Perspectives on ancient Maya bone crafting from a Classic period bone-artifact manufacturing assemblage

Changes in human bones boiled in seawater

“…treated at a temperature close to 100 C for 2 or 3 h in presence of water when meat with bone were boiled; when they were grilled, the temperature reached by bone, determined by the great amount of water present in fresh meat, is as well 100 C. The domestic production of bone artifacts, tools or decorative objects had, then, as starting material, a boiled bone with a low salt content. Unfortunately, most studies on bone technology describe the work made to manufacture artifacts, but they do not describe the starting materials (D'Errico and Henshilwood, 2007;Emery, 2009;Rosell et al, 2011). Furthermore, the bones are studied with the scanning electron microscope at low magnifications searching cut marks, but not at high magnifications as required to determine the bone micrometrical morphology.…”

“…Another example, from another period and culture, is the one discussed by Emery (2009) who studied Maya bones. Emery (2009) distinguishes between the domestic and the non domestic producers of bone artifacts as the domestic producer uses a large variety of species and skeletal elements, and the diversity of bone raw materials is as great as the diversity of discarded subsistence remains. Instead, it is explained that the non domestic producer used raw materials highly uniform.…”

Of Buffalo and Butchers: Coupling Traditional Procurement Studies with Taphonomic Analyses to Explore Intensive Wild Animal Processing Patterns at Two Early Iron Age Sites in the Kruger National Park

“…Long-distance provisioning would involve a group from some community (likely located outside of the modern-day boundaries of the KNP and the pastoral-limiting factors therein), travelling to these sites to hunt and procure wild animal products. The meat and fat acquired from the large ungulates-along with skins, sinews, and other animal products intended for consumption, trade, tool production (e.g., bone sourced for bone tools), medicine, or various other purposes (Campbell 1822 , p. 219;Stayt 1931 , p. 70;van Warmelo 1932 , p. 92;Perkins and Daly 1968 ;Emery 2009 )-may have been acquired for community use and consumption back at a primary residential site (e.g., Driver 1990 ). This type of specialized activity pattern is coarsely comparable to those identified at the saltproduction sites (e.g., Evers 1979 ;Plug 1999 ;Antonites 2005Antonites , 2013 and specialist metal smelting sites (e.g., Kiyaga-Mulindwa 1992 ; Plug and Pistorius 1999 ;Chirikure 2007 ) in this same region of southern Africa, where the archaeological sites were focussed around a single activity and occupations were both temporary and recurrent.…”

Raw Material Availability and Technological Choice: Modified Metapodia from an Early Bronze Age Site in Central Israel

“…In contrast, a craftsperson motivated by opportunism or expediency is more likely to acquire raw materials in proportion to their availability from the stock of discarded subsistence remains. This strategy would produce a worked bone collection that reflects the diversity found in the general zooarchaeological collection (Emery, : 465; Vercoutère et al ., : 31).…”