Professional Zooarchaeology Group

The Professional Zooarchaeology Group (PZG) has been founded by members of English Heritage, the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham (originally of the Laboratory for Social Zooarchaeology, University of Southampton) and Wessex Archaeology to bridge the gap between animal bone specialists based within and outside academic establishments.  Currently, by working largely in isolation from one another, we are putting ourselves at an unnecessary disadvantage, often cut off from important new discoveries, or practical, methodological and theoretical developments in our field.  Our aim is to facilitate the exchange of ideas between specialists and establish a mutually-beneficial support network: specialists working within universities being able to provide access to libraries and reference collections, those working within units or as freelancers offering their knowledge of current British archaeology, project designs for forthcoming excavations, as well an insight into ‘grey literature’.

Meetings are scheduled twice-yearly and including a mixture of thematic discussions and practical workshops: for instance sessions on bird and fish identifications or ‘statistics for zooarchaeologists’.

Contact the PZG: pzg@english-heritage.org.uk