Zooarchaeology Lab with Dr. Martin

Hey there,

Last week, we attended a zooarchaeology lab in the basement of the Niles District Library. We learned about the types of animals that lived in and around Fort St. Joseph, and how to identify and catalog their remains. Terry, the host, was extremely knowledgeable about bones, and could identify bone fragments after just a few seconds of looking at it. It helped provide a lot of context for the bones we are finding at the site. 

Zooarchaeology is the study of faunal remains found in archeological sites. Studying animal bones can reveal a lot about the people who hunted, farmed, and cooked them. In the big picture, this helps us have a better understanding of the daily life of people in the fort. Knowing the diet of the people who lived in the fort gives us a lot of information about wealth, living conditions, and population.

We are always on the lookout for bones that have any sort of human modification. Modifications come in a few different categories: cultural, natural, and environmental. Cultural modifications include butcher marks, evidence of hunting, cooked bones, and modifications for decorative use, such as drilled holes or etched designs. Natural modifications are usually marks leftover from predator animals, who often leave bite marks on the bones of prey. Environmental modifications come from the conditions that the remains are left in. High moisture environments, like the floodplain that the fort sits on, preserve bone differently than dry environments, and is important to consider when assessing remains.

One of the most common faunal remains found at the fort are deer bones. We have already identified a mandible, multiple teeth, and an astragalus (heel bone) across a few different units that all belong to deer. Deer are an important species to study, because they are commonly hunted, and their bones are used for all sorts of things, even today. I took this picture of an intact deer mandible at the lab (above left), to help identify the partial mandible found in our unit.

One of the most interesting things from the zooarchaeology lab was learning about the lack of fish bones found at the site. Carson, the lab coordinator, suggested that fish remains may be found in a garden-like deposit because fish could be used as fertilizer. This would explain why we haven't found many yet, and maybe in the future somebody will excavate a pile of fish bones and interpret the area as a garden. Terry did show us a fragment of cartilage and bone that came from a sturgeon (right), so we would know what to look for! 

• Kieran