Fracture Patterns of Bones in Archaeological Contexts: Significance of the Casper Site Materials

Summary

In the study of Paleolithic flaked bone tools, the most important criteria are the quality of preservation and completeness when we are trying to elucidate details of fracture on cylindrical bones. There are virtually no examples which adequately satisfy these criteria. We must use specimens which are as close to the ideal conditions. The close-to-the-ideal conditions are: 1) the bones are from sites where hunting of large mammals was carried out; 2) the site is considered or close to Paleolithic in age; 3) the curated collections are in good order; and 4) there is good preservation of the bone specimens. [...] The Casper site provides a bridge between Paleolithic materials which are not preserved well and the principle of cylindrical bone breakage. To discuss aspects of bone breakage and give a guideline for the understanding of bone specimens from other sites, I am going to discuss details of bone breakage in the Casper site examples before we move on to flaked bone tools worldwide (Ono 2001).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Wyoming Archaeologist 2005

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Contact(s): Marcia Peterson

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