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Cultural traits have long been used in anthropology as units of transmission that ostensibly reflect behavioural characteristics of the individuals or groups exhibiting the traits. After they are transmitted, cultural traits serve as units of replication in that they can be modified as part of an individual's cultural repertoire through processes such as recombination, loss or partial alteration within an individual's mind. Cultural traits are analogous to genes in that organisms replicate them, but they are also replicators in their own right. No one has ever seen a unit of transmission, either behavioural or genetic, although we can observe the effects of transmission. Fortunately, such units are manifest in artefacts, features and other components of the archaeological record, and they serve as proxies for studying the transmission (and modification) of cultural traits, provided there is analytical clarity over how to define and measure the units that underlie this inheritance process.

\"Theodore E. White and the Development of Zooarchaeology in North America illuminates the researcher and his lasting contribution to a field that has largely ignored him in its history. The few brief histories of North American zooarchaeology suggest that Paul W. Parmalee, John E. Guilday, Elizabeth S. Wing, and Stanley J. Olsen laid the foundation of the field. Only occasionally is Theodore White (1905-77) included, yet his research is instrumental for understanding the development of zooarchaeology in North America. R. Lee Lyman works to fill these gaps in the historical record and revisits some of White's analytical innovations from a modern perspective. A comparison of publications shows that not only were White's zooarchaeological articles first in print in archaeological venues but that he was also, at least initially, more prolific than his contemporaries. While the other \"founders\" of the field were anthropologists, White was a paleontologist by training who studied long-extinct animals and their evolutionary histories. In working with remains of modern mammals, the typical paleontological research questions were off the table simply because the animals under study were too recent. And yet White demonstrated clearly that scholars could infer significant information about human behaviors and cultures. Lyman presents a biography of Theodore White as a scientist and a pioneer in the emerging field of modern anthropological zooarchaeology. \"-- Provided by publisher.

Eyed bone needles have been recovered from Paleoindian sites over the last 70 years. Specimens 13,100-10,000 calendar years old average 1.81 ± .58 mm in diameter, similar to 2500-1000 year-old specimens in the Aleutians which average 1.67 mm in diameter. Use of industrial steel needles and experiments with replicated bone needles indicate the broken eyes and mid-length fractures of Paleoindian bone needles are the result of use. Some specimens said to be Paleoindian eyed bone needles are ≥ 3 mm in diameter and likely represent behaviors distinct from those with diameters ≤ 2.9 mm. Many smalldiameter needles have been recovered from sites that also produced ornaments. Small-diameter Paleoindian needles may have been used to attach decorative items to clothing; decorative items could have served as identity icons as human groups became sedentary and established home ranges a few centuries after colonization. Paleoindian residential sites that have produced multiple specimens of small-diameter needles reveal clustering of needle specimens in limited areas, and varying degrees of association with hide-preparation and needle manufacture and maintenance tools such as gravers, scrapers, and awls. Paleoindians, like some ethnographically documented people and some industrial-age people, had sewing specific activity loci. Agujas de hueso con ojo han sido recuperadas de sitios Paleoindios en los últimos 70 años. Especímenes de 13.000-10.000 años de calendario promedian 1,81 ± ,58mm en diámetro, similar a especímenes de 2.500-1.000 años en las Aleutianas los cuales promedian 1, 67mm en diámetro. El uso de agujas de acero industrial y experimentos replicando agujas de hueso indican que los ojos rotos y las fracturas de longitud de agujas Paleoindias de hueso con ojo son el resultado de uso. Algunos especímenes dichos ser agujas Paleoindias de hueso con ojo son de ≥ 3 mm de diámetro y probablemente representan usos diferentes a esas con diámetros de ≤ 2.9 mm. Muchas agujas de diámetro pequeño han sido recuperadas de sitios que también producían adornos. Agujas Paleoindias de diámetro pequeño pudieron haber sido usadas para sujetar artículos decorativos a ropa; artículos decorativos pudieron haber servido cómo iconos de identidad mientras que grupos humanos se hicieron más sedentarios y establecieron ámbitos de hogar unas centenas después de la colonización. Sitios de residencia Paleoindia que han producido especímenes múltiples de agujas de diámetro pequeño revelan agrupamientos de especímenes de agujas en áreas limitadas, y niveles variantes de asociación con preparación de cuero y producción de agujas y herramientas de mantenimiento como grabadores, raspadores y punzones. Paleoindios, como otros grupos de personas documentados etnográficamente y algunas personas de la era industrial, tenían lugares específicos de costura.

