Recent Research

During 1977 the faunal material from the Rotokura excavations was shifted from the Nelson Provincial Museum to the Archaeological Laboratory of the Otago University Anthrology Department. The material has been stored at the Nelson Provincial Museum for some years. Only some of it had been sorted and this had been sent to Mr R. Scarlett of the Canterbury Museum. The bird bone identifications made by Scarlett are used here, but the sea mammal identifications have been done by Ian Smith, the dog bone by Jane Teal and Dr P. Houghton has studied the human remains. The fish bone was identified by Paul Wernham, supervised by Dr B. F. Leach, using the comparative collections at the Archaeological Laboratory, Otago University. Identifications of the fish species were made using five of the cranial bones and some other special bones such as the spine of the leather jacket (Navodon convexirostris).

Minimum numbers for each species of fish were calculated on the basis of the identifications. The maximum minimum number for each species is simply the largest minimum number achieved for any anatomical element, left or right. It is possible that using only cranial bones for identification there is a risk of generating biased data as a result of "various cultural practices related to preparation of fish by prehistoric people such as filleting, and also by techniques of preservation to overcome winter shortages" (B. F. Leach n.d.).