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A re-examination of sheep bone density and its role in assessing taphonomic histories of zooarchaeological assemblages
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A re-examination of sheep bone density and its role in assessing taphonomic histories of zooarchaeological assemblages
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Dissertation
A re-examination of sheep bone density and its role in assessing taphonomic histories of zooarchaeological assemblages
2002
Overview
Numerous taphonomic processes have the potential to selectively remove animal bones from the archaeological record. This introduces bias into faunal assemblages, which can impact zooarchaeological analyses. Unless this bias is accounted for, there is potential for the misinterpretation of archaeological faunal assemblages. It has long been acknowledged that destructive taphonomic processes are largely mediated by bone density, and relative bone density measurements are frequently used to assess the biases caused by bone destruction. Previous researchers have produced bone density values for a range of animal taxa and skeletal locations. Results are often based on small samples of modern specimens, and methods of density measurement are often problematic. This thesis develops a new bone density measurement method based on photodensitometry, which is used to produce density data for 95 well-provenanced modern sheep skeletons. Age-related density variation is a prime focus for exploration. Results show bone density to be extremely variable between very similar individuals. Bone density is not affected by the method used to deflesh the specimens. Male sheep appear to have higher skeletal densities than castrates. Differences in bone density between breeds may reflect different animal management regimes. Bone density is shown to vary according to the age of an animal in a non-linear manner. The data produced by this project were used to assess the taphonomic histories of faunal material from Catalhoyuk, Turkey. It is apparent that structurally internal areas at the site have been subject to lower levels of taphonomic destruction than external areas, and carnivore gnawing may be largely responsible for this discrepancy. Taphonomic destruction has not significantly altered the age profile of the archaeological material. Density data do not fully explain the observed element frequencies at Catalhoyuk. This suggests that other variables (bone size, direction of force) also contribute to the ability of a bone to survive taphonomic destruction.
Publisher
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Subject
ISBN
1339463601, 9781339463605