Eleven mammalian archaeofaunas associated with the Western Stemmed Point Tradition (WSPT) in the Columbia Basin of intermontane northwestern North America and recovered from eastern Washington State suggest that local Paleoindians were variable in subsistence pursuits. The 11 faunas are strongly if imperfectly nested taxonomically, suggesting that they all derived from the same metacommunity. Taxonomic abundances evidenced by several faunas indicate a focus on large mammals (>25 kg body weight), others indicate a focus on small mammals (<5 kg body weight), and still others indicate generalized exploitation of a diverse array of mammalian body sizes. Early WSPT assemblages point to a broad diet, whereas late WSPT assemblages show a focus on artiodactyls. Middle and late Holocene mammalian faunas from the same and nearby areas indicate that Archaic-stage subsistence was more focused on large mammals than local early Paleoindian adaptations. The traditional model that specialized big-game-hunting Paleoindians were followed chronologically by more generalized or broad-spectrum adaptations of the Archaic is not supported in the Columbia Basin.

\"Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments outlines the reconstruction of ancient climates, floras, and habitats on the basis of animal fossil remains recovered from archaeological and paleontological sites. In addition to outlining the ecological fundamentals and analytical assumptions attending such analyses, Tyler Faith and Lee Lyman describe and critically evaluate many of the varied analytical techniques that have been applied to paleozoological remains for the purpose of paleoenvironmental reconstruction. These techniques range from analyses based on the presence or abundance of species in a fossil assemblage to those based on taxon-free ecological characterizations. All techniques are illustrated using faunal data from archaeological or paleontological contexts. Aimed at students and professionals, this volume will serve as fundamental resource for courses in zooarchaeology, paleontology, and paleoecology\"-- Provided by publisher.

The proveniences (locations) of artifacts have long been critically important to archaeological interpretation. Although of major importance to site formation studies, positional attributes of artifacts (e.g., orientation, dip, which side is up) are seldom mentioned. When discovered in 1927, the in situ association of a Folsom projectile point with two ribs of a Pleistocene form of bison was interpreted as indicative of the contemporaneity of the three items, and thus was taken as evidence for the Pleistocene age of humans in North America. The locational and positional attributes of the two ribs and the point relative to one another suggest it is improbable that the point was deposited simultaneously with the two ribs as a result of it being embedded in the animal's flank, which is not to say the three items are not depositionally and temporally associated. Previously unmentioned positional attributes of the items making up the original Folsom association exemplify the importance of such attributes. New understanding of the original association underscores that actualistic research is required to identify the kinds of positional attributes important to questions regarding site formation and site structure.

Until now, the research of applied zooarchaeologists has not had a significant impact on the work of conservation scientists. This book is designed to show how zooarchaeology can productively inform conservation science. Conservation Biology and Applied Zooarchaeology offers a set of case studies that use animal remains from archaeological and paleontological sites to provide information that has direct implications for wildlife management and conservation biology. It introduces conservation biologists to zooarchaeology, a sub-field of archaeology and ethnobiology, and provides a brief historical account of the development of applied zooarchaeology. The case studies, which utilize palaeozoological data, cover a variety of animals and environments, including the marine ecology of shellfish and fish, potential restoration sites for Sandhill Cranes, freshwater mussel biogeography and stream ecology, conservation of terrestrial mammals such as American black bears, and even a consideration of the validity of the Pleistocene \"rewilding\" movement. The volume closes with an important new essay on the history, value, and application of applied zooarchaeology by R. Lee Lyman, which updates his classic 1996 paper that encouraged zooarchaeologists to apply their findings to present-day environmental challenges. Each case study provides detailed analysis using the approaches of zooarchaeology and concludes with precise implications for conservation biology. Essays also address issues of political and social ecology, which have frequently been missing from the discussions of conservation scientists. As the editors note, all conservation actions occur in economic, social, and political contexts. Until now, however, the management implications of zooarchaeological research have rarely been spelled out so clearly.

Identification of the species of animal represented by ancient bones, teeth, and shells based on the size and shape of those materials is one of the most fundamental and foundational steps in paleozoology, yet only scattered comments in the literature regarding this matter have been published. The history of taxonomic identification of faunal remains began with researchers learning which anatomical traits were taxonomically diagnostic; this required the creation of reference collections of skeletons of known taxonomy. To identify the taxon of animal represented by an ancient bone or tooth or shell requires comparison between the taxonomically unknown and reference materials of known taxonomy. The key assumption underpinning taxonomic identification is that anatomical similarity in size and shape of a reference bone and a paleozoological bone signifies genetic similarity and, thus, taxonomic similarity. Reference collections must be large both in terms of the number of species represented and the number of skeletons per species. Anatomical traits are morphological (qualitative), metric (quantitative), and meristic (frequency). Reporting of the identification protocol followed, including the reference skeletons, illustrated guides, and anatomical traits used, is strongly recommended so that what are believed to be taxonomically diagnostic traits can be tested and either used, revised, or discarded by others. An online database listing what are believed to be taxonomically diagnostic traits will increase efficiency, enhance accuracy of identifications, and should prompt re-identification of collections studied in the past.