Abstract:
ABSTRACT
BONE FRAGMENTATION AS AN INDICATOR OF SUBSISTENCE
STRESS IN THE NORTH COAST RANGES OF CALIFORNIA
by
Gregory E. Collins
Master of Arts in Anthropology
California State University, Chico
Fall 2010
Animal fat, whether in meat or in bones, plays an important role in the diet
of most hunter-gatherers whether past or present. Fats have a higher caloric value than
protein and carbohydrates and in a community where there is dietary stress the heavy
exploitation of fat resources may be the only means of survival.
A reliable source of animal fat is stored in the bones, as even when an animal
is suffering from dietary stress and the meat is very lean, there is a store of fat
available within the bones in the form of marrow (in the bone cavities) and grease
(within the bone structure itself). This thesis posits that is it possible to determine subsistence
stress in the archaeological record by examining the degree of fragmentation of
freshly fractured animal bones for the extraction of bone grease.
If prehistoric hunter-gatherers are foraging optimally, it should be visible in
the archaeological record. In the processing of faunal remains for bone grease, more
x
calories are expended than extracted which is not optimal. It is expected that during
times of environmental stress when prey encounter rates are lower, prehistoric huntergatherers
would more intensively process each carcass.
Using the highly fragmented faunal assemblage from the archaeological site
CA-Teh-984 as a case study, I compare the fracture freshness and size of bone fragments
between two units: Unit 1, which dates during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly;
and unit 17 which post-dates the droughts.
