J Archaeol Sci 35 (6)

Cutmarks found on the fossilised bones of butchered animals provide direct evidence for the procurement of meat through technological means. As such, they hold some of the oldest available information on cognitive ability and behaviour in human evolution. The authors present a new method that allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of cutmark morphology and the quantification of profile parameters. They have tested this new technique on cutmarks that were experimentally inflicted on a pig rib using a steel knife and an un-retouched flint flake at different angles. The method allows for the cross-sectional shape, the sharpness and depths of the resulting cutmarks to be quantified. The data show that knife mark sections are characterised by a V-shape or √-shape depending on the inclination of the knife. Cutmarks produced with the flint flake were less clearly defined and generally less sharp than those produced by the knife. They discuss the method's potential to provide new information on butchery technique and cognitive abilities developed by the human lineage, from the earliest tool-using hominins through to modern Homo sapiens.

Injuries classified as parry fractures, normally the result of a direct blow when the forearm is raised to shield the face, are significant in bioarchaeological interpretations because the parry fracture is perceived as an indicator of interpersonal (or extramural) violence.The author argues that it is therefore necessary that these injuries be correctly identified in order to properly interpret the trauma pattern and its social implications for abuse, gender and power relations among ancient people. Common acute forearm fractures are reviewed and quantitative guidelines that define the parry fracture configuration are presented. The parry criteria include: (1) an absence of radial involvement, (2) a transverse fracture line, (3) a location below the midshaft (<0.5 adjusted distance to the lesion's center), and (4) either minor unalignment (<10°) in any plane or horizontal apposition from the diaphysis (<50%). A sample of 278 adults from northern Sudan dated to the Nubian Bronze Age (ca. 2500--1500 BC) contained thirty-eight individuals with forearm fractures. Of these fractures, twenty-one out of the twenty-eight ulna injuries were identified as parry fractures using the parry criteria. Fewer females suffered from parry fractures than when ulna injuries were identified by location on the ulna alone. The use of the parry criteria may not always affect the results significantly, but here interpersonal violence directed against women and amongst ancient Nubians was found to be less prevalent than implied in earlier studies. The absence of perimortem parry fractures suggests that the Kermans interred within mass burials were not physically forced to their graves. Chronic ulna stress fractures associated with sports and habitual activities must also be considered as a differential diagnosis of this injury.