The domestic fowl and other birds from the Roman site of Mons Claudianus,Egypt

At the Roman quarry settlement of Mons Claudianus in the Eastern Desert of Egypt extreme aridity has preserved large amounts of organic matter. Amongst the faunal remains were several hundred bird bones, together with feathers and egg shell. The majority of the bird bones have been identified as domestic fowl Gallus gallus. Other species are rare: they include a few passage migrants and resident species. Finds of spurred tarsometatarsi and bones with medullary deposits indicate that both male and female domestic fowl are represented. It is likely that they were transported to the site from the Nile valley alive; some may have been kept at the settlement. Cut marks suggest that some at least were eaten, but the birds may have been used for different purposes, both secular and ritual. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bird Remains from Two Sites on the Red Sea Coast and some Observations on Medullary Bone

This paper discusses the bird remains found in the Roman levels of the military fort of ‘Abu Sha’ ar and of the ancient harbour of Berenike. Food procurement was essentially based on wild resources at ‘Abu Sha’ ar and this is also reflected in the bird remains. Only 28 per cent of the bird bones at the low status site of ‘Abu Sha’ ar are from domestic fowl, whereas at the commercially important town of Berenike 92 per cent were. Medullary bone was present in 66 per cent of the 161 chicken remains at Berenike. The occurrence and formation of medullary bone in modern domestic fowl is discussed and possibilites from its study in the chicken remains from Berenike are presented.     

Domestic fowl on Romano-British sites: inter-site comparisons of abundance

The paper compares the abundance of domestic fowl bones with those of sheep/goat and pig from published and unpublished reports on Romano-British animal bones assemblages. The samples are drawn from 68 urban, military, nucleated, villa and unromanized rural settlements. Variations in abundance of domestic fowl within and between these settlement types are noted. Some methodological problems encountered in this survey are discussed and suggestions are made about how more reliable results could be achieved. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ancient breeds of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus f. domestica) distinguished on the basis of traditional observations combined with mixture analysis

Using a large assemblage of domestic fowl bones from a classical site, a methodology is presented that allows the recognition of breeds. The approach differs from previous research in which tarsometatarsi were used exclusively. In the present paper, frequency histograms of long bone lengths and mixture analysis were combined with observations on medullary bone development. By concentrating on the analysis of bones with medullary bone, only the securely sexed part of the population (the females) is considered, thereby avoiding problems related to the use of spur development in tarsometatarsi. Three breeds of different sizes could be recognized, of which the smallest shows a high incidence of spurred females.     

Transition from hunting to animal husbandry in Southern,Western and Eastern Finland: new dated osteological evidence

The beginning of animal husbandry in Finland is one of the most debated topics in Finnish archaeology. For this study a total of 69 bone materials from archaeological sites in Southern, Western and Eastern Finland, dating from the Middle Neolithic to the Early Metal Period, were analysed: 52 represented identifiable animal bones. These data were complemented with those from previously analysed bone materials. A total of 19 domestic animal bones were radiocarbon-dated to determine their connection with a particular cultural period. However, 13 of them proved to belong to the historical and not the prehistoric period, emphasizing the importance of radiocarbon-dating and context awareness when interpreting prehistoric bone materials. Among the radiocarbon-dated material were the oldest dated sheep, cattle and horse bones in Finland. The oldest radiocarbon-dated domestic animal bone in Finland, from sheep or goat, derives from the Late Stone Age Kiukainen Culture site, while cattle and horse bones date to the Bronze Age. This is later than expected. However, the available material does not exclude the possibility that some animal husbandry was practised in Finland earlier. Nevertheless, domestic animal bones are rare in samples dated to the cultural periods studied, while hunting and fishing represented important subsistence activities.     

Avian resources at a Mexican site at the time of the Spanish Conquest

The time of the Spanish Conquest in America saw a major biological interchange caused by human action. In the native people it was expressed by major changes in the use of animals, due to the introduction of domestic European fauna. This theme is discussed here based on a review of ethnohistorical sources and a small body of recent archaeological evidence. An analysis is presented of the use of birds at a Mexican settlement inhabited in the sixteenth century at the time of Spanish contact. The bird remains, 456 fragments, are from the site of El Japon, southeast of Mexico City. The main avian resources were domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, and four species of ducks. The exploitation of scrub jay, Apheolocoura coerulescens is recorded for the first time in Mexican archaeo-ornithology. The study confirms ethnohistorical information about the introduction of the domestic fowl, but also shows that native resources were more widely used than is known from the chronicles of the sixteenth century. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developmental Osteology of Cross‐bred Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus L. 1758) and the Implications for Ageing Chickens from Archaeological Sites

