Les sources dont nous disposons tendent à montrer qu'au Moyen Âge, les hommes craignent la mer et les créatures qui y vivent. Le morse, objet d'une ambiguïté terminologique, n'échappe pas à cette règle. Pourtant, le morse et le phoque sont chassés, les chasseurs ayant une vision plus réaliste de ces animaux. Reposant majoritairement sur des textes nordiques, notamment des sagas islandaises, cet article propose d'identifier les caractères principaux de la chasse dont font l'objet ces deux mammifères amphibies dans les mers du Nord. Alors qu'elle est vitale dans certaines régions, elle est ailleurs sujette à des règles très contraignantes, qui débouchent parfois sur des conflits. En effet, les mers du Nord sont le théâtre d'un commerce de plus en plus dynamique au cours du Moyen Âge, dans lequel le morse et ses précieuses défenses en ivoire ont leur place.

Animals are often mentioned as ingredients in the medical cuneiform tablets. This paper summarizes several aspects implied by the study of Fauna in the frame of Mesopotamian medicine. It consists of a brief introduction, focusing on three main aspects: firstly, what we find in the Assyro-Babylonian medical texts regarding animals; then, we will make a short presentation of the Decknamen theorie, which assumes that some animal names could in fact designate plants. The consequences of such a hypothesis are examined along with our methods to prove or disprove this theory on a case-by-case study; finally, we will state preliminary conclusions about the use of animals and their products in the Assyro-Babylonian medicine.

The Greek and Latin world viewed khrómis as essentially a vocal fish and a highly esteemed one, which does not match the identification, provided by Rondelet and ratified by Linnaeus, with the Mediterranean damselfish, Chromis chromis (Linnaeus, 1758) (also extended to the other pomacentrids of the genus Chromis). Trying to explain the reason behind Rondelet's misidentification deepens our understanding of the anthropozoology of the fish actually called khrómis by the ancients (in fact a sciaenid, most likely the shi drum, Umbrina cirrosa (Linnaeus, 1758)), while at the same time providing a possible interpretation to immunda chromis (lit. ‘unclean chromis’), an obscure syntagm found in Ovid's (?) Halieutica.

Entre le coq gaulois, symbole de la France moderne et contemporaine, et le coq des Gaulois, élevé il y a plus de deux millénaires, la différence est grande et pas seulement du point de vue temporel. En effet, l'imagerie du coq gaulois est liée à une homonymie latine que le Moyen Âge a fortement utilisée d'abord pour ridiculiser la France, avant que les Français eux-mêmes ne le reprennent à leur compte en tant que symbole national. En ce qui les concerne, la poule et le coq (Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758)), originaires du sud-est asiatique, ne semblent arriver en Gaule qu'aux alentours du VI^e siècle av. J.-C., après être passés par la Grèce et l'Italie. Le coq est donc bien le moins gaulois des oiseaux, d'autant plus si l'on considère le fait que les auteurs antiques n'accordent aucune importance aux coqs des Gaulois. Par ailleurs, avant la conquête romaine, l'espèce n'est jamais utilisée comme un symbole animalier en Gaule et ses restes archéologiques demeurent longtemps assez mal représentés dans le cortège faunique des sites gaulois. Toutefois, elle semble faire l'objet de quelques traitements particuliers qui prouvent sa forte implantation dans l'élevage gaulois et la vision que les populations avaient d'elle : animal à la chair convoitée, offrande pour les dieux ou pour les morts, voire, dans les premiers temps de son introduction, cadeau diplomatique et oiseau d'ornement.

Zooarchaeology of Northern Mesoamerica has often been restricted to major archaeological sites and few regional syntheses are documented. Based on the original analysis of animal bone remains from ten archaeological assemblages and their confrontation with iconographic, historic and ethnographic data, this paper aims to propose a synthesis on the use of animals in central Mexico, from the Classic period to the Spanish Conquest. We selected sites from a similar environment but two cultural regions: Central Mexico and Western Mexico. The methodology used to compare the results from each assemblage is adapted to a particularly heterogeneous corpus and small-sized samples. The identification of 35 different taxa shows the use of a restricted and rather homogeneous spectrum. However variations are observed considering their proportions in each site. Only two domestic animals are recognised, the dog (Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) and the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo Linnaeus, 1758), but none of the studied societies specialised in the breeding of these species. We then address the cases of hunting or garden-hunting and the exploitation of aquatic animals. Finally, hypotheses are presented about how the animals were used by the populations of Nothern Mesoamerica. Although a larger number of sites need to be studied to enhance the impact of our interpretations, this paper establishes a first attempt at regional synthesis on central Mexico.

Analyses of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic industry in hard animal material from the western Mediterranean include a rich corpus of studies focusing on osseous industries. However, studies relating to the shell industry mainly concentrate on the production of ornamental objects, and the overall background of this raw material for the production of utensils used for transformation activities is not yet well known. The technological analysis of the hard animal industry of Cuccuru S'Arriu (Cabras, Sardinia) discovered in Final Neolithic structures (4000-3500 BC) led to the identification of many sea shells collected for making artefacts, ornamental objects and utensils. This article focuses on the morphotechnological analysis of the Glycymeris da Costa, 1778 shells used as utensils, and the identification of artefact function. In particular, the experimental activities carried out for the analysis of use-wear traces are presented. These activities enhance our understanding of artefact functions (smoothers, scrapers or small containers). Finally, this study allows us to assess the important role of this industry in the production activities of Final Neolithic societies in Sardinia and reveals previously unknown data regarding the reconstruction of the ways of life of insular prehistoric societies. It is currently one of the few Neolithic samples in the western Mediterranean.