The use and abuse of culling profiles in recent zooarchaeological studies: some methodological comments on “frequency correction” and its consequences

Culling profiles are important and widely used statistical objects in archaeozoological studies. Topics such as site specific use (like seasonal cave penning), sites complementarity, site status (“producer” versus “consumer” sites), specialized production strategies (milk, meat and/or wool strategies) and, more generally, long term evolution of pastoral practices rely strongly upon this kind of data. Here we show that a long lasting and widespread error in the construction and interpretation of culling profiles sheds doubts on the validity of the economic, territorial and breeding practice models proposed in old world recent prehistory.