We document the developmental osteology of a captive population of cross‐bred red junglefowl (Gallus gallus L. 1758) that were slaughtered at known ages from 6 days old until they reached maturity and explore the relationships that exist between bone size, maturity, body weight and sex. In doing so, we contribute to the body of knowledge concerning developmental osteology in domestic fowl, which has previously focussed upon ‘improved’ breeds. Comparison with archaeological material demonstrates that regression equations developed from the study population to determine age from bone length measurements are unreliable, even when samples with similar mean size for adult birds are compared. However, greater understanding of the maturity of domestic fowl more ‘primitive’ than most comparative material available for study is used to assist in the assignation of three age classes—chick, immature and adult—and thus facilitate more nuanced analyses of age‐at‐death patterns in faunal assemblages. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

食谱分析方法在家猪起源研究中的应用

驯化初期的家猪与野猪的鉴别是家猪起源研究的核心问题,对于准确定位家猪的起源时间和地点具有十分重要的意义。本文首先对陕北靖边五庄果墚遗址、吉林通化万发波子遗址出土的猪骨及其他动物骨骼进行了C、N稳定同位素分析,分析人类活动对猪食物结构的影响,证明了由于人类的饲喂,驯化的家猪与野猪的食物结构存在显著的差异,利用这种差异,可以有效地进行家猪与野猪的鉴别。在此基础上,对安徽蚌埠双墩遗址出土的猪骨和其他动物骨骼进行了食谱分析,并结合形态学鉴定结果,判断该遗址中已经出现了驯化初期的家猪。     

DIRECT GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETRIC DATING OF FOSSIL BONES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

A non-destructive gamma-ray spectrometry was used for direct dating of fossil animal and human bones taken from an alluvial Quaternary site in northern Italy. The ages were obtained using the U-Pa method: the chronological results are in agreement with palaeofaunal indicators and taphonomic data. The ages of two samples showed concordance with the U-Th method; in a third case good agreement was also found with the radiocarbon date, thus lending credence to our modified gamma spectrometric method.     

The selection of bird bones for artefact production at Dutch neolithic sites

The bird bones used for artefacts at the Dutch neolithic site of Aartswoud were from birds that were not represented among the food remains. Studies at other contemporary sites show that this was also the case at some other sites. The bones seem to have been selected from birds of particularly large size. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semitella,an Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) animal burial ground

The Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) has been widely studied, yet little is known about its archaeofaunas. Reported are the results of the analysis of the archaeofauna from Semitella, which is one of the largest and most important Bell-Beaker sites in Italy. The site yielded an intentionally buried bovine skeleton and contained many pits, scattered throughout the excavated area. These pits may have originally contained the corpses of the animals whose bones are represented in the sample. The hypothesis is that Semitella was a sort of cemetery for animal carcasses, or a dumping ground where carcass discards and animal cadavers were thrown or buried. A careful taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses were therefore mandatory. The study confirmed the hypothesis. It in fact revealed a poorly diversified, selected fauna, dominated by domestic taxa, matched to a strikingly low incidence of bone surface modifications, which is the expected state of bones that have been rapidly subtracted to biostratinomic agents. The accumulated evidence indicates that Semitella was a dumping and/or a burial ground for animal corpses in the surroundings of a nearby settlement. The assemblage's final arrangement is the result of floodings that removed the disarticulated skeletal parts scattering them downstream. What remains unresolved is whether, or not, the burials were connected with ritual practices.     

Hunting,Herding, and Caravanning: Osteometric Identifications of Camelid Morphotypes at Khonkho Wankane,Bolivia

