 |
 |
If analysis of fresh breaks will motivate excavators to an improved handling of bones, we earned something here. Few lines on my research of the fresh breaks on bones: I worked on bone assemblage from a site that was excavated more than 30 years ago. I think it can be said that archaeological excavation is the final taphononic process that affects bones and it should be examined also. Throughout bone identification procedure, I also recorded fresh breaks on bones. I didn't count the number of breaks on a single fragment but only whether it has a fresh break or not. 1513 of 4274 identified bones (35%) were found with fresh breaks. I analyzed the fresh breaks according to skeletal parts. Surprisingly, I found a positive correlation (statistically significant) between the frequency of fresh breaks and bone density (Binford's index). On the other hand I found a negative correlation between fresh breaks and bone density of small and compact bones (which is not surprising). I hope that was helpful. I will appreciate any Comparative data. Thank you, Aharon Sasson Department of Archaeology Tel-Aviv University Israel