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Shuffling Nags, Lame Ducks : The Archaeology of Animal Disease

The first book on palaeopathology by Roy Lee Moodie (1923) discussed disease in plant, animal and human palaeontology. The next work of a synthetic nature dealing exclusively with animal remains, was published by András Tasnádi Kubacska (1960) in Hungarian. These were books in palaeontology, not discussing the human socio-cultural factors related to animal disease. Two decades had passed before the first palaeopathological book with an entirely zooarchaeological focus by Baker and Brothwell (1980) was written. A great deal of information has since accumulated. Thirty-three years later an up-to-date, comprehensive review of the subject has long been overdue. This work is the synthesis of two decades of research integrating international literature. A specialist chapter by Dr. Erika Gál covers 19 of the 246 printed text pages. This independent module thus makes up less than 10% of the book.

This book is the first comprehensive review of the subject for 33 years (Baker and Brothwell, 1980). It draws on a wide range of international zooarchaeological literature. More than one third of the references are in languages other than English. Using the evidence of excavated remains, the diagnosis of disease provides a key to understanding past attitudes toward animals. Scientific analysis and cultural interpretation are used synergistically to create a new dimension, not accessible through traditional archaeological/historical inquiry. The pathological analysis of animal disease thus reveals insights into human socio-cultural factors rarely recorded in documentary and other sources.