Topic: The Key Role of Natural History Collections in the Zooarchaeological Research
Tales of the Eider, Little Pocket Mouse and Chendytes lawi
Speaker: Aharon Sasson, PhD
Natural history collections, i.e., skeletal collections, play a pivotal role in the zooarchaeological research. The San Diego Natural History Museum houses the most extensive collection of mammal and bird skeletons in our region. Without such collection, zooarchaeological specimens of the Eider, an artic sea duck, Chendytes lawi, an extinct flightless duck or the Little Pocket Mouse, the smallest North American rodent, could not be identified. The presentation will discuss the identification of these species and their contribution to our understanding of the archaeological sites and the natural history of our region.
For more reading on the identification of the Eider from Spring Valley, CA, please see:
Nat Blog about the Eider from Spring Valley
Aharon received his Ph.D. in Zooarchaeology from Tel Aviv University. He was a visiting scholar at UCSD and has taught Zooarchaeology at UCSD, SDSU and USD. Aharon has studied faunal assemblages from the ancient Near East as well as from numerous prehistoric and historic sites in California. Aharon is the author of Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel, A Zooarchaeological Perspective on Livestock Exploitation, Herd Management, and Economic Strategies.