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Final > Ch- 14 People, Plants and Animals in the Past > Flashcards

Ch- 14 People, Plants and Animals in the Past Flashcards

1
Q

Definition of Zooarchaeology

A
  • Animal bones from an archaeological site
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2
Q

Definition of

Archaeobotany, paleobotany or paleoethnobotany

A
  • Plants remains from an archaeological site
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3
Q

Eco Facts

A 
"Natural objects used, not made, by humans"
-	Important for reconstructing how people lived and what they ate 
Ex.
•	Hunting methods, foraging methods
•	Animal & plant domestication
•	Agricultural methods
•	Dietary staples vs. supplements
•	Fuel sources
•	Climate and environment
•	Seasonality
•	Use in ritual
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4
Q

Faunal Assemblage

A
  • Animal bones recovered from an archaeological site

- One in which humans played a role in their deposition (not natural fossils)

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5
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- Where and how old

A

Wyoming

~11,000 years old

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6
Q

The Agate Basin site

- Matt Hill (How did he identify all of those bones?)

A

Comparative Collection

  • Standard zooarchaeology lab contains examples of all local, and some non-local, animals
  • Labelled with information on species, age-at-death, sex, when & where collected
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7
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- Results

A
  • Most bones are bison (n=11) & pronghorn antelope (n=5)
  • Also bones from wolf, coyote, red fox, skunk, peccary, dog, jackrabbit, rabbit, grouse, frog, elk, camel
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8
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- Were the faunal remains deposited by humans?

A
  • Some had cut marks from stone tools, some had impact fractures (from being smashed to get at marrow), some were burned (from being in a hearth)
  • Did see some carnivore marks but not common – likely came along after
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9
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- Were there faunal remains deposited during the same period of occupation?

A
  • Some parts still in anatomical position

- Bones showed same degree of weathering due to bone size

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10
Q

What / How to count

1. Number of Identified Specimens (NISP)

A
  • Total number of bone specimens identified to a particular taxon
  • Affected by degree of fragmentation
  • Highly fragmented will give higher number
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11
Q

What / How to count

2. Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI)

A
  • Minimum number of individuals necessary to account for all the skeletal elements of a particular species
  • If preservation allows, consider sex and age
  • Then determine what element is most abundant
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12
Q

The Agate Basin Site Results
- Bison Bones (How many, and M, F I?)
MNI?

A
  • 1033 Bison Bones
  • Concluded at least 4 males, 4 females & 3 immature bison
  • MNI of bison is
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13
Q

The Agate Basin Site Results

  • Antelope Bones (How many, and M, F I?)
  • MNI?
A
  • 297 Antelope Bones
  • 4 right and 1 left humeri, left very different in size from all 4 right
    • Concluded at least 5 antelope were present
  • MNI of antelope is 5
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14
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- How were these Bison and antelopes used?

A
  • Viewed as food, bones represent meat

- Concluded not where animals were killed, rather, brought most nutritious parts back to site to be processed

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15
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- Why did the extract bone marrow from the animals toes?

A
  • There isn’t much marrow in toes, and there is no meat
  • Hard times?
  • Maybe in late Winter / early Spring − Hardest time of year for a hunter- gatherer
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16
Q

The Agate Basin Site

- What season was it when the animals died?

A
  • Looked at teeth of immature bison to estimate their age
  • A late-term fetus or newborn, an 11 month-old, a 23 month-old,
  • Assumed all bison born in Spring
  • Therefore, these animals died in late Winter / early Spring
17
Q

What are Macrobotanical remains?

A

“Plant parts identifiable with the naked eye”

- Corncobs, pine nuts, charcoal, seeds, acorn mush adhering to a ceramic bowl

18
Q

What is Palynology?

A

“Analysis of ancient pollen and spores”

19
Q

Pollen

  • How long does it last
  • Where have we found it
  • How do we extract it
A
  • Survives for 10,000 + years
  • May find pollen in human burials, inside pots, in weavings, on a stone tool
  • Important to ensure not contaminated by modern soil or air
  • Then use chemicals to extract and look at it under a powerful microscope
20
Q

Famous Neanderthal burial

  • Where
  • How old was he
A

Shanidar Cave – the “flower burial”

- Shanidar IV – 30-45 year old male

21
Q

Famous Neanderthal burial

  • What did a pollen analysis show?
  • Vs. What do we think now
A
  • Many species of wildflower in high concentration relative to the rest of the cave, some even clumped together
  • For a long time interpreted as intentional ritual deposit
  • Now thought to be due to rodents
    • Graves riddled with burrows of Persian jird
    • They store large numbers of flower heads, without stems, inside tunnel of their burrows
22
Q

Phytoliths – ‘plants stones’

A
  • Tiny silica deposits in plant cells – take on the shape of the cell, which differs between species
  • Can last for millions of years
  • Not all plants have phytoliths but many do
23
Q

Stillwater Marsh

What plants did people eat?

A
  • Bulrush seeds common
  • Were the seeds collected and brought to the site for consumption or did they arrive with the entire bulrush plant for other uses (building, weaving)
24
Q

Stillwater Marsh

What season was the site occupied

A
  • Full range of seeds only available in the late summer
25
Q

Coprolites of Hidden Cave

  • What did they find?
  • What did it tell us?
  • Sex?
A
  • Desiccated poop; rare; super informative
  • Allowed us to Identify species
  • 19 coprolites analyzed
  • Bulrush seeds common, cattail pollen, feathers of waterfowl, bones of small fish, bird bones, insects and snails
  • Can determine sex: women
26
Q

Lipid - fat- Extraction?

A
  • Useful to look for these on ceramic cooking vessels - Showed us their chemical methods to separate out fatty acid chains
  • Found evidence of leafy vegetables (cabbage), milk, meat, beeswax (part of pot manufacture)

Final (11 decks)

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