Dear Katerina,
I think first of all you need to clarify why you are
counting.
If you wish to count the Minimal Number of Individuals
actually present at the site, then lefts and rights need to be considered and
matched where possible. An estimate of MNI in this sense also needs to
take into account age differences, and indeed other morphologically detectable
characteristics.
If you take the view that what is important is a number of
individuals as a measure of biomass, then lefts and rights are not
important: simply sum them and divide by two. This equates more
or less to Minimal Animal Units (MAU). Binford devised it for
comparing preservation among different body parts in taphonomic studies,
but may be extended for quantifying whole animals. It is appropriate
for consumption sites where meat has been supplied as parts of carcases, and
there is neither value nor hope in working out the actual number of
contributory carcases.
Where rodents are concerned, I suspect that you are
looking for MNI.
Of course there are probabilistic methods, based on such
things as capture-recapture theory, and hypergeometric probability curves.
I may not be the best person to discuss these.
Best wishes,
Tony.
______________________________________________________________
Anthony
J. Gouldwell B.Sc.
Technician,
School of Archaeology and Ancient
History,
University of Leicester,
University Road,
Leicester LE1
7RH.
Tel. (office) +44(0)116-252
5093
(secretary) +44(0)116-252
2611
Fax
+44(0)116-252 5005
e-mail [log in to unmask]
http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/school/staff/staff_ajg.html
______________________________________________________________
Dear Everyone,
Is there an established method of counting MNI for rodents/insectivores
according crania? Does someone have to take in mind right/left jaw numbers and
divide by 2 or count according to isolated molars, or both?
Any goodreference on that?
Thanks,
Katerina
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