxa significantly impacts our ability to effectively integrate zooarchaeological data into broader narratives of Aboriginal colonisation, resilience and adaptation across Australia. Publication of identification protocols would help refine and standardise diagnostic criteria used between analysts, improve the methodological transparency of zooarchaeological analysis and provide resources for the training of a new generation of specialists. A range of opportunities currently exist, utilising qualitative and quantitative techniques, to significantly contribute towards the methodological robustness of zooarchaeological practice in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Stable isotopic analysis of palaeontological and archaeological biogenic apatite carbonates from herbivorous mammalian species represents an important tool for worldwide palaeoecological research. Tooth enamel carbonates are more resistant to taphonomic processes than bone or dentine carbonates but are not invulnerable to diagenesis. As such, they require careful preanalytical processing that considers depositional environment and age. An established part of this process includes a weak acid treatment to remove soluble exogenous carbonates; however, published treatment times for isotopic studies of archaeological tooth enamel are variable and range from 15 min to over 8 hr. This study tests three different pretreatment protocols on modern and Pleistocene age archaeological kangaroo teeth (dating from contemporary to 46,000 bp) to assess the effect of acid treatment time on isotopic integrity. The results indicate that treatment time is a critical parameter for producing consistency across results and shorter pretreatments of 4 hr or less are preferable for removing diagenetic carbonates while minimising alteration of the biological signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located on the edge of Australia's North West continental shelf, Barrow Island is uniquely located to address a number of research questions, such as the antiquity and changing nature of Indigenous occupation, including shifting uses of regional economic resources in response to post-glacial sea-level rise. These questions are addressed from a range of archaeological, zooarchaeological, and geoarchaeological disciplines. Although only preliminary, results to date indicate the presence of marine resources dating to before sea-level stabilization (∼ 7.5 ka) that contain both dietary and utilitarian species, including high-ranked species such as sea turtle. The marine assemblages reflect a variety of habitats and substrates with a 17,000-year record for the presence of a former tidal marsh or estuary. We also note recently obtained14C and OSL dates that extend the dietary marine faunas and initial occupation to well before 41 ka. This demonstrates that consumption of coastal resources began prior to the Holocene, when we begin to observe more widespread evidence of marine resource exploitation in the broader Canarvon Bioregion of northwest Australia. This evidence supports arguments for further research to directly test both the productivity of, and human reliance on, marine habitats from initial occupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution synthesizes archaeological studies of human economies from the Barrow–Montebello islands and uses the area's archaeological record to determine the effects of Late Pleistocene and early Holocene sea-level rise on regional coastlines. At the height of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Australia's north-western coast extended much further west than the present-day shoreline. During subsequent sea-level rise, the gently prograding continental shelf was inundated, and with it, nearly all archaeological evidence for coastal occupation. The Barrow and Montebello Islands are one of the few exceptions, as they corresponded to inland hinterland ranges during the LGM, with the coastline lying some 50 km to their west. Evidence from all late Pleistocene and Holocene occupation phases of the Barrow–Montebello Islands demonstrate that foragers continued to visit the coast and engage in the exploitation of both terrestrial and marine environments. During the late Pleistocene, when the shoreline was 10–15 km away, coastal exploitation is seen through the presence of transportable estuarine and rocky-shore gastropods. By the early Holocene, when sea-levels were within close proximity of the sites, there is a marked increase in marine fauna including reef fish, estuarine and reef shellfish, crustaceans and estuarine crocodile. Together, this suggests that the nearby muddy, procumbent coastlines were productive, as well as an important component of coastal and hinterland economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Upper Paleolithic site of Vale Boi in coastal, southwestern Portugal currently represents one of the earliest known cases of grease-rendering in Eurasia, with initial occupation of the site occurring during the early Gravettian at ∼28,000 BP. Already by this time, Vale Boi foragers were intensively processing ungulate carcasses by rendering grease from their bones. Zooarchaeological evidence of grease rendering includes extensive fragmentation of red deer and equine remains, abundant evidence of impact features on specimens and a lower proportion of preserved grease-rich skeletal portions. Comparisons of red deer and horse bone portions with density assays and utility indices suggest that ungulates at Vale Boi were systematically processed for their marrow and bone grease. The early onset of grease-rendering at Vale Boi, in addition to heavy rabbit exploitation may have been spurred by ungulate communities unable to support human consumer-demand on their own. However, the continued practice of grease-rendering at Vale Boi over the course of the Upper Paleolithic may also be closely related to the significance of bone fats for mobile hunter–gatherers – as a highly valued, storable and easily-transportable resource. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The significance of the role of birds in hominin evolution in Island Southeast Asia is not clear. Few avian vertebrate deposits have been recovered from archaeological or fossil sites in the region, and their association with either hominin or natural deposition in caves and rock shelters complicates their usefulness in hominin behavioural and palaeoecological reconstructions. In this paper, we assess the taphonomic history of the Pleistocene avian vertebrate remains recovered from Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, dated to between ca. 44.6 to 11.2 ka and in association with abundant lithic material. We use avian taxonomic composition, skeletal element abundance, and bone surface modification data to determine the agent of avian skeletal deposition. Our analyses indicate that the small grassland and woodland birds (quail, buttonquail, song birds), which dominate the assemblage, were deposited by avian predators (probably barn owls) throughout the sequence. Humans possibly hunted the small quantity of larger birds (imperial pigeon, duck). The bird remains suggest that grasslands, woodland savannahs, wetlands, and forest environments were present locally during the Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Before the 90s, data on Paleolithic human occupation of southern Portugal was very scarce. During the last decade, the knowledge of the Upper Paleolithic of Algarve increased substantially due to the work of a research team based at the University of Algarve. The present paper is a report on the recent results from Algarve, focusing specially on the site of Vale Boi. It will present the chronology and stratigraphy of different human occupations from the early Upper Paleolithic up to the early Neolithic. It will focus on aspects of zooarchaeology and the exploitation of large and medium mammals as well as on marine fauna. In addition, we will present new data on stone and bone tools. Finally, we will also refer to the social and symbolic aspects present at the site, base on shell and teeth pendants and to an engraved plaquette with animal motifs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]