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Some biases in the recovery of archaeological faunal remains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

Richard W. Casteel
Richard W. Casteel
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
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Extract

Non-hominid faunal remains associated with cultural deposits have long been of interest to archaeologists. Recent archaeological work (Coutts and Higham, 1971; Daly, 1969; Drew et al., 1971; Flannery, 1966; Higham and Leach, 1971; Shawcross, 1967; Ucko and Dimbleby, 1969) is showing an increased utilization of these associated faunal remains for detailed analysis of prehistoric man's environment, hunting techniques, dietary habits, the effects of domestication upon animals, changes in these over time, and seasonal dating.

As analysis becomes more detailed and the need to extract increased amounts of relevant and sophisticated data from faunal remains grows more demanding, the representative quality of our samples of faunal remains becomes more critical. Many of the demands made upon our samples require that increased attention be paid to the recovery and analysis of some of the less obvious constituents of these faunal assemblages.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 38 , December 1972 , pp. 382 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1972

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