Estudos tafonômicos são relevantes para o entendimento de contextos deposicionais em sítios paleontológicos e arqueológicos, podendo ser ferramenta útil na correta interpretação desses registros. Recorrente em estudos dessa natureza é o problema da equifinalidade, em que dois ou mais processos levam a um mesmo padrão final. No caso dos estudos zooarqueológicos esse problema se torna mais aparente, uma vez que dois fatores são responsáveis pela formação e configuração final da fauna depositada nos sítios arqueológicos, sendo eles a ação humana e a ação natural. Com a finalidade de gerar assinaturas tafonômicas para auxiliar na compreensão do registro arqueológico, o presente estudo utilizou uma coleção paleontológica (Cuvieri) e uma coleção etnográfica (Guajá) como \"controle\". Ao todo quatro coleções osteológicas de mamíferos de médio e grande porte (Mazama sp., Tapirus terrestris, Tayassu sp.) foram analisadas: coleção etnográfica dos índios Guajá (Maranhão, Brasil) onde somente o agente antrópico incidiu na formação; coleção paleontológica do sítio Cuvieri (Minas Gerais, Brasil) formada unicamente pelo agente natural; e coleção arqueológica dos sítios Lapa do Santo e Lapa das Boleiras (Minas Gerais - Brasil). Ferramentas consagradas na literatura zooarqueológica foram utilizadas, sendo a Densidade Óssea (VD - volume density) e o índice de Utilidade Alimentar (FUI - food utility index) os mais importantes, além de análises envolvendo fragmentação óssea, sinais de queima e marcas de corte. As análises comparativas realizadas geraram resultados significativos no que diz respeito à formação do registro arqueológico, e em última instância quanto às estratégias de subsistência das populações pré-históricas de Lagoa Santa. A partir de análises de correlação não paramétrica (Spearman) envidenciou-se ausência de correlação entre representatividade óssea (MAU - minimal animal unit) e utilidade alimentar (FUI - food utility index), bem como entre representatividade e densidade óssea (VD - volume density) no sítio etnográfico e no sítio arqueológico. Entretanto, houve correlação entre densidade e representatividade óssea no sítio paleontológico. Uma correlação estatisticamente não significativa entre MAU e FUI nos sítios arqueológicos era esperada, como corroborada pelo sítio etnográfico. No entanto, a correlação entre densidade e representatividade encontrada no sítio paleontológico não foi encontrada no sítio arqueológico o que pode ser explicado neste último caso, entre outros fatores, pela atividade humana. Análises de fragmentação óssea demonstraram diferenças significativas entre os sítios, principalmente quando considerados apenas os ossos longos, que são os mais processados para o consumo humano. A fragmentação apresentou-se maior nos sítios em que houve ação humana (etnográfico e arqueológicos). Com relação à queima e marcas de corte, foram obtidos resultados relevantes em termos etnográficos, demonstrando processamentos diferenciais entre os taxa analisados mesmo na ausência da ação de processos diagenéticos. Os resultados demonstram a utilidade de estudos comparativos entre coleções de diferentes contextos (e.g., paleontológicas, etnográficas, e arqueológicos) para melhor entendimento da gênese e da transformação de assembléias fósseis, minimizando assim o problema da equifinalidade. / To understand depositional contexts in archaeological and palaeontological sites, taphonomic studies are of relevant importance. One of the main questions about faunal representation in archaeological sites is the problem with equifinality, when similar patterns in time and space emerge from different conditions and processes. Human and natural agencies are the processes that affect the fossil assemblage recovered in archaeological sites; that, if not correctly understood, can lead to wrong interpretations. To solve this problem, taphonomic signatures of palaeontological (natural agency) and ethnographic collections (human agency) were used as a \"control\" to the interpretation of zooarchaeological record. Four osteological collections comprised of medium and large mammals (Mazama sp., Tapirus terrestris, Tayassu sp.) were analyzed: an ethnographic collection of Guajá indians (Maranhão, Brazil), a palaeontological collection of Cuvieri (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and two archaeological collections of Lapa do Santo and Lapa das Boleiras (Minas Gerais, Brazil). Bone density (VD - volume density) and utility index (FUI - food utility index) were the two main analytical tools used to characterize the collections, together with bone fragmentation, bone burning and cut marks analyses. Spearman correlation analysis shows no statistically significant results between FUI and animal representation (MAU), neither between MAU and bone density in the archaeological and ethnographic sites. Bone density correlates statistically with MAU in Cuvieri. No significant statistic correlation was obtained in archaeological and ethnographic context between MAU and FUI as expected. The absence of a significant statistic correlation between MAU and VD in the archaeological sites can be attributed to human agency. Bone fragmentation analyses revealed great fragmentation in the archaeological and the ethnographic sites when analyzing long bones only, since they are the most skeletal part modified by human processes. Bone burning and cut mark analyses revealed relevant ethnographic information about human processing of animal carcass even when no post-depositional bias has occurred. The analyses of palaeontological and ethnographic sites revealed information applicable to archaeological sites contributing to solve equifinality questions.

