NAU zooarchaeologist studies animal-human interaction from American West to Central America (VIDEO)

Chrissina Burke at excavation site in France

By Chris Strobel
NAU-TV


Northern Arizona University anthropology lecturer Chrissina Burke studies zooarchaeology—the study of animal bones at archaeology sites to understand human behaviors and how animals and humans interacted in the past.

In the American West, that research has focused on bison hunting, but her recent discovery of a tomb in Belize depicted ways in which ancient peoples used animals as status symbols, even in death.

 

NAU Communications