Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-pvkqz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-05T16:12:32.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Available Meat from Faunal Remains: A Consideration of Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. Lee Lyman
R. Lee Lyman*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A common practice in faunal analysis is the estimation of diet. Review of the various techniques used reveals fallacies in each and a basic misconception about what was actually consumed. Explicit definitions of consumed meat and available meat and means of employing these concepts are presented. Use of the concepts in an example suggests that commonly used concepts provide estimates that are not realistic reflections of consumed meat amounts.

Information

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , July 1979 , pp. 536 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Binford, Lewis R., and Bertram, Jack B. 1977 Bone frequencies—and attritional processes. In For theory building in archaeology, edited by Binford, L. R., pp. 77–153. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Boyce, Todd Vernon 1937 A history of the beef cattle industry in the inland empire. Unpublished M. A. thesis, Department of History and Political Science, State College of Washington (Washington State University).Google Scholar
Brain, C. K. 1967 Hottentot food remains and their bearing on the interpretation of fossil bone assemblages. Scientific Papers of the Namib Desert Research Station 32.Google Scholar
Brumley, John H. 1973 Quantitative methods in the analysis of butchered faunal remains: a suggested approach. Archaeologyin Montana 14(1):1–40.Google Scholar
Casteel, Richard W. 1974 A method for estimation of live weight of fish from the size of skeletal elements. American Antiquity 39:94–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casteel, Richard W. 1977 Characterization of faunal assemblages and the minimum number of individuals determined frompaired elements: continuing problems in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 4(2):125–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casteel, Richard W. 1978 The “weigemethodo” or weight method as applied to archaeological faunal analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology 5(1):71–77.Google Scholar
Casteel, Richard W. n. d. A treatise on the minimum number of individuals index: an analysis of its behaviour and a methodfor its prediction. Ms. on file, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University. Google Scholar
Casteel, Richard W., and Grayson, Donald K. 1977 Terminological problems in quantitative faunal analysis. World Archaeology 9(2):235–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cleland, Charles E. 1970 Comparison of the faunal remains from French and British refuse pits at Fort Michilimackinac: astudy in changing subsistence patterns. Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History 3:8–23.Google Scholar
Cook, Sherburne F. 1975 Subsistence ecology of Scovill. American Antiquity 40:354–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crader, Diana C. 1974 The effects of scavengers on bone material from a large mammal: an experiment conducted amongthe Bisa of the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. In Ethnoarchaeology, edited by Donnan, C. B. and Clewlow, C. W. Jr. Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, Monograph IV of the Archaeological Survey , pp 160–173.Google Scholar
Eakins, Horace S. 1924 Military meat and dairy hygiene. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Grayson, Donald K. 1973 On the methodology of faunal analysis. American Antiquity 38:432–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grayson, Donald K. 1978 Minimum numbers and sample size in vertebrate faunal analysis. American Antiquity 43:53–65.Google Scholar
Grayson, Donald K. 1979 On the quantification of vertebrate archaeofaunas. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory Vol. 2, edited by Schiffer, M. B.. Academic Press, New York, in Press.Google Scholar
Gustafson, Carl E. 1972 Faunal remains from the Marmes Rockshelter and related archaeological sites in the Columbia Basin. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Zoology, Washington State University.Google Scholar
Kelley, James E. 1975 Zooarchaeological analysis at Antelope House: behavioral inferences from distribution data. The Kiva 41(1):81–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyman, R. Lee 1976 A cultural analysis of faunal remains from the Alpowa locality. Unpublished M. A. thesis, Departmentof Anthropology, Washington State University.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. Lee 1978 Prehistoric butchering techniques in the Lower Granite Reservoir, southeastern Washington. Tebiwa 13.Google Scholar
Lyon, Patricia J. 1970 Differential bone destruction: an ethnographic example. American Antiquity 35:213–215.Google Scholar
Noe-Nygaard, Nanna 1977 Butchering and marrow fracturing as a taphonomic factor in archaeological deposits. Paleobiology 3:218–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parmalee, Paul W., and Klippel, Walter E. 1974 Freshwater mussels as a prehistoric food resource. American Antiquity 39:421–434.Google Scholar
Perkins, Dexter, and Daly, Patricia 1968 A hunters’ village in Neolithic Turkey. Scientific American 219:97–106.Google Scholar
Reed, Charles A. 1963 Osteo-archaeology. In Science in archaeology, edited by Brothwell, D. and Higgs, E., pp. 204–216. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Riordan, Timothy B., Martin, Dale, and Lee Lyman, R. in prep. Archaeological excavations at the Fort Walla Walla Dump site (45WW33). Report to be submittedto the State Parks and Recreation Department, Council on Historic Preservation, State of Washington.Google Scholar
Shawcross, W. 1972 Energy and ecology: thermodynamic models in archaeology. In Models in archaeology, edited by Clarke, D. L., pp. 577–622. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Slickpoo, Allen P., Sr„ and Walker, Deward E. Jr 1973 Noon Nee-Me-Poo We, the Nez Perces J, culture and history of the Nez Perces , Vol. 1. Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho.Google Scholar
Smith, Bruce D. 1975 Toward a more accurate estimation of the meat yield of animal species at archaeological sites. In Archaeozoological studies, edited by Clason, A. T., pp. 99–106. North-Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Stewart, Frances L. 1974 Faunal remains from the Nodwell site (Bc Hi-3) and from four other sites in Bruce County, Ontario. Mercury Series Archaeological Survey of Canada Paper 16. National Museum of Man, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Stewart, Frances L., and Stahl, Peter W. 1977 Cautionary note on edible meat poundage figures. American Antiquity 42:267–270.Google Scholar
Uerpmann, Hans-Peter 1973 Animal bone finds and economic archaeology: a critical study of “osteo-archaeology” method. World Archaeology 4(3):307–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von den Driesch, Angela 1976 A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites. Peabody Museum Bulletin 1.Google Scholar
Watson, J. P. N. 1972 Fragmentation analysis of animal bone samples from archaeological sites. Archaeometry 14(2):221–228.Google Scholar
Wheat, Joe Ben 1972 The Olsen-Chubbuck site: a paleo-Indian bison kill. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 26.Google Scholar
White, Theodore E. 1953 A method of calculating the dietary percentage of various food animals utilized by aboriginal peoples. American Antiquity 18:393–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yellen, John E. 1977 Cultural patterning in faunal remains: evidence from the IKung Bushmen. In Experimental archaeology, edited by Ingersoll, D., Yellen, J. E., and Mac Donald, W., pp. 271–331. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar