Toward the Definition of Criteria for the Recognit

Authors: Richard E Morlan

Publish Date: 1984/09

Volume: 22, Issue: 2, Pages: 160-171

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Abstract

Cutting fracturing flaking and polishing of bones and other osseous materials may in some instances be interpreted as evidence of former human activity Such interpretations must avoid confusion with the wide variety of natural processes that alter bones Reliable criteria are prerequisite to sound inferences based on bone regardless of whether they have been redeposited or recovered from primary assemblages Criteria must be defined by means of actualistic studies neotaphonomy and experiments that demonstrate causal relationships between patterns of alteration and the processes that produce them The criteria can be empoyed in the interpretation of fossil bones paleotaphonomy on the basis of uniformitarian principles At the present time such relationships are relatively well understood in the case of cut marks on bones and modest progress has been made in investigating fractured and flaked bones Polished bones are little understood and difficult to interpret

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