Khonkho Wankane is a ceremonial center located in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia. During the Late Formative period (AD 1–500), its residents practiced agropastoral lifeways and participated in the rise of the state at Tiwanaku. Like at many Andean sites, bones from the family Camelidae are the most abundant large mammal in domestic contexts. Identifying camelid morphotypes represented by these bones carries far‐reaching implications for understanding past hunting, herding, and caravanning practices, and their roles in larger social and economic webs. Identifications were based on a locally focused reference collection, including llamas (Lama glama) from the immediate vicinity of the site, as well as Andean guanacos (Lama guanicoe), a much smaller morphotype than the Patagonian guanacos used in many osteometric studies. Multivariate statistical analyses and incisor morphology identified all four camelid. Different analyses suggest that the crux of osteometry lies in the reference collection, not the statistical test. An additional, very large morphotype likely corresponds to a castrated llama, the preferred cargo animal among modern drovers. The presence of these animals is interpreted as evidence that groups hunted vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) and guanaco, which are not currently present around the site, herded llamas and alpacas (Vicugna pacos), and perhaps organized caravans with castrated llamas. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Man and woolly mammoth at the Kraków Spadzista Street (B) – taphonomy of the site

Excavations at the Kraków Spadzista Street (B) site, Poland were conducted over 16 years in which approximately 150 m² of the site was studied. The radiocarbon dates clustered around 23–24 ky BP, placing the site in the Gravettian cultural complex. In this paper, results from a detailed taphonomic study of faunal remains are discussed in conjunction with previous analyses of stone artefacts and site structure in order to address questions regarding site formation and Gravettian occupation. Up to 1994, ∼9000 bone remains were recovered and it was possible to identify the species and skeletal element for 5860 remains. The site contained bones of seven animal species associated with Pleistocene steppe–tundra habitats. At Kraków Spadzista Street (B), 99% of the faunal remains belong to the woolly mammoth, with other large mammal taxa represented by only isolated bones and teeth. This site yielded the largest number of mammoth bones and most individuals (MNI = 86) ever found in one place in Poland. Kraków Spadzista Street (B) represents a mammoth butchering locality and probably a mammoth hunting site as well. However, it is not yet possible to distinguish the mammoths killed by Gravettian hunters from those that died naturally and then were scavenged by people.     

Radiocarbon Marine Reservoir Effect in Human Remains from the Kitakogane Site,Hokkaido, Japan

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was used to measure radiocarbon (¹⁴C) in bones excavated from the Late Jomon shell midden at the Kitakogane site, Hokkaido, Japan. Comparison between ¹⁴C ages of terrestrial and marine mammals from the same site showed systematic age differences which could be attributed to the ¹⁴C marine reservoir effect in the western North Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, this effect was clearly observed in human remains from this site, indicating a heavy dependence on seafood. Dietary habit was estimated from δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N measured in the same human remains. Apparent ¹⁴C ages indicated 79% of protein originated from marine sources.     

Re-analysis of faunal assemblages from the Haua Fteah and other late quaternary archaeological sites in Cyrenaican Libya

In preliminary reports based on approximately 5000 identified bones from the Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica, E. S. Higgs concluded that changes in the abundance of bovines versus Barbary sheep reflected climatic change from drier (=last interglaciation) to wetter (=last glaciation) and back to drier (=present interglaciation). Higgs also reported the earliest occurrence of domestic caprines in Africa, in Haua Fteah “Neolithic” layers dated to about 6800 bp. A new analysis, based on roughly 9000 identified specimens, supports the broad pattern of faunal change that Higgs found, but suggests that it reflects wetter when Higgs proposed drier and vice versa. The new analysis failed to confirm the early date for domestic caprines, mainly because of uncertainty concerning the stratigraphic provenience of key specimens. Finally, the new analysis produced some additions to the species list (most notably eland) and provided previously unavailable information on skeletal part representation and on the ages of animals at time of death. With respect to skeletal parts, smaller ungulates tend to be represented by a wider variety than larger ones, a contrast that is almost universal in Stone Age sites. With regard to age profiles, the largest and most reliable one (for Barbary sheep from the “Neolithic” layers) implies the animals were captured by driving over cliffs or into other traps. Restudy of small additional samples from the Cyrenaican sites of Hagfet et Tera, Hagfet ed Dabba, and Sidi el Hajj Creiem fully supports taxonomic and paleoenvironmental conclusions drawn earlier by Higgs and Bate.     

