India's northeastern region has diverse cultural affinities of indigenous ethnic communities. They share a varied quantum of knowledge related to traditional practices, zootherapeutic expertise and their own curetted hunting and butchering skills of wild faunas. The ethnic community of Dimasa has a close-knit world with the practical concept of involving wild and domestic faunas in everyday life. The people of the Dimasa community are adept in using animals in every facet through their beliefs of superstations, hunting for subsistence, pride and security, thus making them prone to the modernisation surrounding them.
The research focuses on the utilisation and valorisation of wild and domestic faunas by the Dimasas in traditional zootherapeutic practices, butchering patterns, and mummification of the hunted animals. Along with it, the usage of animals is also seen in the ontological aspect, which is an eminent part of their religion, culture, and traditional ethnozoological approaches adopted by the ethnic community. The study aims to draw analogies from the modern hunting activities of the Dimasa, which implies primitive practices inherent in previous hunters and gatherers. The social entanglement of the Dimasa society with the animals in ritualistic measures is crucial for the themes of relational archaeology, which interprets the connection between the material and human world, stating the cohabiting nature of humans and animals evolving from the ancient period. Increasing advancement in the economic sphere has increased their dependency on wildlife resources creating imbalances in the ecological sphere with a decline in faunal diversity. Ethnographic observation of contemporary societies aided with geographical and environmental aids can help us to understand the cultural continuity concerning the status of conservation of the present species correlating them with the past faunal resources by tracing the local ecological diversity of the region.
