Outlines the ecological fundamentals, assumptions, and techniques for reconstructing past environments using fossil animals from archaeological and paleontological sites.

J. Tyler Faith is curator of archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Utah and assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Utah. His research emphasizes the relationships between Quaternary mammal communities, environmental change, and human-environment interactions, with an emphasis on eastern and southern Africa.

1. Why a book on paleoenvironmental reconstruction from faunal remains?; 2. Fundamentals of ecology and biogeography; 3. Analytical assumptions; 4. Background of select paleozoological samples; 5. Environmental reconstructions based on the presence/absence of taxa; 6. Environmental reconstruction based on taxonomic abundances; 7. Taxon-free techniques; 8. Environmental inferences based on taxonomic diversity; 9. Transfer functions and quantitative paleoenvironmental reconstruction; 10. Size clines as paleoenvironmental indicators; 11. Some final thoughts.