EfPm-27 is a Protohistoric bison pound and processing site located in Fish Creek Park in Calgary, Alberta. The site exhibited the presence of metal tools and macroscopically deceptive cut marks suggesting the potential for the presence of both metal and stone cut marks. Moulds of selected cut marks from the assemblage were made and examined with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to verify or negate the use of metal tools for butchery at the site. SEM images of the cut mark moulds reveal micromorphology that is similar to experimental and published stone tool cut mark SEM images. No evidence for the use of metal tools for butchering was identified. Protohistoric sites research could benefit from the use of SEM analysis of cut marks to distinguish between stone and metal tool use. This would provide important secondary evidence for metal trade items in scenarios where such artifacts may be beyond recovery. Conversely, the presence of metal artifacts at a site does not necessarily imply that they were used for butchery and this assertion must be verified by the presence of metal cut marks.

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains. / October 2008

EfPm-27 is a Protohistoric bison pound and processing site located in Fish Creek Park in Calgary, Alberta. The site exhibited the presence of metal tools and macroscopically deceptive cut marks suggesting the potential for the presence of both metal and stone cut marks. Moulds of selected cut marks from the assemblage were made and examined with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to verify or negate the use of metal tools for butchery at the site. SEM images of the cut mark moulds reveal micromorphology that is similar to experimental and published stone tool cut mark SEM images. No evidence for the use of metal tools for butchering was identified. Protohistoric sites research could benefit from the use of SEM analysis of cut marks to distinguish between stone and metal tool use. This would provide important secondary evidence for metal trade items in scenarios where such artifacts may be beyond recovery. Conversely, the presence of metal artifacts at a site does not necessarily imply that they were used for butchery and this assertion must be verified by the presence of metal cut marks.

Located in today’s southern Israel, Tell el Hesi provides archaeologists with important clues to political and social changes in the ancient Near East. Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic analyses were conducted to evaluate shifts in animal husbandry practices during changing socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions in the southern Levant. During the Early Bronze Age, Tell el Hesi thrived as an agricultural grain producing center for the southern Levant. The acropolis served as both a storage and redistribution center for the inhabitants of Tell el Hesi. Coinciding with the collapse of the southern Levant, Tell el Hesi was abandoned throughout the Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age. Socioeconomic relations collapsed between the southern and northern Levant as foreign cultures swept into the region. The Iron Age and Persian Period represented constant sociopolitical change as Assyrian and Persian armies battled against Egypt for territory and natural resources, using Tell el Hesi as a military outpost and storage facility for soldiers and equipment. Unsystematic excavations at the site make it difficult to interpret how animals were used at Tell el Hesi over time. Zooarchaeological analysis suggests, however, that amidst constant societal changes at Tell el Hesi, the inhabitants of the site used animals in similar ways throughout time. Statistically, there seems to be little difference in the quantity of animal species represented during the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period. This suggests that the once common specialized pastoralism found in the Early Bronze Age survived into the Persian Period at Tell el Hesi and was an effective herd management strategy for small populations living in ever changing societies. Future excavation and analysis would be able to further assess this hypothesis. The stable isotope results suggest that domesticated animals at Tell el Hesi were consuming both C3 domesticated grain along with C4 wild grasses. Economically significant animals appear to have been foddered within the city boundaries of Tell el Hesi but predominantly grazed in the surrounding foothill area. Wild animals such as deer, gazelle and antelope share similar δ13C values with the domesticated animals at the site.

