Resumen

CAPRILES, José M.. Zooarchaeology in Bolivia: An emergent discipline. Textos Antropológicos [online]. 2011, vol.16, n.1, pp. 155-167. ISSN 1025-3181.

Zooarchaeology is defined as the study of animal remains from archaeological sites and its goal is to reconstruct ancient environmental and economic subsistence patterns. The sustained growth of zooarchaeology as a scientific subdiscipline in Bolivia is an important fact thatshould be disseminated and discussed. In Bolivia, zooarchaeology stands out as afield of study with great potential to contribute theoretically and methodologically to the solution of important research questions including animal domestication, the role of animal resources in the development of complex societies, and characterization of patterns of social differentiation. Likewise, zooarchaeology is envisio-ned as a discipline that can consistently contribute to ongoing ecological and social debates by providing theories, methods and specific data regarding the long-term influence of human populations in the evolution, distribu-tion, management and conservation of numerous biological species. As in other Latin American countries, the influence and direct and indirect collaboration offoreign scholars has been and will continué to be of great impórtame to thefuture development of zooarchaeology in Bolivia. However, and in spite ofthe many limitations for the exercise of scientific research in Bolivia, the growing number and variety of zooarchaeological studies olimos to positively discuss the diversification of archaeological research in the country