Zooarchaeology is a specific type of anthropology and archeology; it is the study of non-human animal remains, involving the identification of animal species from archaeological contexts. Animal bones tend to be extremely fragmented, which results in very small pieces of an animal skeletal element for the zooarchaeologist to decipher. "This fragmentation could be from both human and natural processes including: the butchering process, disposal practices, trampling, exposure to scavenging animals, and/or weathering" Autumn Painter writes.
Autumn Praiser takes the reader in her article "Zooarcheology: The Study of Animals Bones and How It Is Done" along the steps of determining the identifications of archaeological animal bone. Zooarchaeologists use a comparative collection which is a collection of identified animal bones by species and skeletal element. Here are some of the steps she outlined for this process:
"The first step in analyzing animal remains is to sort the bones by animal class: mammal, fish, reptile/amphibian, and bird. It is possible to separate bones by animal class because each animal class is different, and can be determined visually by zooarchaeologists."
"After the animal bones are sorted by class, the next step is to sort them by skeletal element (if possible). These first two steps allow for easier use of comparative collections for specific identifications."
"Zooarchaeologists then take the sorted animal remains one item at a time, and based off of their initial evaluations compare each bone to the bones of previously identified species within the comparative collection. For example, if I have a bone that is thicker and/or larger than most of my mammal animal remains from a prehistoric archaeological site that is located in an area that has a lot of white-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus), I would start by looking at the deer comparative skeleton to identify the bone."
Link to the source: http://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=4531
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