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93 results

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  • Blind Testing of Faunal Identification Protocols: A Case Study with North American Artiodactyl Stylohyoids
  • Patrick M. Lubinski, R. Lee Lyman, Matthew P. Johnson
  • Journal: American Antiquity / Volume 85 / Issue 4 / October 2020
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 July 2020, pp. 781-794
  • Print publication: October 2020
  • View abstract

    Taxonomic identification of archaeofauna relies on techniques and anatomical traits that should be valid, reliable, and usable, but which are rarely tested. Identification protocols (techniques and anatomical traits), particularly those used to distinguish taxa of similar size and morphology, should be rigorously tested to ensure a solid interpretive foundation. Blind testing of a protocol for identifying stylohyoid bones of North American artiodactyls was performed by three analysts who independently employed the protocol to identify 77 anatomically complete specimens of known taxonomic identity, representing 54 individuals and 11 species. Identifications were identical in 89% of cases and in conflict in 3% of cases. The remainder involved differences in resolution; two analysts identified specimens to species, whereas the third identified specimens to more general taxonomic groups. Inter-analyst variability in identification was a result of differences in protocol application. Identifications were consistent with known taxon in 92%–96% of cases. Results indicate that the protocol is valid, reliable, and usable, and it can be applied to archaeological specimens with confidence. Testing of other identification criteria employed by zooarchaeologists is encouraged.

  • Paleoecological implications of the first prehistoric record of water vole (Microtus richardsoni) from Washington state, USA
  • R. Lee Lyman
  • Journal: Quaternary Research / Volume 92 / Issue 2 / September 2019
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2019, pp. 381-387
  • View abstract

    Remains of the North American water vole (Microtus richardsoni) have previously been recovered from late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in southwestern Alberta, western Montana, and north-central Wyoming. All are within the historically documented modern range of the metapopulation occupying the Rocky Mountains; no ancient remains of this large microtine have previously been reported from the metapopulation occupying the Cascade Range. Four lower first molar specimens from the late Holocene Stemilt Creek Village archaeological site in central Washington here identified as water vole are from the eastern slope of the Cascade Range and are extralimital to the metapopulation found in those mountains. There is no taphonomic evidence indicating long-distance transport of the teeth, and modern trapping records suggest the local absence of water voles from the site area today is not a function of sampling error. The precise age of the Stemilt Creek Village water voles is obscure but climate change producing well-documented late Holocene advances of nearby alpine glaciers could have created habitat conditions conducive to the apparent modest shift in the range of the species represented by the remains.

  • Four - Background of Select Paleozoological Samples
  • J. Tyler Faith, University of Utah, R. Lee Lyman, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: Paleozoology and Paleoenvironments
  • Published online: 11 February 2019
  • Print publication: 21 February 2019, pp 77-91
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