Diagnostic Elements and Interobserver Variation in the Indentification of Fish Bones

Summary

Research by us and others has demonstrated that the taxonomic identification of fish bones from archaeological sites varies between analysts. While rarely acknowledged, this variation may be significant enough to result in different interpretations of site function and seasonality. The level of specificity of identifications and the elements considered identifiable are two important sources of variation. Other factors include the nature of the reference collection used and the experience of the analyst. Using samples from the lower Great Lakes region, in this poster we consider whether use of a select suite of diagnostic elements would improve reliability of identifications.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16943