Refitting Bones: Negative Evidence, Site Structure and Social Organization

Abstract

Bone refitting and individual carcass re-assembling can inform us about technological processes of prey carcass treatment, including transport, butchering and consumption. Moreover, spatial aspects of consumption patterns can lend insight into economic and social organization. The relative position of the archaeological site in the sequence from acquisition to discard may largely determine the probability for meaningful mechanical, articulating and bilateral refitting of faunal skeletal elements. Presence or absence of such refits may help us in determining the relativeposition of the site across the landscape. Examplesfrom the late Upper Paleolithic are used to explore site function and demography.