Quantitative Paleozoology describes and illustrates how the remains of long-dead animals recovered from archaeological and paleontological excavations can be studied and analyzed. The methods range from determining how many animals of each species are represented to determining whether one collection consists of more broken and more burned bones than another. All methods are described and illustrated with data from real collections, while numerous graphs illustrate various quantitative properties.
Author(s): R. Lee Lyman
Series: Cambridge manuals in archaeology
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 374
City: Cambridge; New York
Tags: Горно-геологическая отрасль;Историческая геология, палеонтология, стратиграфия;Палеозоология;
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
List of Figures......Page 13
List of Tables......Page 19
Preface......Page 23
1 Tallying and Counting: Fundamentals......Page 27
PALEOZOOLOGICAL CONCEPTS......Page 30
Scales of Measurement......Page 34
Measured and Target Variables: Reliability and Validity......Page 37
Absolute and Relative Frequencies and Closed Arrays......Page 39
DISCUSSION......Page 42
BACKGROUND OF SOME FAUNAL SAMPLES......Page 43
2 Estimating Taxonomic Abundances: NISP and MNI......Page 47
THE NUMBER OF IDENTIFIED SPECIMENS (NISP)......Page 53
Advantages of NISP......Page 54
Problems with NISP......Page 55
Problems, Schmoblems......Page 56
A Problem We ShouldWorry About......Page 62
THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS (MNI)......Page 64
Strengths(?) of MNI......Page 69
Problems with MNI......Page 71
Aggregation......Page 83
Defining Aggregates......Page 93
DISCUSSION......Page 95
WHICH SCALE OF MEASUREMENT?......Page 97
RESOLUTION......Page 104
CONCLUSION......Page 107
3 Estimating Taxonomic Abundances: Other Methods......Page 109
BIOMASS AND MEAT WEIGHT......Page 110
Measuring Biomass......Page 111
Problems with Measuring Biomass (based on MNI)......Page 112
Solving Some Problems in Biomass Measurement......Page 114
Measuring Meat Weight......Page 115
The Weight Method (Skeletal Mass Allometry)......Page 119
Bone Weight......Page 128
BONE SIZE AND ANIMAL SIZE ALLOMETRY......Page 134
UBIQUITY......Page 140
MATCHING AND PAIRING......Page 145
More Pairs Means Fewer Individuals......Page 147
The Lincoln–Petersen Index......Page 149
Identifying Bilateral Pairs......Page 155
CORRECTING FOR VARIOUS THINGS......Page 160
SIZE......Page 163
DISCUSSION......Page 165
4 Sampling, Recovery, and Sample Size......Page 167
SAMPLING TO REDUNDANCY......Page 169
Excavation Amount......Page 170
NISP as a Measure of Sample Redundancy......Page 172
Volume Excavated or NISP......Page 175
Hand Picking Specimens by Eye......Page 178
Screen Mesh Size......Page 180
To Correct or Not to Correct for Differential Loss......Page 182
Summary......Page 184
THE SPECIES–AREA RELATIONSHIP......Page 185
Species–Area Curves Are Not All the Same......Page 190
NESTEDNESS......Page 193
CONCLUSION......Page 197
5 Measuring the Taxonomic Structure and Composition ("Diversity") of Faunas......Page 198
BASIC VARIABLES OF STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION......Page 200
INDICES OF STRUCTURE AND SIMILARITY......Page 204
Taxonomic Richness......Page 205
Taxonomic Composition......Page 211
Taxonomic Heterogeneity......Page 218
Taxonomic Evenness......Page 220
Discussion......Page 224
TRENDS IN TAXONOMIC ABUNDANCES......Page 229
CONCLUSION......Page 235
6 Skeletal Completeness, Frequencies of Skeletal Parts, and Fragmentation......Page 240
HISTORY OF THE MNE QUANTITATIVE UNIT......Page 241
DETERMINATION OF MNE VALUES......Page 244
MNE Is Ordinal Scale at Best......Page 248
A Digression on Frequencies of Left and Right Elements......Page 255
USING MNE VALUES TO MEASURE SKELETAL-PART FREQUENCIES......Page 258
Modeling and Adjusting Skeletal-Part Frequencies......Page 259
MEASURING SKELETAL COMPLETENESS......Page 267
A Suggestion......Page 270
Fragmentation Intensity and Extent......Page 276
The NISP:MNE Ratio......Page 277
DISCUSSION......Page 280
CONCLUSION......Page 287
7 Tallying for Taphonomy:Weathering, Burning, Corrosion, and Butchering......Page 290
YET ANOTHER QUANTITATIVE UNIT......Page 292
WEATHERING......Page 293
CHEMICAL CORROSION AND MECHANICAL ABRASION......Page 299
BURNING AND CHARRING......Page 300
A Digression......Page 302
GNAWING DAMAGE......Page 303
BUTCHERING MARKS......Page 305
Types of Butchering Damage......Page 306
Tallying Butchering Evidence: General Comments......Page 307
Tallying Percussion Damage......Page 309
Tallying Cut Marks and Cut Marked Specimens......Page 310
The Surface Area Solution......Page 312
DISCUSSION......Page 317
CONCLUSION......Page 322
8 Final Thoughts......Page 325
COUNTING AS EXPLORATION......Page 328
GLOSSARY......Page 335
REFERENCES......Page 339
INDEX......Page 371
