J Archaeol Sci 28 (8)

Reports on a methodology for determining the season of death of the European oyster, which uses thin sectioning of the shells of a large modern control sample collected from different locations and environments. It was found that annual lines were formed in March and April. Measuring increments was not a feasible technique for interpreting month of death so seasonal changes in the microstructure were noted instead.

Reports on assemblages of archaeological insect (mainly Coleoptera) remains from in and around Anglo-Scandinavian buildings at 16-22 Coppergate, York. These were investigated in order to identify associations between pairs and groups of species, and to determine the significance of those associations as indicators of past human activity and living conditions. The study employed a pairwise measure of association to establish working groups of co-occurring species, which were then related to their likely habitats and examined using detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA). It is suggested that the species associations are of value in assemblage interpretation, and that variations in associations among sites will reflect archaeologically significant aspects of the sites.