Disentangling taphonomic histories at Old Uppsala, a Late Iron Age central place in Sweden, using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA)
(2020) In Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 33.- Abstract
- Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) has been applied to animal bones from the Late Iron Age (650–1050 CE) at the site of Old Uppsala, Sweden, to explore meat consumption and waste management at the site and to evaluate the inferential value of MCA, as indicated by earlier research using this technique. MCA describes variation within the data, which provides a platform from which to contextualize taphonomic traces at Old Uppsala. The data comprises bones from the many pit houses at Old Uppsala, categorized by taxon, anatomical parts and presence of taphonomic markers from burning, butchery, gnawing, trampling and weathering. The results show a clear variation in the distribution of animal bones between the pit houses. For example,... (More)
- Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) has been applied to animal bones from the Late Iron Age (650–1050 CE) at the site of Old Uppsala, Sweden, to explore meat consumption and waste management at the site and to evaluate the inferential value of MCA, as indicated by earlier research using this technique. MCA describes variation within the data, which provides a platform from which to contextualize taphonomic traces at Old Uppsala. The data comprises bones from the many pit houses at Old Uppsala, categorized by taxon, anatomical parts and presence of taphonomic markers from burning, butchery, gnawing, trampling and weathering. The results show a clear variation in the distribution of animal bones between the pit houses. For example, differences in fragmentation degrees and in signs of bone exposure indicate different accumulation rates between the assemblages. The results also suggest that cultural practices affected the distribution of animal bones, especially in terms of spatial and social differences in animal consumption. The frequencies of bones from the axial skeleton, from pig, and possibly also from horse, differed within the settlement. We suggest that the uneven patterns of especially pig and horse bones were shaped by context specific meat consumption, influenced by the animal symbolism of the Old Norse societies, where these animals had strong, albeit different, symbolic connotations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/87877e47-13d5-48a3-856a-22eaf9ad666b
- author
- Macheridis, Stella LU and Magnell, Ola LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020-09-18
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Old Uppsala, Contextual taphonomy, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, Iron Age Scandinavia, zooarchaeology
- in
- Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
- volume
- 33
- article number
- 102536
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85091373737
- ISSN
- 2352-409X
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102536
- project
- Disentangling taphonomic histories at Old Uppsala: a Late Iron Age central place in Sweden
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 87877e47-13d5-48a3-856a-22eaf9ad666b
- date added to LUP
- 2020-01-21 08:47:24
- date last changed
- 2022-04-18 19:59:53
@article{87877e47-13d5-48a3-856a-22eaf9ad666b, abstract = {{Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) has been applied to animal bones from the Late Iron Age (650–1050 CE) at the site of Old Uppsala, Sweden, to explore meat consumption and waste management at the site and to evaluate the inferential value of MCA, as indicated by earlier research using this technique. MCA describes variation within the data, which provides a platform from which to contextualize taphonomic traces at Old Uppsala. The data comprises bones from the many pit houses at Old Uppsala, categorized by taxon, anatomical parts and presence of taphonomic markers from burning, butchery, gnawing, trampling and weathering. The results show a clear variation in the distribution of animal bones between the pit houses. For example, differences in fragmentation degrees and in signs of bone exposure indicate different accumulation rates between the assemblages. The results also suggest that cultural practices affected the distribution of animal bones, especially in terms of spatial and social differences in animal consumption. The frequencies of bones from the axial skeleton, from pig, and possibly also from horse, differed within the settlement. We suggest that the uneven patterns of especially pig and horse bones were shaped by context specific meat consumption, influenced by the animal symbolism of the Old Norse societies, where these animals had strong, albeit different, symbolic connotations.}}, author = {{Macheridis, Stella and Magnell, Ola}}, issn = {{2352-409X}}, keywords = {{Old Uppsala; Contextual taphonomy; Multiple Correspondence Analysis; Iron Age Scandinavia; zooarchaeology}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{09}}, publisher = {{Elsevier}}, series = {{Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports}}, title = {{Disentangling taphonomic histories at Old Uppsala, a Late Iron Age central place in Sweden, using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA)}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102536}}, doi = {{10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102536}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2020}}, }