J Archaeol Sci 29 (9)

Suggests that an abundance of wings relative to other skeletal parts has been observed in avifaunal assemblages from many different types of archaeological sites from numerous locations around the world and of various time periods. One explanation is differential survival of avian elements due to bone density. Although bone density has not been systematically measured for all types of birds, this hypothesis is tested using predictions derived from observations about the functional anatomy of birds using archaeological data from numerous sites in the Pacific Northwest Coast (USA). Concludes that the density hypothesis is not supported at these sites, and that other hypotheses must be examined further.