WORKSHOP: Archaeology Workshop Series 2017

Workshop abstract Palaeozoology (the study of animal remains recovered from archaeological and palaeontological sites) includes a variety of analytical techniques and addresses a variety of research topics. One body of techniques concerns quantification of animal remains, and the two commonly used quantitative units are the number of identified specimens (NISP) and the minimum number of individuals (MNI). In North America, NISP gained favour in the 1980s and 1990s, but four attempts have subsequently been made to demonstrate with empirical data that MNI provides a more accurate measure of taxonomic abundances than NISP. Critical evaluation of each of these attempts at resurrecting MNI shows they fail either for statistical reasons or because of poor statistical design. That palaeozoological material can be used to answer questions concerning the general physiological status of an ancient population of animals is demonstrated with a collection of Holocene-age North American bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) remains.