Estimating the minimum number of skeletal elements (MNE) in zooarchaeology: A review and a new image-analysis GIS approach

Most zooarchaeologists employ some type of derived measure of skeletal elem ent abundance in their analyses of faunal data. The minimum number of indiv iduals (MNI) and the minimum number of animal units (MAU) are two of the mo st popular derived measurements, and each is based on a prior estimate of t he the minimum number of elements (MNE). Thus, the estimate of MNE from fra gmented faunal fragments is the essential foundation for all inferences ema nating from MNI and MAU estimates of skeletal element abundance. Estimating the MNE represented by a sample of faunal fragments is a complicated proce dure that involves various assumptions, possible mathematical manipulations , and subjectivity. Unfortunately, the reasoning and methods underlying thi s procedure are unstandardized in zooarchaeology, and even worse, rarely ma de explicit. We review the scarce literature on this topic and identify two different approaches: the fraction summation approach and the overlap appr oach. We identify strengths and weaknesses in both approaches. We then pres ent a new method that is based on using image-analysis GIS software to coun t overlapping fragments that have bee,l converted to pixel images. This met hod maintains the strengths of the other methods while overcoming most of t heir weaknesses. It promises numerous powerful analytical capabilities that go far beyond the routines available in spreadsheets and databases. It als o offers nearly boundless flexibility in database recoding and extremely co mplete information storage. Perhaps its greatest strength is that it is bas ed on very intuitive reasoning.