00:00.00 ALEX And we are back with archaeo Animals. We are looking at the zoo archaeology of well your rubbish bin So Contemporary zoo archaeology and we've already talked about species selection. We've talked about limb selection and I guess the next. Up Usually again least for me when it comes to zoo archeological analysis is kind of looking at Taphonomy. So We've talked about Taphono me before on the podcast. Although I guess maybe that was 30 video game episodes Ago. So just as a ah refresh. It's the characteristics that occur At. And after death and that also includes deposition and all that other fun stuff that happens when Bones get moved around in in the ground. 00:46.95 S_ Granarius Yes, of course like we're probably not going to look at the taonnomy sort of our natural processes in terms of um, like of the soil that we're probably going to look sort of at anthropogenic factors. So those you know modifications induced by man. 00:52.16 ALEX Now. 01:05.25 S_ Granarius I Guess to an extent um sort of like um, gnawing and tooth marks which to be fair like will either be caused in this instance by pets of the person in question or by Commensals such as rodents that will live in and around. Ah, case study. 01:24.83 ALEX Yeah, but you know the the thing you probably think of most especially again when we're talking a bit more contemporary and we're mostly talking about consumption is butchery and Again. Kind of like what we talked about with limb selection. There's probably not much that's drastically different although I would argue that contemporary cuts are arguably a bit finer and more precise I mean I think some people still you know cut meat by hand. But I'm also aware that there's a bit more especially like factory based kind of meat Processing. You might have it a bit more mechanical. 02:09.37 S_ Granarius But also you have sort of like ah now you have um, ah metals like Alloys like steel that juice and a sharper implement and a much more reliable cut as opposed than H just trying to sew off the bone with a little like iron. 02:15.72 ALEX And. 02:27.10 S_ Granarius Bone source. 02:27.28 ALEX Yeah, it's funny because occasionally on social media I get messages from people who are like oh can you tell me how old this bone is and obviously but I don't know about you but I don't think I could Id the age of a bone like in terms of. You know how old the bone is not necessarily age death but every so often I'll get a picture of a bone and I'll be like that's modern day and you can tell because those cuts are just so clean. 02:58.80 S_ Granarius I'll just go with the the reliable it's at least five years old then you won't be wrong. Probably but guess yes, but like I guess to extentia you can tell from the variety of butchery. 03:06.70 ALEX You love a good ballpark. 03:13.60 S_ Granarius Marks that you find so call you know saws her her I got there. You don't really see those sering until the Roman period if I remember correctly. But of course those get more specialized. 03:22.26 ALEX Yay! But the boom. 03:27.95 ALEX M. 03:28.28 S_ Granarius As time goes by. So of course if you have a post- medieval assemblage. There'll be ah, a lot more sort of butchery marks that are very sort of neat and precise and much more of a clean cut. Um, so I guess that would be ah, an indication but then not very precise of that because I'm a. 03:34.91 ALEX Yeah. 03:46.31 S_ Granarius I don't have c 14 eyes. So um, this bone was the posited on a Wednesday under a full moon. No um, but yeah, no, alas, ah you can't reliably sort of age animal bone by. 03:47.52 ALEX I Wish can you imagine how much money I'd be able to save on research. 04:05.49 S_ Granarius Visual examination. Although yes, the but the style sort of butchery and indeed I mean we're going into a different discussion here I guess depending on sort of which is I mean that. 04:13.77 ALEX A tangent on archaeo animals. 04:17.13 archpodnet You get your Bingo cards ready that's Romans and tangent I mean that's lining up. 04:21.42 ALEX So. 04:21.75 S_ Granarius I mean depending on what species you find in your assemblage it may may um, you may be able to sort of get a rough idea of what sort of time period. You're looking at. So if you've got an assemblage a British assemblage and you find some munjak deer. 04:33.42 ALEX Ah. 04:40.15 S_ Granarius It's probably not iron age. Um the mujak deer being a species native to Southeast Asia that was introduced by the victorians. So. 04:49.64 ALEX And oh. 04:49.91 archpodnet You can. We can We say the type of deer that we always say on the episode the one type of deer that we talk about the the one type of deer that's on the yeah another pit of your bingo card for. 04:57.24 S_ Granarius The file the ah fellow dear Ah, to be fair if with playing like iron age Fallow Dear that is very very very cool but tell me more about it. Um. 05:03.27 ALEX Yay. 05:06.89 archpodnet Sorry. 