A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices
The animal body-part utility indices developed by Lewis Binford have been used to interpret faunal assemblages ranging from Plio-Pleistocene sites in East Africa to a late prehistoric bison kill in the High Plains of North America. Little attention, however, has been placed on refining or further de...
Published in: | American Antiquity |
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1988
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281213 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731600071158 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.2307/281213 2024-10-20T14:08:09+00:00 A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices Metcalfe, Duncan Jones, Kevin T. 1988 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281213 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731600071158 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms American Antiquity volume 53, issue 3, page 486-504 ISSN 0002-7316 2325-5064 journal-article 1988 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.2307/281213 2024-10-09T04:02:13Z The animal body-part utility indices developed by Lewis Binford have been used to interpret faunal assemblages ranging from Plio-Pleistocene sites in East Africa to a late prehistoric bison kill in the High Plains of North America. Little attention, however, has been placed on refining or further developing these scales of economic utility. We examine Binford's derivation of the modified general utility index (MGUI) and demonstrate that it is needlessly complex. A nearly identical index, the food utility index (FUI), is presented. It simply scales variation in the amount of meat, marrow, and bone grease associated with different caribou body parts. We then use the insights provided by this simple scale to explore relations among economic utility, differential body-part representation, and human decision making. Article in Journal/Newspaper caribou Cambridge University Press American Antiquity 53 3 486 504 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
The animal body-part utility indices developed by Lewis Binford have been used to interpret faunal assemblages ranging from Plio-Pleistocene sites in East Africa to a late prehistoric bison kill in the High Plains of North America. Little attention, however, has been placed on refining or further developing these scales of economic utility. We examine Binford's derivation of the modified general utility index (MGUI) and demonstrate that it is needlessly complex. A nearly identical index, the food utility index (FUI), is presented. It simply scales variation in the amount of meat, marrow, and bone grease associated with different caribou body parts. We then use the insights provided by this simple scale to explore relations among economic utility, differential body-part representation, and human decision making. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Metcalfe, Duncan Jones, Kevin T. |
spellingShingle |
Metcalfe, Duncan Jones, Kevin T. A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices |
author_facet |
Metcalfe, Duncan Jones, Kevin T. |
author_sort |
Metcalfe, Duncan |
title |
A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices |
title_short |
A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices |
title_full |
A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices |
title_fullStr |
A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Reconsideration of Animal Body-Part Utility Indices |
title_sort |
reconsideration of animal body-part utility indices |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1988 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/281213 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731600071158 |
genre |
caribou |
genre_facet |
caribou |
op_source |
American Antiquity volume 53, issue 3, page 486-504 ISSN 0002-7316 2325-5064 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2307/281213 |
container_title |
American Antiquity |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
486 |
op_container_end_page |
504 |
_version_ |
1813447256274108416 |