Zooarchaeology

Most animal remains found at archaeological sites are disarticulated, which means the bones are not found in situ (i.e., in their original place of deposition) as a complete, connected skeleton – instead they are scattered and mixed with the remains of other animals. Disarticulation can occur through a variety of taphonomic processes, and in most cases, it is not possible to identify whether disarticulated bones belong to a single individual.

Faunal remains include animal bones, teeth, antlers, shells, and other biological materials recovered from archaeological contexts. The collection of all faunal remains recovered from a particular site or context, that can be analysed together to understand patterns, is known as an assemblage.

Definitions vary slightly between studies, but MNE typically refers to the minimum number of individual skeletal specimens of a given anatomical part present in an assemblage, after accounting for overlaps and refits between fragments. 

As with MNE, calculations of MNI vary across studies, but it generally involves counting the most frequent single skeletal element of each species (from list of MNEs) and taking into account additional variables such as side, age, sex and sometimes size, to estimate the lowest possible number of individuals of that species represented within the assemblage. In other words, MNI is the lowest estimate of how many animals of a particular species were likely present (e.g., died and were deposited) at the site.

Zooarchaeologists often identify which species a bone or fragment belongs to by comparing it against labelled reference collections. Alongside illustrations and keys, these collections include actual skeletal specimens allowing comparisons from multiple angles for higher accuracy. A reference collection usually contains several specimens for each relevant species, reflecting differences in size, sex, age, geography, season, and individual variation. They are often organised as an index collection, grouping the same bone type across different species to aid comparison. 

Following hand-collection of larger bones, excavated soil can be sieved using varying mesh sizes to capture smaller bone fragments. This is important for recovering remains of microfauna such as small mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds. Sieving can be carried out dry, if water is scarce or if it may damage the finds, but most sites in Britain require wet sieving since the soil in many places is clayey and needs breaking down. 

Taphonomy refers to the changes animal remains undergo after death, both natural and human-mediated. Taphonomic processes such as decay, weathering, burning, scavenging or trampling can affect the preservation of data, and impact interpretation.