Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 7-10 Tropical Zooarchaeology: An Introduction to the Themes and Issues KITTY F. EMERY Curator of Environmental Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Zooarchaeological investigation in the humid tropics is faced with difficult hurdles including but not limited to special taphonomic conditions, high taxonomic diversity, and variable recovery, analy- sis, and interpretation. This special issue of the journal Archaeofauna is dedicated to the discus- sion of the methods and issues of particular inter- est to zooarchaeologists working in the tropical regions of the world. The issue’s theme was first presented during a forum entitled Zooarchaeology in the Humid American Tropics: Making the Most of the Data, part of the annual meetings of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) in Milwaukee, WI, in 2003. However, the original concept was devised somewhat earlier, over beignets and coffee in New Orleans, when Wendy and I sat down to reminisce (or complain) about our continuing research in the Maya world (we have both worked for many years in the semitropical rainforests of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras) – only to dis- cover that we held in common many concerns about our samples and analytical techniques that appeared to be specific to the humid tropical low- lands in which we work. We decided then that we needed to put together a discussion group of peo- ple dealing with zooarchaeological samples from similar locations and potentially with similar issues and difficulties. The 2003 SAA forum was a roaring success, with lively discussion and fascinating papers. Our original participant list included many of the authors here as well as a dedicated audience of other zooarchaeologists and archaeologists, some of whom have joined the roster with their own papers presented in this issue of Archaeofauna. In the original discussion-based forum, the partici- pants and interested audience members confronted a range of issues of particular importance to those studying environmental variables in the humid tropics. The issues were subdivided into two main themes (Methods and Interpretation) and six topics: Tropical taphonomy and preservation: What are the effects of tropical conditions on zooarchaeo- logical assemblages, and what can we realistically do with what is left to us? Variability and bias in archaeological sampling: How do differential sampling (screening and flota- tion, and the lack thereof) and variable project goals affect faunal analysis? Identification of tropical samples: Are our com- parative collections appropriate to the identifica- tion of the diversity of tropical species? Regional comparability: Can we compare site samples or find regional patterning when sample recovery and analysis are so divergent? Ethnographic analogy: How accurate are culture comparisons, ethnographies, and ethnohistoric data as analogy for zooarchaeological research?