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Disentangling taphonomic histories at Old Uppsala, a Late Iron Age central place in Sweden, using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA)

Macheridis, Stella LU and Magnell, Ola LU (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)
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author
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organization
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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}},
}