Do human butchery patterns exist? A study of the interaction of randomness and channelling in the distribution of cut marks on long bones.

ABSTRACT: Bone surface modifications (BSMs) in faunal assemblages are frequently used to infer past agency and actions of hominins and carnivores, with implications for the emergence of key human behaviours. Patterning of BSMs has mostly been defined as a combination of the intensity of marks per bone portion and sometimes per element. Numerous variables involved in butchery can condition cut mark anatomical distribution, so much so that these variables are widely assumed to be stochastic. Here, we present a new methodological approach using a novel geospatial tool (Ikhnos) which combines the three-dimensional spatial documentation of cut mark patterns with spatial statistics based on wavelets, applied to three experimental and ethnoarchaeological faunal assemblages. We use wavelets to identify patt

SUBMITTER: Pizarro-Monzo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7879749 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature