Hi David

Sounds like a brilliant tool so yes I think it is worth doing.

A cut down free version of ArchGIS is available, although I'm not sure 
if it will work with what you have in mind. Might be worth having a look at.

http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/index1.html

Cheers

Jim

David Orton wrote:
> I'm in the process of converting some skeletal templates into ArcGIS 
> format so that you can link an Excel or dbase table full of faunal 
> data straight in. The skeleton then becomes analogous to a map or site 
> plan and you can use the display options within ArcGIS to display 
> whichever field you want (be it NISP, MNE, burning rate, whatever) in 
> a variety of ways (shading, different colours, labels, even 
> superimposed graphs if you like). This is basically the same as doing 
> it in Illustrator as Jim suggests, except that you can throw up and 
> compare different categories of data or produce multiple figures for 
> different sites, contexts etc. much, much more quickly. In my PhD 
> research I noticed some taphonomic patterns this way that I'd never 
> have had time to try out had I been colouring elements manually
>
> I'm thinking of bundling the files up and posting them on the internet 
> somewhere - possibly Internet Archaeology - with instructions and 
> examples. This is probably the closest you'll get right now to 
> customised software (although I hope to be corrected on this), but 
> obviously it's not ideal because unless you're affiliated to an 
> institution which has a license for the GIS software - or are 
> sufficiently loaded to get your own - you won't be able to use the 
> template files.
>
> I'd be grateful if zooarchers could tell me whether:
> (a) they think this is worth doing, and
> (b) anyone has already done it.
>
> Thanks,
> David
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Morris" 
> <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 11:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] Anatomical distribution
>
>
>> Hi Vaidotas
>>
>> I don't know of any software that would do it all for you.
>> The best way I have found is to do your calculations in excel and 
>> then use illustrator or another other graphic software to manually 
>> colour in a skeleton.
>>
>> Excellent digitized skeletons are available from the below site in 
>> both Adobe Illustrator and PNG format.
>>
>> http://www.archeozoo.org/en-rubrique108.html
>>
>> Hope that helps
>>
>> Jim
>> http://www.animalbones.org/Profilingcommercialzooarchaeology.html
>>
>> Vaidotas wrote:
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>> Are there any particular software available for calculating 
>>> anatomical distribution of bones and representing the results on a 
>>> graphical skeleton template? I'd like to represent them using the 
>>> color graduation depending on the percentage allocated to each bone.
>>>
>>> Vaidotas Suncovas
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> -- 
>> Dr James Morris
>> Osteoarchaeologist
>> Archaeological Solutions
>> 6 Brunel Business Court
>> Eastern Way
>> Bury St Edmunds
>> Suffolk
>> IP32 7AS
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>> www.animalbones.org 
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>
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-- 
Dr James Morris
Osteoarchaeologist
Archaeological Solutions
6 Brunel Business Court
Eastern Way
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP32 7AS

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