James Rackham: Animal Bones [1994] paperback

Excavated bones provide invaluable evidence of the existence and distribution of animals, both domestic and wild, in various places and times throughout human history. They also yield information that helps us to interpret the past in the same way that we do from artefacts, such as pottery and metalwork. Starting from the information contained within a single bone, or fragment of bone, the author shows how animal bones can be used as building blocks to expand our knowledge of the past. From time, climate, environment, farming and butchery, to religion and trade, bones can tell us about long-dead animals and the human societies that hunted or kept them.