ON THE NUMBER AND SIZES OF ANIMALS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FAUNAL ASSEMBLAGES

This paper presents a method for dealing with unpaired skeletal elements in order to approach the questions of (1) how many animals are represented in an assemblage; and (2) how large these individuals were. The method is designed for use with fish remains and can easily be extended to paired elements. It is shown how the interplay between the data appropriate to the solution of both problems may be compared in order to provide a method of verification of the results arrived at by standard methods of assessment of the minimum number of individuals.