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, Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual provides an important new reference 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 Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones, veteran archaeologist and educator April Beisaw 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.

Extensive additional illustrative material, from the author’s own collected assemblages and from those in the Archaeological Analytical Research Facility at Binghamton University in New York, are also available in the book’s online supplement. There, readers can view and interact with images to further understanding of the principles explained in the text. 
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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, Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual provides an important new reference 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 Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones, veteran archaeologist and educator April Beisaw 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.

Extensive additional illustrative material, from the author’s own collected assemblages and from those in the Archaeological Analytical Research Facility at Binghamton University in New York, are also available in the book’s online supplement. There, readers can view and interact with images to further understanding of the principles explained in the text. 
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Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual

Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual

by April M. Beisaw
Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual

Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual

by April M. Beisaw

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Overview

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, Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual provides an important new reference 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 Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones, veteran archaeologist and educator April Beisaw 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.

Extensive additional illustrative material, from the author’s own collected assemblages and from those in the Archaeological Analytical Research Facility at Binghamton University in New York, are also available in the book’s online supplement. There, readers can view and interact with images to further understanding of the principles explained in the text. 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781623490263
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Publication date: 11/21/2013
Series: Texas A&M University Anthropology Series , #18
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 192
Product dimensions: 7.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

APRIL M. BEISAW is an assistant professor of anthropology at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and an adjunct research associate in anthropology at Binghamton University. She has served as an independent faunal analyst since 1998 and has analyzed assemblages from prehistoric and historic sites across North America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1 Introduction 1

2 Preparing Your Assemblage 7

Cleaning Bones 8

Sorting Bones 10

Mending Fresh Breaks 12

3 What Animal Is It? 17

Class: Mammal, Fish, Bird, Amphibian, or Reptile? 18

Order and Family: A Question of Functional Morphology 24

Mammal Orders 28

Fish Orders 33

Bird Orders 35

Amphibian Orders 37

Reptile Orders 37

Genus and Species: Environment and Economy 40

4 What Bone Is It? 47

Skulls and Teeth 54

Vertebrae and Ribs 59

Vertebrae 59

Ribs 68

Pelvic and Shoulder Girdles 70

Pelvic Girdle 71

Shoulder Girdle 75

Upper Limbs 79

Lower Limbs 88

Hands and Feet (Manus and Pes) 94

Siding Bone 98

Determining Sex and Age 99

5 What Else Can the Bone Tell Me? 103

Broken Bone 104

Cut Bone 105

Worked Bone 108

Burned Bone 109

Weathered Bone 111

Gnawed Bone 112

Digestive Damage 113

The Biased Assemblage 113

6 Recording Your Data 117

Levels of Certainty 117

Size Classes 120

Mutually Exclusive Categories 120

Completeness and Articulations 123

Counting and Weighing Bone 123

Your Research Questions 125

Comment Fields 126

7 Describing Your Data 129

Common Calculations 129

Body-Part Profiles 133

Contextual Analysis 136

Producing a Faunal Report 136

Epilogue 141

Appendix 1 Online Appendix 143

Appendix 2 Bone Atlases 144

Appendix 3 Mammals, Fish, Birds, Reptiles, and Amphibians by Habitat Preference 146

Glossary 153

References 165

Index 169

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