NISP, Bone Fragmentation, and the Measurement of Taxonomic Abundance

Zooarchaeologists have long recognized that the number of identified specimens (NISP) is dependent on the degree to which bones are fragmented, but attempts are rarely made to control for the effects of fragmentation on NISP. This paper provides insight into those effects by presenting both a formal model of the relationship between NISP and fragmentation and experimental data on that relationship. The experimental data have practical implications regarding the effectiveness of potential measures of bone fragmentation, suggesting that specimen size—which can be determined easily through digital image analysis—is more useful than other variables that have been or might be used as fragmentation measures.