05:09.10 ALEX Yes, P m. 05:10.50 archpodnet Yeah, actually yeah, right into the show contact us where's your iron age Fallow Dear, let let us know. 05:19.94 ALEX But yeah, um, also what you talked about earlier in the first segment also kind of plays into here as well in terms of the fact that you know we ah have a lot more cuts. Although again, they might have existed in the past and they probably kind of did. But we do have lot of cuts that aren't on the bone so you won't even really find much trace of it in a domestic refuse pile so chicken breast silverside steaks things like that and I think that's kind of the main theme when we talk about taphonomy for a modern day zoo archeological assemblage in that you know. A lot of our culinary technology and kind of the culinary prowess has advance that you can make these really fine cuts and really fine. You know, kind of culinary techniques that won't be as. Blatant on remains as they would have in the past. 06:21.60 S_ Granarius But in a way like going back to sort of cuts which won't bear sort of bone fragments which of course like they're very prevalent now but they isn't to say they weren't prevalent in say prehistory as well. If anything that's testament to. 06:34.74 ALEX Um. 06:38.37 S_ Granarius How much of the archaeological record we have lost because I'm sure there were plenty of state cuts and people also have chicken breasts are plenty but you're not going to find evidence of that. 06:40.50 ALEX True. Yeah. 06:48.92 ALEX Yeah I guess it's something I I always forget about ah so I'm very much to blame for that. Ah, but yeah, archeology really is like the smallest slither of if you're lucky I feel like yeah. 06:59.14 S_ Granarius You find like 10 percent of what was actually there if you're lucky well electric school is acidic and then it's 1% 07:07.36 ALEX Ends Oh oh gosh if you're in a ah wet environment then boy you got cheesy bone baby. 07:14.57 S_ Granarius Um, but I guess burning is another sort of um sign that you might notice on animal bone assemblages. Um. 07:28.71 ALEX But again I think maybe less so and you know that's very like we were just talking about that's kind of a bit of a assumption to make but I don't know you know like I said food Prep is much more precise these days we have. Ah, selection of prepared meats in stores. So You know a lot of people when they're cooking. They're not necessarily cooking meat on the bone like people may have done in the past. 07:58.72 S_ Granarius No, and I guess that it will be affected by heat differently. Of course there is a a difference between cooking something over a fire and having it directly exposed to fire and getting a charred under sticking a chicken and an electrical oven. 08:05.86 ALEX Um, yeah. 08:16.00 ALEX Sytheus. 08:17.30 S_ Granarius Does that you're not really gonna get that same. So of course you know you do get Usb people using barbecues or cooking over fire. But it's still like um, it's not quite the same as or the evidence of charring that you find on certain archaeological assemblages. So by. 08:33.22 ALEX Yeah. 08:35.90 S_ Granarius Again because again we don't cook as much with things on the bone or where the bone is fully exposed so you have you know say one portion of the bone with like and say the distal Epi Epiphasis just for argument's sake that has been charred because that's been directly exposed to the fire while so the meat bearing sort of. Part of the day afterus and the over Epi Epiphasis that is not as heat affected because you have meat over it but you don't really see that as much I feel if you're just having a barbecue. Um. 09:01.98 ALEX Yeah, so it's It's really not going to be the same amount and you know you're still probably like if you're doing that then you're still. Doing it at a higher temperature so you know the bone is going to just be white or cracked a little bit but that's to the extent as bone that we've seen in the past that have been kind of exposed to heat or indirectly exposed to heat and I guess kind of similar to that and again, this will probably be a running theme and these kind of taphenomic. Characteristics is marrow extraction which is something you would see maybe not necessarily a lot in past Zo Archaeological assemblages but it wouldn't necessarily be something completely out of nowhere and you know normally these. The kind of interpretation. You'd usually give for these kind of bone marrow extractions. Especially if it's like heavily evident is that you know it's something that was eaten down in necessity you were getting as many calories as you could from the food you were having just to survive or fuel. Yeah, of course and. 10:03.86 S_ Granarius Of Fuel or fuel. 10:11.54 ALEX You know now the today is for the most part again depending on the kind of cuisines you're eating and the culture you're from at least for me personally I always see it as kind of more of a delicacy. 10:23.20 S_ Granarius It's just definitely something. You don't see a lot of these days and again because I guess part of it being a delxy and also because society we're moving away sort of from fattier foods. 10:24.44 ALEX Yeah. 10:34.47 ALEX Yeah, true. 10:37.14 S_ Granarius We seem to be I think this rejection of like you know like cuts of steak that have a lot of fat on or marrow or just lard or just anything that is a bit too fatty to but trying to move. Ah, we just have very generic Broadway in Western Europe at least like moving away from that over like ah. 10:56.44 ALEX Yeah, and like because like when I was thinking about marrow extraction I was like I think the last time I ever had bone marrow. It was at a really fancy restaurant and the way they serve. It is also extremely different matter than you would see archeologically so archeologically. 10:56.77 S_ Granarius Preferring leaner cuts. 11:14.66 ALEX You know, Elise again speaking from someone who works with Later Prehistoric British assemblages when you see our extraction. It's either a very obvious like kind of hole made into a long bone or say a a bone cracked open and they have very specific kind of percussion notches to indicate. Ah, the type of action that was being done to crack it open enough that you can get the marrow out without an issue and then kind of today at least again thinking of how I've eaten marrow bone in the past past you know it's often served like the bone is sliced cleanly in 2 and it's used as a dish or it's like. Bone shaft is sliced as like a small section and the marrow is put on top like it's very like intricate and you were not seeing that archeologically. 12:02.37 S_ Granarius And I mean another sort of um taphonomic modification if you will that we can see in contemporary assemblages are gnoring either car Ofval help them or rodents know mean. Um. 12:13.92 ALEX Yep, always. 12:19.48 S_ Granarius For the most part, you'll probably be like very similar to what we encountered in the past as well. So you still have like scavenging animals. So think of you know the urban Fox going through your bin ah or sort of rodents see they have that very distinctive sort of fans shaped nawbars that they make with the incisors. Um, however, like ah because course in the past we attribute a lot of the gnawing to well cats are primarily dogs. Really a lot of like dog tooth marks on bones in archaeological assemblages. Um except our dogs these days don't necessarily scavenge for our bones to chew on. Except for the odd one that they might steal as you're trying to make dinner. Um, but of course you know there's um, now there's a big sort of pet food industry. So a of the bones and as we discuss are are the chicken feed deer antler. They're all sort read available for purchase to give to your dogs. 13:02.70 ALEX Yep. 13:16.75 S_ Granarius And especially now as now we do know um the cupped bone is unsaf for pets because of course the heating prose. Especially if you're boiling them makes them particularly Brittle. So The splinters can actually cause internal damage um to cats and dogs so feel that people and not really. Giving cooked bone to their pets as often as they used to. Um. 13:37.80 ALEX Yeah, so that kind of changes the interpretation really like again we were saying you know if I saw an assemblage that say looked mostly like a domestic semage with you know, consumed food and I saw a couple gnawed bone by canines or things like that. The first thing I'm going to think is oh hey they either got leftover scrap or were specifically fed and you know they they got to chew on this nowadays like you just said you know it's very uncommon to just give your leftover scrap to your pet so you're not