Chapter Nine: People, Plants, & Animals Flashcards
What is zooarchaeology? (4)
- study of animal remains from archaeological sites
- faunal assemblage: animal remains recovered from archaeological sites
- faunal assemblages differ from paleontological assemblages in that humans played a role in their formation
What kind of sites contain faunal remains? (3)
- kill sites: places where animals were killed in the past
- camp sites: places where animals were butchered and processed by humans
- site can contain thousands of bones represented by prey killed on site, prey portions transported to the site, and/or from animals that lived and died natural deaths there or were transported there by carnivores or raptors
Who performs zooarchaeology, and how? (2)
- zooarchaeologist: archaeologist who specializes in analyzing faunal remains from archaeological sites
- faunal analysis: identification and interpretation of faunal remains from archaeological sites; the analysis of the bones
How do zooarchaeologists identify bones? (2)
- first step: assign an element, or anatomical part of the body, to the specimen (bone)
- second step: identify the specimens to taxon, or the kind of animal the specimen represents
What happens when a taxonomic identification cannot be made? (6)
- size class: categorizing a specimen based on assumed body size of the animal
- class 1: rodent to rabbit size
- class 2: wolf to pronghorn antelope size
- class 3: bighorn sheep to mule deer size
- class 4: elk to bison size
- class 5: largest mammals, e.g., mammoths, giant ground sloth
How do zooarchaeologists make identifications in terms of size class?
comparative collection: skeletal collection of modern fauna of both sexes and different ages used to compare with ancient fauna
How do zooarchaeologists count or calculate abundances of each taxon in the faunal assemblage? (3)
- number of identified specimens (NISP): raw number of identified bones per species
- minimum number of individuals (MNI): smallest number of individuals necessary to account for all skeletal elements of a particular species in the assemblage
What is helpful in determining the minimum number of individuals (MNI)? (2)
- need fine-grained assemblages
- coarse-grained assemblages are less useful
Describe the Agate Basin Paleoindian site in Wyoming. (4)
- 10.780 carbon-14 (112,740 cal) BP
- Folsom points lithics and bones
- cutmarks, burned bones around a hearth, and marrow extraction breaks
- carnivore gnaw marks
What composes the axial skeleton? (6)
- head
- mandible
- vertebrae
- ribs
- sacrum
- tail
What composes the appendicular skeleton?
all parts except for the axial skeleton
Describe the elemental composition of bison and pronghorn at Agate Basin. (3)
- bison: only high-utility portions, appendicular skeletal elements brought back to Agate Basin from a nearby kill site
- pronghorn: field-dressed; axial portions were likely highly processed or eaten by carnivores
- a few toes/phalanges of both were processed for marrow, suggesting lean times
What is sesonality?
estimate of time of year when the site was used
How can faunal assemblages provide information on seasonality? (4)
- modern bison birth cycle
- schedule of bone development and tooth eruption
- fetal bison bones
- Agate Basin inhabited by Folsom people in late winter/early spring
What is paleoethnobotany? (5)
- study of plant remains from archaeological contexts to understand past interactions between plants and people
- the paleoethnobotanist analyzes and interprets the plant remains from sites
- explain diets and behaviors of humans to more fully understand past lifeways and adaptive strategies
- explain environmental context of past humans and the human-environment interaction
- Bulrush quids and fire starters at BER, wetter than today and likely during summer occupation
