Beyond identification: human use of animal dung in the past

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• dc.contributor.author Gur-Arieh, Shira
• dc.contributor.author Madella, Marco
• dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-25T05:47:48Z
• dc.date.available 2024-07-25T05:47:48Z
• dc.date.issued 2024
• dc.description.abstract Animal dung is still considered a secondary by-product of domestication, even though a growing body of evidence is showing that humans recognized its properties as fuel and fertilizer and utilized dung prior to—and alongside—the process of animal domestication. In this paper, we review the advancements made in dung identification over the last decades and suggest a multi-proxy workflow for fast screening for dung in the field laboratory and more refined post-excavation analysis. In addition, we provide a global synthesis of evidence for dung used as a resource, both from ethnographic and archaeological records. We review the use of animal dung as fuel, fertilizer, construction material, and medication, alongside its symbolic role in different societies around the globe. Finally, the use of animal dung as a proxy for human-animal interaction is discussed, and possible avenues for future research are proposed. Understanding how humans used dung can help answer a range of questions related to animal domestication, subsistence practices, technological advancements, and human decisions regarding resource allocation, among others.
• dc.description.sponsorship This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action grant agreement No. 794823 granted to SGA. Part of SGA’s work was also funded by the German Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) under the Kleine Facher– Große Potenziale funding program in the humanities and social sciences, grant agreement No. 01UL1918X (“PEKULI – Vielfalt und Dynamik der ostmediterranen Ernahrung ¨ in der Bronze- und Eisenzeit”). MM developed this work as part of the ModAgrO project funded by the Spanish Research State Agency (AEI) (PID2021-127756NB-I00), Spanish Ministry of Culture (T002020N0000045326) and the Fundacion Palarq.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Gur-Arieh S, Madella M. Beyond identification: human use of animal dung in the past. J Anthropol Archaeol. 2024;75:101601. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101601
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101601
• dc.identifier.issn 0278-4165
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/60824
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Elsevier
• dc.relation.ispartof Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 2024;75:101601.
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/794823
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PE/PID2021-127756NB-I00
• dc.rights © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• dc.subject.keyword Animal dung
• dc.subject.keyword Animal domestication
• dc.subject.keyword Secondary products
• dc.subject.keyword Technology
• dc.title Beyond identification: human use of animal dung in the past
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion