The Number of Distinct Elements: Extending a landmark-based counting unit to other taxa

Morin, Eugène; Beauval, Cédric; Boileau, Arianne; Ready, Elspeth; Laroulandie, Véronique

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.007

Cited by 3 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Clearly, faunal analysts should take care to describe the counting procedure(s) they use and, wherever possible, provide counts using standardized methods. In particular, methods that count only truly independent fragments, such as the landmark‐based NDE method that we have described elsewhere (Morin et al, 2017b, 2019), may facilitate statistical comparisons across assemblages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A refitting experiment on long bone identification

Morin

Boileau

Ready

2021

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Refitting is an important analytical tool in archaeology that can yield valuable information on site formation processes and on the range of activities practiced at a site, including tool production, tool curation, and discard behavior, among others. In the present paper, we use refit data from a control assemblage of red deer (Cervus elaphus) long bones to assess problems of specimen identification and representation in an experiment where bones were processed for marrow. Three goals motivated this experiment: (i) to assess how different methods of NISP (number of identified specimens) calculation affect comparisons of the relative abundances of long bone regions, (ii) to evaluate whether long bone shaft regions vary with respect to the probability of identification, and (iii) to ascertain the potential refit rate for a well‐preserved and fully‐collected sample of faunal specimens. Our results show no statistical differences in terms of patterns of skeletal representation between the two methods of NISP calculation (single vs. multiple NISP counts) that we assessed. Our data also indicate that the shape, particularly the cross‐section, of fragments clearly impacts the probability of identification and refitting. Moreover, the refitting experiment reveals that, in ideal conditions, a majority of specimens (>95%) from the NISP sample can be refitted, which leads to largely reconstructed skeletal elements. Thus, the comparatively very low refit rates recorded in archaeological sites, including samples that are well preserved, suggest that the often limited extent of excavations, along with offsite discard and/or extensive sharing of parts, substantially reduce the possibility of finding refits in a faunal sample.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A refitting experiment on long bone identification

Morin

Boileau

Ready

2021

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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“…(e.g. Watson, 1979;Dobney and Rielly, 1988;Marean et al, 2001;Harland et al, 2003;Popkin, 2005;Thompson, 2005;Fischer, 2007;Smith, 2010;Abe et al, 2012;Dibble, 2015;Garcia-Moreno et al, 2015;Morin et al, 2017Morin et al, , 2019. TIPZOO differs from previous attempts, however, by proposing a comprehensive solution that accompanies researchers through data entry, analysis, and visualization, as well as by using a touchscreen interface that was specifically designed to facilitate and accelerate data entry in Palaeolithic zooarchaeology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2a and 2c). The coding system uses the landmarks proposed by Morin et al (2017Morin et al ( , 2019, supplemented by three additional landmarks (for mandibles, radio-ulnas and ribs) defined in other works (Castel, 1999;Morin, 2004) and four defined in the present work (for femurs and phalanges, as defined in the manual). When the analyst records a skeletal identification, a schematic drawing with the appropriate landmarks appears, and these can then be recorded using a simple touch/click.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dancette and M.-C. Soulier, whose critical evaluation of some of TIPZOO-FMP features helped improve it. Part of the images used in TIPZOO-FMP were modified from original diagrams by others (see Pales and Lambert, 1981;Netter, 1989; Castel, 1999, p. 47; Morin, 2004, p. 125;Morin et al, 2017Morin et al, , 2019Soulier and Costamagno, 2017;Costamagno and Soulier, 2019), and its touch keypad is a modified version of the scripts made available on the web by Stacy Chamblee (Chamblee, n.d.). The reindeer skeleton outline used in TIPZOO-QGIS was drawn by C. Beauval and M. Coutureau, modifying initial drawings by Cl.…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"HUM" for a humerus, "SH" for a shaft fragment of a diaphysis). Early examples include Gifford and Crader (1977) seminal system, and more recently systems have been proposed and used for cut marks (Soulier and Costamagno, 2017;Costamagno and Soulier, 2019) or anatomical landmarks (Morin et al, 2017(Morin et al, , 2019. As zooarchaeologists refine their tools and analytical criteria, the coding systems become increasingly complex and hard to use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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TIPZOO: a Touchscreen Interface for Palaeolithic Zooarchaeology. Towards making data entry and analysis easier, faster, and more reliable

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2020

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Zooarchaeological studies of fossil bone collections are often conducted using simple spreadsheet programs for data recording and analysis. After quickly summarizing the limitations of such an approach, we present a new software solution, TIPZOO, which uses a FileMaker touchscreen interface combined with R scripts and QGIS files. This tool was specifically designed for zooarchaeologists’ needs, and is freely available at http://tipzoo.cnrs.fr. In this article, the key features of TIPZOO are highlighted, and we present some of the tools developed in order to (1) simplify the use of recently published complex coding systems, (2) better control intra- and inter-analyst variation, and (3) allow faster and more reliable data entry, analysis and visualization in Palaeolithic zooarchaeology.

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TIPZOO: a Touchscreen Interface for Palaeolithic Zooarchaeology. Towards making data entry and analysis easier, faster, and more reliable

Discamps¹

2021

Peer Community Journal

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Zooarchaeological studies of fossil bone collections are often conducted using simple spreadsheet programs for data recording and analysis. After quickly summarizing the limitations of such an approach, we present a new software solution, TIPZOO, which uses a FileMaker touchscreen interface combined with R scripts and QGIS files. This tool was specifically designed for zooarchaeologists needs, and is freely available at http://tipzoo.cnrs.fr. In this article, the key features of TIPZOO are highlighted, and we present some of the tools developed in order to (1) simplify the use of recently published complex coding systems, (2) better control intra-and inter-analyst variation, and (3) allow faster and more reliable data entry, analysis and visualization in Palaeolithic zooarchaeology.

show abstract

The Number of Distinct Elements: Extending a landmark-based counting unit to other taxa

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

A refitting experiment on long bone identification

A refitting experiment on long bone identification

TIPZOO: a Touchscreen Interface for Palaeolithic Zooarchaeology. Towards making data entry and analysis easier, faster, and more reliable

TIPZOO: a Touchscreen Interface for Palaeolithic Zooarchaeology. Towards making data entry and analysis easier, faster, and more reliable

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