Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones

Author: April M. Beisaw
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 162349026X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
Offering a field-tested analytic method for identifying faunal remains, along with helpful references, images, and examples of the most commonly encountered North American species, Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual provides an important new reference for students, avocational archaeologists, and even naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts. Using the basic principles outlined here, the bones of any vertebrate animal, including humans, can be identified and their relevance to common research questions can be better understood. Because the interpretation of archaeological sites depends heavily on the analysis of surrounding materials—soils, artifacts, and floral and faunal remains—it is important that non-human remains be correctly distinguished from human bones, that distinctions between domesticated and wild or feral animals be made correctly, and that evidence of the reasons for faunal remains in the site be recognized. But the ability to identify and analyze animal bones is a skill that is not easy to learn from a traditional textbook. In Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones, veteran archaeologist and educator April Beisaw guides readers through the stages of identification and analysis with sample images and data, also illustrating how specialists make analytical decisions that allow for the identification of the smallest fragments of bone. Extensive additional illustrative material, from the author’s own collected assemblages and from those in the Archaeological Analytical Research Facility at Binghamton University in New York, are also available in the book’s online supplement. There, readers can view and interact with images to further understanding of the principles explained in the text.

Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones

Author: April M. Beisaw
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1623490820
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Animal Skulls

Author: Mark Elbroch
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811733092
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 742

Book Description
This reference and guidebook offers illustrations, descriptions, and measurements for the skulls of some 275 animal species found throughout North America. The skull is the key anatomical feature used to identify an animal and understand many of its behaviors. This book describes in words and pictures the bones and regions of the skull important to identification, including illustrations of all the bones in the cranium, leading to a greater understanding of a creature's place in the natural world. With life-size drawings, this guide is a reference for wildlife professionals, trackers, and animal-lovers.

Animal bones in Australian archaeology

Author: Melanie Fillios
Publisher: Sydney University Press
ISBN: 1743324332
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
Zooarchaeology has emerged as a powerful way of reconstructing the lives of past societies. Through the analysis of animal bones found on a site, zooarchaeologists can uncover important information on the economy, trade, industry, diet, and other fascinating facts about the people who lived there. Animal bones in Australian archaeology is an introductory bone identification manual written for archaeologists working in Australia. This field guide includes 16 species commonly encountered in both Indigenous and historical sites. Using diagrams and flow charts, it walks the reader step-by-step through the bone identification process. Combining practical and academic knowledge, the manual also provides an introductory insight into zooarchaeological methodology and the importance of zooarchaeological research in understanding human behaviour through time.

The Bone Book

Author: Robert W. Mann
Publisher: Charles C Thomas Publisher
ISBN: 0398091633
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Book Description
This manual is the culmination of more than 35 years of skeletal analysis, teaching forensic anthropology and conducting skeletal research at universities and museums in the U.S., Asia, Pacific, Africa, and Europe. While there are many illustrated human osteology and anatomy books available to students and professionals, there is none that approaches the topic of identifying and siding human bones quite like The Bone Book, with its large, annotated color photographs and easy-to-follow steps. Designed for use in either the lab or the field, the book covers the material from top to bottom—from cranium to metatarsals and phalanges—with the help of more than 400 vivid, full-color photographs, clearly annotated to highlight key features. Complex bones, such as the cranium, are shown in multiple photos (including several “exploded” or disarticulated skulls, showing how the complex bones fit together). In addition to the photos, the book offers easy-to-follow instructions and mnemonic tips that guide the reader, step by step, through the process of identifying every individual bone and which side of the body it came from. The Bone Book can be used as a stand-alone reference or as a companion to other sources. Although most of the photos show adult bones, the book also includes helpful photos of subadult bones and even fetal bones, which some forensic cases involve. The Bone Book will contribute to filling a gap in identifying and siding bones more easily and, in that sense, add to the body of anthropological, anatomical, and medical literature. It will be useful to anthropology students, anatomists, surgeons, medical examiners, and others working with the human skeleton.

Mammal Bones and Teeth

Author: Simon Hillson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315424991
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
This guide is designed as an introduction to the basic methods for identifying mammal bones and teeth. It is intended to highlight for beginners the main points on which identifications can be made on the bulk of bones and teeth from a small range of common Old World mammals.

Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains

Author: Jane E. Buikstra
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128099011
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 859

Book Description
Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains, Third Edition, provides an integrated and comprehensive treatment of the pathological conditions that affect the human skeleton. As ancient skeletal remains can reveal a treasure trove of information to the modern orthopedist, pathologist, forensic anthropologist, and radiologist, this book presents a timely resource. Beautifully illustrated with over 1,100 photographs and drawings, it provides an essential text and material on bone pathology, thus helping improve the diagnostic ability of those interested in human dry bone pathology. - Presents a comprehensive review of the skeletal diseases encountered in archaeological human remains - Includes more than 1100 photographs and line drawings illustrating skeletal diseases, including both microscopic and gross features - Based on extensive research on skeletal paleopathology in many countries - Reviews important theoretical issues on how to interpret evidence of skeletal disease in archaeological human populations

The Archaeology of Animal Bones

Author: Terry O'Connor
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752495224
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
Animal bones are one of the most abundant types of evidence found in archaeological sites dating from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages, and they can reveal a startling amount about the economy and way of life of people in the past. This is a fascinating introduction for anyone seeking to understand how these bones can shed light on our knowledge of the past, as well as the complex relationship between human and animals. Written by one of the most respected experts in this field, and published for the first time in paperback, this book will be essential reading for archaeologists, or indeed anyone intrigued by the recreation of long lost worlds from the most insignificant-seeming fragments of animal bones.

Animal Bones and Archaeology

Author: Polydora Baker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781848025554
Category : Animal remains (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Book Description
This handbook provides advice on best practice for the recovery, publication and archiving of animal bones and teeth from Holocene archaeological sites (ie from approximately the last 10,000 years). It has been written for local authority archaeology advisors, consultants, museum curators, project managers, excavators and zooarchaeologists, with the aim of ensuring that approaches are suitable and cost-effective.

Vertebrate Taphonomy

Author: R. Lee Lyman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521458405
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 558

Book Description
Taphonomy studies the transition of organic matter from the biosphere into the geological record. It is particularly relevant to zooarchaeologists and paleobiologists, who analyse organic remains in the archaeological record in an attempt to reconstruct hominid subsistence patterns and paleoecological conditions. In this user-friendly, encyclopedic reference volume for students and professionals, R. Lee Lyman, a leading researcher in taphonomy, reviews the wide range of analytical techniques used to solve particular zooarchaeological problems, illustrating these in most cases with appropriate examples. He also covers the history of taphonomic research and its philosophical underpinnings. Logically organised and clearly written, the book is an important update on all previous publications on archaeological faunal remains.