Faunal Analysis

The Faunal Analysis lesson is designed to explore how precontact people used the animal resources that lived in the surrounding region. Animals not only provided food, but also bone, antler, sinew, etc. that could be used for other purposes. The stone tools studied in previous lessons were used to acquire food resources and raw materials for non- food purposes. Finding animal remains on sites helps archaeologists know about past dietary preferences as well as seasonality. This module will focus on animal sciences. After-school learners will study what resources were locally available during different times in the precontact period. We will discuss animal bones (and shells) found on local archaeological sites, and how archaeologists analyze/classify them. Learners will also discuss the ecology of different animal communities and how these may have impacted past decisions on where to place camps and villages. Key to this is understanding how precontact people changed their subsistence and settlement patterns with the changing seasons and environment.

Grade Level: 6-8

Objective: The goal of this lesson is to explore what animal resources (vertebrate and invertebrate) were locally available at different times in the precontact period. We will discuss animal bones and shell found on local archaeological sites, and how archaeologists analyze/classify them.

Learning Outcomes: Learners will be able to answer why archaeologists study animal bones – what they tell us about how people lived in the past (subsistence, settlement, seasonality, etc.). They will also learn the importance of landscapes and the resources that sustained animal communities.

STEM: Biology, zoology, ecology

Materials: Animal bones (or pictures), bone tools (or pictures or 3D scans [examples can be found online, e.g., https://sketchfab.com/search?q=tag%3Aanimal-bone&sort_by=-likeCount&type=models]), shell, scales for weighing bones

Time: 45 minutes

Overview: Zooarchaeologists, or faunal analysts, study animal remains from archaeological sites. After the Paleoindian period (13,000-10,000 years ago) and the extinction of megafauna (mammoth and mastodon), the largest mammals commonly hunted by Indigenous people in Northeastern North America were bear and white-tailed deer (elk, moose, and caribou were also hunted). Other animals hunted/collected include various species of fish, freshwater mussels, toads/frogs, birds, rodents, and small mammals.

From animal bone, archaeologists can learn what animals people in the past hunted/collected and/or ate or used for raw materials, how animals were hunted, butchered and processed, seasonality of a site (what time of year people were there), past environments, and how animal parts were used as tools. Indigenous people used animals for food, cordage (sinew), tools (bone awls, needles, scrapers, fishing hooks; antlers for flintknapping), hair combs, tinklers (hoof rattles), handles, game pieces, pendants, glue, bow drills, beads (bone, shell [including those for wampum]), etc.

Vocabulary: fauna, zooarchaeologist

Procedure: Ask learners what types of animals they think were eaten in the past and what types of animal materials were used (bones, skins, fur, etc.). Learners will be shown processed animal bones and will try to identify them as to form and function prior to having any references. Ask learners what animals they think the bones belong to and what parts of the animal they have. Ask them how they can know. Discuss the purpose of comparative collections. Learners will then be given a fully assembled and labeled skeleton for comparison (real bone, 3D scanned bone, or a diagram). Give each group a bag of animal bones and a “catalogue” worksheet (see below). The group will identify the bones in their bags using a comparative collection (or 3D scanned animal bone or diagram). Learners can move around to the different locations where bones in the comparative collection are laid out. Some bones may not be identifiable, some may be difficult, some may be easy, some may have distinguishing marks.

Assessment Activities: Each group will identify what animal at least one bone in their bag is from and what part of the animal the bone is from. Answers will be recorded on the worksheet provided. Groups will report how they came to their conclusion.

Wrap up: Learners will discuss why archaeologists study animal bones – what do they tell us about the past (subsistence, settlement, domestication, hunting, seasonality, etc.).

NYS Standards: MS.Natural Selection and Adaptations, MS-LS4-1. Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on finding patterns of changes in the level of complexity of anatomical structures in organisms and the chronological order of fossil appearance in the rock layers.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the names of individual species or geological eras in the fossil record.]

Disciplinary Core Ideas: LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity – The collection of fossils and their placement in chronological order (e.g., through the location of the sedimentary layers in which they are found or through radioactive dating) is known as the fossil record. It documents the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of many life forms throughout the history of life on Earth. (MS-LS4-1)