This volume includes a number of papers that were originally presented at the conference Roman
Animals in Ritual and Funerary Contexts which was held in Basel(Switzerland) from 1st-4th
February 2018. The conference represented the second meeting of the International Council for
Archaeozoology (ICAZ) Working Group on the Zooarchaeology of the Roman Period.The articles
present ritually deposited animal remains across a wide geographicalrange and incorporate both
archaeological and zoological findings. The integration ofthese two strands of evidence is also
one of the central concerns of the ICAZ WorkingGroup as in the past they have often been dealt
with separately. However it isprecisely this interdisciplinary cooperation that opens up new
perspectives on ritualpractices in a wide variety of contexts. In this volume we see the
enhancement of ourunderstanding of ritual treatment of animals in central sanctuaries in rural
areas atnatural sites and as part of building construction processes. The case studies
presented in this volume demonstrate how animal remains such as bones and eggshells provide
information beyond diet economy and differences in social hierarchy. Their interdisciplinary
investigation additionally enables insights into practices governed by cultural religious and
ideological conditions.
