I use zooarchaeological and stable isotope analyses, as well as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to explore a range of topics concerning the relationships between humans and animals in the past. This includes examining the development and spread of pastoralism through Africa and other parts of the world, interrogating early herd management strategies in Kenya, Tanzania, and Armenia, and exploring animal, human, and material mobility of early herders in eastern Africa.

Zooarchaeology Laboratory and Vertebrate Osteology Collections

I direct the Zooarchaeology Laboratory and Vertebrate Osteology Collections, and advise undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students pursuing research using faunal remains to understand the past. Researchers interested in accessing the Vertebrate Osteology Collections can contact me (ajanzen@utk.edu).

Stable Isotope and ZooMS Laboratory

I also manage a laboratory space for sampling and preparation of archaeological material for stable isotope analysis and ZooMS. I welcome all students and researchers who are interested in using these methods in their research.

Teaching

• Intro to Archaeology (ANTH 120)
• African Archaeology (ANTH 364)
• People and Animals (ANTH 369)
• Taphonomy (ANTH 406)
• Stable Isotope Ecology (ANTH 431)
• Archaeological Science (ANTH 520)
• Principles of Zooarchaeology (ANTH 464)
• Vertebrate Osteology (ANTH 521)

Publications

• 2023 Janzen, A., K. Martirosyan-Olshansky, A. Bălăşescu. Neolithic herding practices in the Southern Caucasus: Animal management in the early 6th millennium BCE at Masis Blur in Armenia’s Ararat Plain. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104084
• 2023 Hadjikoumis, A., B. Arbuckle, S. de France, A. Deshpande-Mukherjee, M. Eda, R. Gillis, H. Hongo, A. Janzen, C. Makarewicz, E. Thorton, E. Wright. Animal Domestication: review and latest news on a pivotal change in human history. In: Encyclopedia of Archaeology, 2nd edition. Elsevier.
• 2023 Janzen, A. and B. Upex. Insights into herd management among East Africa’s earliest pastoralists: Combining zooarchaeological and stable isotope data. Quaternary International. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2022.05.018
• 2022 Goldstein, S., S. Hixon, E. Scott, J. Wolfhagen, V. Iminjili, A. Janzen, K. Chritz, E. Sawchuk, E. Ndiema, J.C. Sealy, A. Stone, G. Zoeller, L. Phelps, R. Fernandes. Presenting the Afriarch Isotopic Database. Journal of Open Archaeology Data, 10:6, pp. 1–9. https://doi.org/10.5334/joad.94
• 2022 Sawchuk, E., E.A. Hildebrand, A.C. Hill, D.A. Contreras, J.E. Edung, A. Janzen, A. Kurewa, J. Munene, E. Ndiema, K.M. Grillo. The Jarigole Mortuary Tradition Reconsidered. Antiquity, 96 (390):1460-1477. https://www.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.141
• 2022 Janzen, A. Exploring Ancient Pastoralism in Africa through Stable Isotope Analysis. In: Isotope Research in Zooarchaeology: Methods, Applications, and Advances, A. Sharpe & J. Krigbaum (Eds.), University Press of Florida, 116-145.
• 2022 Hildebrand E, K. Grillo, K. Chritz, M.L. Fischer, S.T. Goldstein, A. Janzen, A. Junginger, R. Kinyanjui, E. Ndiema, E.A. Sawchuk, A. Beyin, S.K. Pfeiffer. Buffering new risks? Social and economic changes in the Turkana Basin during and after the African Humid Period. The Holocene. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221121766
• 2022 Goldstein, S.T., J. Farr, M. Kayuni, M. Katongo, R. Fernandes, A. Janzen, B. Markham, A. Kay, A. Crowther, N. Boivin. Excavations at the Iron Age village site of Fibobe II, Central Zambia. Journal of African Archaeology. doi:10.1163/21915784-bja10012
• 2021 Goldstein, S.T., A. Crowther, E.R. Henry, A. Janzen, M. Katongo, S. Brown, J. Farr, C. Le Moyne, A. Picin, K.K. Richter, N. Boivin. Revisiting Kalundu Mound, Zambia: Implications for the timing of social and subsistence transitions in Iron Age southern Africa. African Archaeological Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-021-09440-y
• 2021 Culley, C, A. Janzen, S. Brown, M. Prendergast, J. Wolfhagen, M. Horton, H. Wright, C. Shipton, E. Ndiema, J. Swift, A.K. Abdallah, O. Haji, B. Abderemane, T. A. Tabibou, M. Petraglia, N. Boivin, A. Crowther. Collagen fingerprinting traces the introduction of livestock to island eastern Africa. Royal Society Open Science 8: 202341 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202341
• 2021 Janzen, A., K. K. Richter, S. Brown, O. Mwebi, V. Onduso, F. Gatwiri, E. Ndiema, M. Katongo, S. T. Goldstein, K. Douka, N. Boivin. Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry in Africa: Distinguishing among African bovids and new insights into Iron Age foodways. PLOS One 16(5), e0251061