Animal Skeleton Reconstruction(opens in a new tab)
When archaeologists find an assemblage of bones from the same animal (or human) they can often reconstruct and analyse the skeleton. From this they can determine many different things (depending on how complete the skeleton is, its condition etc.). such as the species, age at death, the health of the animal, why it died. It is also possible, through scientific tests, such radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis, to identify where an animal was reared and/or when they died. This type of information can help us understand the types of environments present in the past, what activities humans were undertaking (i.e. farming) and what their diet was like for example. In this activity you will have a go at reconstructing different types of animal skeletons.