Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T04:25:52.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2014

R. Lee Lyman
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
Get access

Summary

When I started my studies of vertebrate faunal remains recovered from archaeological sites over twenty years ago, I had no idea what taphonomy was nor was I particularly concerned about what are today typically asked questions concerning the preservation and formation of the archaeofaunal record. But as I read the zooarchaeological literature while completing my doctoral dissertation in the mid-1970s, I found an increasing number of papers dealing with taphonomic issues. The fact that since then it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the ever growing literature on taphonomy is something of a mixed blessing. It is a mixed blessing because (a) we are constantly realigning the relation between what we want to learn and what we think we can learn from the vertebrate faunal remains we recover from archaeological sites, and thus our conclusions tend to be much more strongly founded than even a decade ago (this is good), and (b) it is nearly impossible for any one analyst to conceive of all of the logically possible taphonomic problems that a single reasonably sized assemblage of vertebrate remains might present. The latter is not bad; it just means a taphonomist's and zooarchaeologist's (and thus my) job is much more difficult now than it was a mere decade ago. Simply put, the analysis of zooarchaeological remains is no longer the simple, straightforward task that it was in the 1960s or 1970s. Taphonomic research has found a home in zooarchaeology, and it is here to stay.

Type
Chapter
Information
Vertebrate Taphonomy , pp. xxiii - xxv
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Preface
  • R. Lee Lyman, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: Vertebrate Taphonomy
  • Online publication: 05 August 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139878302.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Preface
  • R. Lee Lyman, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: Vertebrate Taphonomy
  • Online publication: 05 August 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139878302.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • R. Lee Lyman, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: Vertebrate Taphonomy
  • Online publication: 05 August 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139878302.001
Available formats
×