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Faunal remains are parts of animals that have been left in the material record, which archaeologists study. These remains are important to the record because they can show cultural practices, such as what food they were eating, based on the remains left behind. [ 11 ]
For example, if the faunal remains appear to have been butchered or sawn by hand, it is possible to link the remains to the 19th and early 20th century where this method of butchering animals for food was common. The size of the ecofact can also reveal information as to whether the food was locally grown or imported. [7]
Phytoliths are sediments and diatoms are water deposits. Each plant remain can tell the archaeologist different things about the environment during a certain time period. [3] Animal remains were the first evidence used by 19th century archaeologists. Today, archaeologists use faunal remains as a guide to the environment.
In archaeology and paleontology a faunal assemblage is a group of animal fossils found together in a given stratum. [1] In a non-deformed deposition, fossils are organized by stratum following the laws of uniformitarianism [2] and superposition, [3] which state that the natural phenomena observable today (such as death, decay, or post-mortem transport) also apply to the paleontological record ...
Additionally, faunal analysis exists to study artifacts in the form of animal remains. Just as with lithic artifacts, faunal remains are extremely common within the field of archaeology. Faunal analysis provides insight to trade due to animals being exchanged in different markets over time and being traded over long distances.
Faunal remains are considered to include both fish, birds, and mammals. These remains are used to reconstruct past environments and identify how animals impacted human economies. The study of ancient animal remains is referred to as zooarchaeology. Once bones are collected, cleaned, and labeled, specialists begin to identify the type of bone ...
Although Clark used it to describe just human remains and animal remains, increasingly archaeologists include botanical remains. [ 3 ] Bioarchaeology was largely born from the practices of New Archaeology , which developed in the United States in the 1970s as a reaction to a mainly cultural-historical approach to understanding the past.
Invertebrate macrofossils include remains such as shells, tests, faunal armor, and exoskeletons. The bodies of small and soft bodied invertebrates rarely fossilize. Meanwhile, large and hard bodied invertebrates more commonly fossilize. The study of these fossils is a subdivision of paleontology called invertebrate paleontology. [8]