山东日照市两城镇遗址龙山文化先民食谱的稳定同位素分析

山东日照两城镇遗址出土的浮选植物标本和植桂体表明,稻米和粟是该遗址龙山先民重要的食物来源,但由于动物骨骼保存很差,我们对他们的肉食来源所知甚少。而采用碳氮稳定同位素法探讨古人的食性和食物结构,对各种同位素含量不同的食物在当时人们食谱中的相对重要性提供了补充定量的数据。     

A Metrical Analysis of a Collection of Modern Goats (Capra hircus aegargus and C. h. hircus) from Iran and Iraq: Implications for the Study of Caprine Domestication

A critical comparison of two commonly used markers of initial animal domestication, size reduction and demographic profiling, is presented. A metrical analysis of a large collection of modern wild and domestic goats (Capra hircus aegargus and C. h. hircus) from Iran and Iraq clearly demonstrates that sex is by far the most significant factor affecting size in goats. In all post-cranial bones examined, those of males, even the unfused bones of males over 1 year of age, are absolutely larger than the bones of females. Region also plays a significant role in the size of these animals, but domestic status seems to have little impact. Similarly, a re-analysis of archaeological assemblages from Upland Sites the eastern fertile crescent shows no evidence of population-wide size reduction over a period that encompasses the transition from hunting to herding goats in the region, from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Early Neolithic. The apparent rapid reduction in the size of caprines during the early phases of domestication noted in earlier studies is likely attributable to a shift in the sex ratio of the adult breeding population of managed herds towards female domination, plus the differential destruction and loss of the bones of male animals killed at younger ages, as well as biases introduced by standard methodological practices. Building on the earlier work of Hesse, and using the empirical understanding of the factors influencing size in modern goats gained in this study, a new approach is proposed that combines both size and long-bone fusion data to construct high resolution, sex-specific age profiles of male and female goats that can be used to detect the hunting to herd management transition which marks the initial stages of the domestication process.     

Chronology during the Bronze Age in the archaeological site Tell Qubr Abu al-‘Atiq, Syria

Archaeosediments are deposits with a direct or indirect anthropogenic component. They provide useful information about past human activities and interaction with the environment. When other materials, such as pottery, are present in archaeosediment layers, the combination of TL ages from pottery and OSL ages from sediments can provide complete data about the occupation and evolution of an archaeological setting. In Mesopotamia, tells are mounds formed by the debris of human occupation and the accumulation of muddy sediments mainly due to the decomposition of mud bricks in ancient towns. Many other materials such as pottery fragments, bones and charcoal can be found in the sediment layers. The combination of OSL, TL and radiocarbon ages can be very useful in the case of the Bronze Age Period in Syria, allowing the occupation sequence of such archaeological sites to be reconstructed. Tell Qubr Abu al-’Atiq, is located on the left bank of the Middle Euphrates River (Syria). The archaeological artefacts found in the sediment layers (pottery) collected during excavations in two areas of the site, indicated the occupation of the tell during the Early and Late Bronze Age by typological pottery classification. The radiocarbon ages of charcoal indicate that human occupation fits the archaeological hypothesis, providing an older and maximum occupation period between 2800 and 2300 BC and a younger period between 1400 and 900 BC. OSL dating of sediments shows ages younger than charcoal, while TL ages of pottery are generally older than sediment and charcoal ages. This can be explained as the different materials correspond to different events. The charcoal and pottery correspond to occupation periods, while sediments correspond to the further destruction of the site.     

The estimation of live fish size from archaeological cranial bones of the New Zealand blue cod Parapercis colias

Twenty-four measurements were taken on five of the paired cranial bones and the otoliths of a modern sample of 177 blue cod. Parapercis colias. Regression analysis was performed on these measurements to estimate live fork length and ungutted weight. A number of regression models were examined (linear, logarithmic, exponential and power curve) to work out the optimum estimator for each bone measurement. It was found that live fork length of this species can be estimated with a standard error of less than ±28 mm, and the weight to less than ±140 g. Coefficients are provided for 48 equations linking bone size to live characteristics. This is followed by a study of blue cod from an archaeological site at Waihora in the Chatham Islands. Measurements were made on 8036 archaeological bones with a minimum number of individuals of 2547. It was found that the blue cod catch had near normal characteristics, with a mean fork length of 327 mm and SD of 57 mm. The mean body weight was estimated at 569 g. The usable meat weight represented by these fish is estimated to be 1.0 t. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ages of epiphyseal closure in feral and domestic goats and ages of dental eruption

The bones of 53 goats of known age, sex, and breed were examined to determine the ages of epiphyseal closure, and the mandibles of 36 of them were examined for ages of dental eruption. The ages of epiphyseal closure varied greatly according to the sex and breed of the animal, feral goats being about a year behind domestic goats, and castrate males being anything up to 4 years behind females. In all goats, maturation is much later than in the modern sheep. Ages of dental eruption agreed with earlier findings on the live animal and showed no similar discrepancies.