Investigating Use of Space and Human-Animal Interactions in Agricultural Built Environments: The Geo-ethnoarchaeology of Livestock Dung

Abstract

There is growing recognition of the fundamental importance of the built environment in shaping lives and livelihoods, as well as the value of interdisciplinary approaches to studies of ecological and socio-cultural practices. Recent interdisciplinary research has highlighted the prevalence of livestock dung in many settlements, and ways in which it can provide key information on environment, plant and animal management, energy sources, socio-economic relations and cultural practices (Shahack-Gross 2011, and references therein). However, this ubiquitous material in many settlements ever since the domestication of herds, is regularly overlooked or missed using conventional excavation procedures, despite its worldwide economic importance.