The historically introduced House Rock Valley bison herd has, in recent years, migrated from the eastern Arizona Strip onto the Kaibab Plateau within Grand Canyon National Park. Bison are considered a nonnative species to the southern Colorado Plateau, and the animals adversely impact sensitive ecosystems prompting National Park Service wildlife managers to pursue their removal. Archaeofaunal evidence of bison in the Grand Canyon and neighboring regions, however, raises concern that bison may in fact be native. Assessing the evidence within a zooarchaeological interpretive framework is critical since mere presence/absence lists of bison remains do not address the potentially complex cultural processes involved in the formation of archaeofaunal assemblages. Inter-assemblage comparisons illustrate a decline in relative abundance and skeletal completeness correlated to distance from traditionally understood historical bison distribution. If bison were present in the Southwest, as the evidence suggests, they likely entered the region only occasionally as small, dispersed herds.

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains.

Caribou have a longstanding cultural and environmental role, and have interacted with human groups across time. This thesis is a consideration of these interactions, exploring prehistoric and historic patterns of caribou usage by Cree people in northern Manitoba. Through zooarchaeological analysis, an ethnohistorical review, and community workshops and interviews with York Factory First Nation, the relationship between caribou populations and Cree use is illustrated, providing insight into abundance, movements, and the socio-cultural value of caribou over time. In doing so, context is provided for the present-day situation: connections between historical and modern herds are drawn, population and migration changes are highlighted, and the impact of hunting pressures, climatic variation, habitat changes, and food availability on caribou populations are contemplated. Caribou have long been central to the seasonal economy in northern Manitoba, and the use of these animals reflects their abundance and value.

This thesis presents the results of recent sampling of the Q’umu?xs Village site (DkSf-19) at Comox Harbour, British Columbia. Bucket auger and column sampling was undertaken to ascertain resource use patterns associated with the unique abundance of wooden stake fish traps located in Comox Harbour through zooarchaeological analysis of fish remains. Fish remains were identified and quantified to trace changes in resource use and linked to the chronology of fish trap use. Incorporating the theoretical frameworks of human behavioural ecology (optimal foraging models), intensification, household archaeology, and the archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers, this thesis discusses the use of fish traps in Comox Harbour in relation to larger questions of Northwest Coast social and economic complexity, in particular the emphasis on herring seen in the fish remains.

The cemetery of Valsgärde, Sweden contains 92 human graves dating from the 3rdc. BCE to the 11thc. CE, the majority and most elaborate of which date to the Vendel and Viking Ages (approximately 500-1100 CE). This total consists of 15 unburnt boat graves, 15 inhumation and chamber graves, and 62 cremations. In addition to the human remains and wealthy goods, the site is noted for its richness in zooarchaeological material, with a variety of primarily domestic animals appearing buried alongside humans. One of the most commonly represented animals in these graves is the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a trend which has been noted in many other sites from Vendel and Viking Age Sweden. This project quantifies and analyses the morphology of the dogs in the unburnt Vendel and Viking graves at Valsgärde in order to a) assemble a general typology and demographic profile for the population, b) assess the level of morphological variability in the population, and c) speculate on the possible roles these dogs may have played in Scandinavian society in the Late Iron Age. Comparisons are made between the character of dog burials in the Vendel vs Viking periods, to identify any notable shifts in trend over time. The analysis shows that while the size of the dogs generally remains consistent throughout both periods, a number of different types are represented within this limited size range, and the Viking Age burials contain notably fewer dogs than the graves of the Vendel Period.