International Council
for Archaeozoology

Bird Working Group

The Bird Working Group (BWG) is an interdisciplinary consortium of researchers (archaeozoologists, archaeologists, zoologists, ornithologists) interested in the study of bird remains recovered from archaeological sites from around the world. The BWG was created by an initiative of Arturo Morales-Muniz in 1991.

The primary focus of this ICAZ Working Group is to examine the relationships between people and birds in prehistoric, historic, and, at times, contemporary contexts. Group interests include, but are not limited to, identification of bird bones, the taphonomy of avian remains, methods of analysis and interpretation, the use of birds, and representations of birds in art.

For further information about this working group, contact the BWG Liaison to ICAZ, Luminita Bejenaru (lumib@uaic.ro).

BWG Meetings

Note: The 10th International Meeting of European Bird Curators will be hosted at the National Museum of Natural History (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle) in Paris, from October 17th to October 19th, 2017. All lecture and poster sessions will take pace in the Grand Amphithéâtre, within the Jardin des Plantes. The scientific program of the meeting will focus on The use of collections in the 21st century. Several topics will be discussed:

  • Preparation techniques and conservation of collections
  • "New" types of collections and their use
  • Collections of historical and scientific importance in Natural History Museums
  • Collections and climate change
  • Osteological collections and their use
  • Databases types and uses
Registrations are open and details are available on the website of the meeting, at the following link: https://ebc2017.sciencesconf.org/ For more information about this meeting, contact Christine Lefèvre (christine.lefevre AT mnhn.fr).

  1. Madrid, Spain (organized by Arturo Morales), October 1991
  2. Southamphon, UK (organized by Dale Serjeantson), September 1995
  3. Victoria, BC, Canada (organized by Rebecca Wigen), August 1998
  4. Krakow, Poland (organized by Zbigniew M. Bochenski, Zygmunt Bochenski, Alicja Lasota-Moskalewska, and Teresa Tomek), September 2001
  5. Münich, Germany (organized by Joris Peters, Gisela Grupe and Angela von den Driesch), July 2004
  6. Groningen, Netherlands (organized by Wietske Prummel, Jørn Zeiler and Dick Brinkhuizen), August 2008
  7. Iasi, Romania (organized by Luminita Bejenaru, Simina Stanc, Constantin Ion and Vasile Cotiuga), August/September 2012

The 7th Bird Working Group Meeting took place in Iasi (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University), Romania, from August 27th to September 1st, 2012. There were three days of presentations plus two trips — the first of one day to ornithological and historical sites situated in North-Eastern Romania, and the second of two days to the Danube Delta. Details of the meeting can be found in the report (PDF).

The 8th Bird Working Group Meeting took place at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley (Edinburg, USA), from January 11-14, 2016. It was organized by Frank J Dirrigl Jr.

The 9th Bird Working Group Meeting will take place at the University of Sheffield (UK) from the 8th to the 11th of June, 2018. The meeting will be organised in honour of Dale Serjeantson. The organizing committee includes Umberto Albarella (University of Sheffield), Polydora Baker (Historic England), Evelyne Browaeys (University of Sheffield), Chiara A. Corbino (University of Sheffield), Jacqui Mulville (Cardiff University), Ged Poland (University of Sheffield), and Fay Worley (Historic England).

BWG Publications

1st Meeting: Archaeofauna 2 (1992),

2nd Meeting: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7(4) (1997),

4th Meeting: Acta zoological cracoviensia 45(special issue) (2002) (http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/azc_v/azcv45.htm)

5th Meeting: Feathers, Grit and Symbolism: Birds and Humans in the Old and New Worlds edited by G. Grupe and J. Peters (2005). Documenta Archaeobiologiae 3. Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, Rahden/Westfalen.
(http://www.vml.de/e/detail.php?ISBN=3-89646-618-6&hl=documenta)

Birds in Archaeology: Proceedings of the 6th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group in Groningen (23.8 - 27.8.2008) edited by W. Prummel, J.T. Zeiler and D.C. Brinkhuizen (2010). /Groningen Archaeological Studies/ 12. Barkhuis Publishing/Groningen University Library, Groningen. http://www.barkhuis.nl/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=115

7th Meeting: Proceedings of the 7th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group in Iasi, Romania (27.08-01.09.2012). Birds and Archaeology: New Research. Special Issue in International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2014, Volume 24 (3), edited by L. Bejenaru, D. Serjeantson. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oa.v24.3/issuetoc

This information was updated on June 9, 2016.