Using burned animal bone to look at Middle Stone Age occupation and behavior

Studies on burned bone have rarely been applied in understanding the human behavior behind the burning of animal remains. The Middle Stone Age faunal assemblage from Sibudu Cave (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) contains a very high proportion of burned bones. Based on previous experimental studies, a system of recording important aspects of burned bone was developed and applied to a sample of contexts from Sibudu Cave. The results produced a picture of the nature of burned bone from hearths, and described the bone from other features and general layers. It is believed that the bone at Sibudu was systematically being discarded into fires and burned, and additional material was burned by buried bones coming into contact with hearths. Additional actualistic work is needed to complete our understanding of archaeological burned bones. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.