BEYOND OPTIMIZATION - ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF EXAMINING ANIMAL EXPLOITATION

During the last two decades optimization models have often been used b y archaeologists to explain animal exploitation. The employment of the se models has had both successes and failures. One failure is that opt imization models consider animal resource selection solely from an eco nomic point of view. Two alternative ways of exploring animal exploita tion are offered here: 1) ethnohistoric analogy and 2) a structural ap proach. Ethnohistoric analogy and direct historical approaches can yie ld new insights into the symbolic roles animals might have played in t he past but are limited in their applicability to prehistoric archaeol ogy. A structural approach can simultaneously examine both the symboli c and economic roles of animals and has the additional advantage that it is equally applicable in both prehistoric and historic archaeology. The utility of these alternative approaches is explored using zooarch aeological and artistic data from the Midwestern United States, c.AD 8 00-1400.