Identifying and interpreting animal bones : a manual
Offering a field-tested analytic method for identifying faunal remains, along with helpful references, images, and examples of the most commonly encountered North American species, this book serves as a guide for students, avocational archaeologists, and even naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts. Using the basic principles outlined here, the bones of any vertebrate animal, including humans, can be identified and their relevance to common research questions can be better understood. Because the interpretation of archaeological sites depends heavily on the analysis of surrounding materials - soils, artifacts, and floral and faunal remains - it is important that non-human remains be correctly distinguished from human bones, that distinctions between domesticated and wild or feral animals be made correctly, and that evidence of the reasons for faunal remains in the site be recognized. But the ability to identify and analyze animal bones is a skill that is not easy to learn from a traditional textbook. In this book, a veteran archaeologist and educator guides readers through the stages of identification and analysis with sample images and data, also illustrating how specialists make analytical decisions that allow for the identification of the smallest fragments of bone
eBook, English, 2013
First edition View all formats and editions
Texas A & M University Press, College Station, 2013
Handbook
1 online resource
9781623490829, 9781461944522, 9781299938670, 1623490820, 146194452X, 1299938671
859155625
Introduction
Preparing your assemblage
What animal is it?
What bone is it?
What else can the bone tell me?
Recording your data
Describing your data
Epilogue
Appendix 1 : Online appendix
Appendix 2 : Bone atlases
Appendix 3 : Mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians by habitat preference