Quantitative Paleozoology (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology)

374 Pages·2008·3.39 MB·English

by  R. Lee Lyman

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QuantitativePaleozoology
Quantitative Paleozoology describes and illustrates how the remains of long-dead
animalsrecoveredfromarchaeologicalandpaleontologicalexcavationscanbestud-
iedandanalyzed.Themethodsrangefromdetermininghowmanyanimalsofeach
speciesarerepresentedtodeterminingwhetheronecollectionconsistsofmorebro-
kenandmoreburnedbonesthananother.Allmethodsaredescribedandillustrated
withdatafromrealcollections,whilenumerousgraphsillustratevariousquantitative
properties.
R.LEELYMANisprofessorofanthropologyattheUniversityofMissouri-Columbia.
AscholaroflateQuaternarypaleomammologyandhumanprehistoryofthePacific
NorthwestUnitedStates,heistheauthorofVertebrateTaphonomy,and,mostrecently,
thecoeditorofZooarchaeologyandConservationBiology.
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CambridgeManualsinArchaeology
GeneralEditor
GraemeBarker,UniversityofCambridge
AdvisoryEditors
ElizabethSlater,UniversityofLiverpool
PeterBogucki,PrincetonUniversity
CambridgeManualsinArchaeologyisaseriesofreferencehandbooksdesignedforaninter-
nationalaudienceofupper-levelundergraduateandgraduatestudentsandforprofessional
archaeologistsandarchaeologicalscientistsinuniversities,museums,researchlaboratories,
and field units. Each book includes a survey of current archaeological practice alongside
essentialreferencematerialoncontemporarytechniquesandmethodology.
Booksintheseries
PotteryinArchaeology,CLIVEORTON,PAULTYERS,andALANVINCE
VertebrateTaphonomy,R.LEELYMAN
PhotographyinArchaeologyandConservation,2ndedition,PETERG.DORRELL
AlluvialGeoarchaeology,A.G.BROWN
Shells,CHERYLCLAASEN
SamplinginArchaeology,CLIVEORTON
Excavation,STEVEROSKAMS
Teeth,2ndedition,SIMONHILLSON
Lithics,2ndedition,WILLIAMANDREFSKY,JR.
GeographicalInformationSystemsinArchaeology,JAMESCONOLLYandMARKLAKE
DemographyinArchaeology,ANDREWCHAMBERLAIN
AnalyticalChemistryinArchaeology,A.M.POLLARD,C.M.BATT,B.STERN,andS.M.M.
YOUNG
Zooarchaeology,2ndedition,ELIZABETHJ.REITZandELIZABETHS.WING
iii
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Quantitative
Paleozoology
R.LeeLymanUniversityofMissouri-Columbia
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CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521887496
© R. Lee Lyman 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008
ISBN-13 978-0-511-38846-0 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-88749-6 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-71536-2 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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CONTENTS
Listoffigures pagexi
Listoftables xvii
Preface xxi
1. TallyingandCounting:Fundamentals 1
PaleozoologicalConcepts 4
MathematicalandStatisticalConcepts 8
ScalesofMeasurement 8
MeasuredandTargetVariables:ReliabilityandValidity 11
AbsoluteandRelativeFrequenciesandClosedArrays 13
Discussion 16
BackgroundofSomeFaunalSamples 17
2. EstimatingTaxonomicAbundances:NISPandMNI 21
TheNumberofIdentifiedSpecimens(NISP) 27
AdvantagesofNISP 28
ProblemswithNISP 29
Problems,Schmoblems 30
AProblemWeShouldWorryAbout 36
TheMinimumNumberofIndividuals(MNI) 38
Strengths(?)ofMNI 43
ProblemswithMNI 45
Aggregation 57
DefiningAggregates 67
Discussion 69
WhichScaleofMeasurement? 71
Resolution 78
Conclusion 81
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viii contents
3. EstimatingTaxonomicAbundances:OtherMethods 83
BiomassandMeatWeight 84
MeasuringBiomass 85
ProblemswithMeasuringBiomass(basedonMNI) 86
SolvingSomeProblemsinBiomassMeasurement 88
MeasuringMeatWeight 89
TheWeightMethod(SkeletalMassAllometry) 93
BoneWeight 102
BoneSizeandAnimalSizeAllometry 108
Ubiquity 114
MatchingandPairing 119
MorePairsMeansFewerIndividuals 121
TheLincoln–PetersenIndex 123
IdentifyingBilateralPairs 129
CorrectingforVariousThings 134
Size 137
Discussion 139
4. Sampling,Recovery,andSampleSize 141
SamplingtoRedundancy 143
ExcavationAmount 144
NISPasaMeasureofSampleRedundancy 146
VolumeExcavatedorNISP 149
TheInfluencesofRecoveryTechniques 152
HandPickingSpecimensbyEye 152
ScreenMeshSize 154
ToCorrectorNottoCorrectforDifferentialLoss 156
Summary 158
TheSpecies−AreaRelationship 159
Species−AreaCurvesAreNotAlltheSame 164
Nestedness 167
Conclusion 171
5. MeasuringtheTaxonomicStructureandComposition(“Diversity”)
ofFaunas 172
BasicVariablesofStructureandComposition 174
IndicesofStructureandSimilarity 178
TaxonomicRichness 179
TaxonomicComposition 185