really seeing that anymore. Nowadays if you saw anawed bone you'd probably think oh they got that the local pets shop or something like that and yeah. 14:22.18 S_ Granarius What's the thing or all like the raw bones from the butchers because the raw bones are perfectly safe. So like think our pets still get fed leftovers plenty but it tends to be. You know like you have your Sunday roast and you cutt like a little slice and you give it to your dog. 14:35.39 ALEX Yeah, and you're also not necessarily saying if we saw this in a zo archaeological ah record We're not saying oh that's what they ate because there's so much more prepared pet food. So You know the wet foods you find in cans or pouches Kibble. So dogs and cats are already kind of going bone Freee with their actual meals unless they're being fed a raw diet and even then that's a bit less popular so you know it's completely kind of changed the way you would see nawed bonene in an archeological assemblage if we're looking at. Modern day Rubbish bins. 15:13.50 S_ Granarius And also I guess still talking about pets. There's probably an interesting change or what you'd see in sort of pet skeletons. Um from I Guess a pathological point of view because you might start finding sort of um like um with it. Calculus Cf find Calculus build up on teeth, especially it were dogs and cats because well of course you know a lot of the prepared foods that we have these days. There are a lot more what but't you I say they're a lot more grain based but um, that isn't to say that they weren'tf fed sort of ah ah, heavy a grain heavy. 15:34.36 ALEX Yeah, that's true. 15:52.89 S_ Granarius Diet in the past. But I guess because their life expectancy is longer. They have more time to develop sort of dental pathologies and also so because you yeah, you might see that more in a modern assemblage than an assemblage of dating back to iron age Britain. 15:54.71 ALEX Okay. 16:07.94 ALEX Yeah, and I think it's something we've talked about in the past this idea of you know care and a lot of times the way you would differentiate between a say a companion animal or a pet in the past that you find archaeologically versus some. Random dog or whatever is that level of care that they probably had they didn't just drop dead. They were probably cared for and obviously nowadays you would see that kind of increase because obviously. For the most part I Hope we all care for our pets so we are actually going to get them medical attention when they need it and extending their lives a bit and I think that's something we will talk about in the next segment before we do our case. Studies. 16:56.16 S_ Granarius Yes. Um, they I guess one last bit of um zoo archeological analysis that I guess really we should have looked at before all the toponomy. Um, but that's age of death. 17:13.89 ALEX Oh I thought was I we were gonna do it in the next part because it's a bit long death. That's why I was trying to wrap up and it was a bit. 17:19.29 S_ Granarius Yeah, is as well isn't it I wouldn't show up I wasn't sure whether you were or not circle ago what that? okay. 17:28.66 archpodnet Why don't you just say and we'll come to and ah just we'll just end it where Alex ended it. 17:34.88 ALEX Sorry I meant to put it type it but I didn't know if I would type it fast enough in the chat. 17:39.67 archpodnet No, that's fine. That's fine. 17:40.50 S_ Granarius Just just what block up does stop. 17:45.54 archpodnet Yeah, okay, we'll we'll do that for the next one although do you know I find it really funny when you talking about the different flavors like all I remembers if you ever watch King of the hill and it's the episode that oh my god you've got sue on your hands. You've been using charcoal. 17:54.63 ALEX Um, yes. 17:55.76 S_ Granarius You know. 18:05.27 archpodnet You haven't got the clean burn that propane has bobby. Are you using Charcoal Peggy just I love it so much. Ah. 18:09.18 ALEX Bob. 18:11.87 S_ Granarius Um. 18:15.81 ALEX I don't know what a J Peg is I haddges j pe is know a japeg is I just want a picture of a got dang hot dog can the help rules. 18:20.78 archpodnet Do I know what a Jpeg do I look like I know what a Jpeg is you you you can't go to Dallas that's full crack parts and debutantes. 18:27.60 S_ Granarius I don't I don't know what that is. 18:38.12 archpodnet Love it. Sorry it to show simonea. Yeah, that boy and right. 18:39.39 ALEX Very good American show. 18:41.15 S_ Granarius I Figured it was a show but yeah and um. 18:46.28 ALEX That was.