[Bonetools] Session for ICAZ 2027

[Alice Choyke]

Dear Jie,
      I am very pleased to hear from you. I was quite worried about not
having Chinese material for this  proposed topic, especially for your
Neolithic and BA materials. These problems are universal but each region
and time period will have its own characteristics.

Best,
Alice


On Wed, Jul 1, 2026, 23:03 Jie Shen <jieshen9 at stanford.edu> wrote:

> Dear Alice,
>
> Thank you for proposing such a meaningful and pratical session. I would be
> very interested to join in since I'm a worked bone scholar with limited
> training in zooarchaeology. The collaboration between me and other
> zooarchaeologists are necessary but we usually do out work separately and
> lack of instant communication. I have noticed how the gap between our
> workflows and research focus may cause waste of time in repeated work in
> identification and data entry, or lead to missing some point becuase of
> lacking knowledge in both side. Please let us know when the paper
> submission is open and I would love to contribute to the session.
>
> Best,
> Jie
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Bonetools <bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu> on behalf of Alice
> Choyke <choyke at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 30, 2026 10:51
> *To:* ZOOARCH <ZOOARCH at jiscmail.ac.uk>; Mailing list for archaeologists
> of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler.
> ivory and horn. <bonetools at listserv.niif.hu>
> *Subject:* [Bonetools] Session for ICAZ 2027
>
> Dear Colleagues,     It is with great pleasure that I can announce that
> our session:  'The case of the missing waste bone data: Workflow gaps
> inrecognizing hard osseous manufactured material'  has been accepted by the
> scientific committee
> Dear Colleagues,
>     It is with great pleasure that I can announce that our session:
>  '*The case of the missing waste bone data: Workflow gaps in**recognizing
> hard osseous manufactured material'*
> has been accepted by the scientific committee for the next ICAZ meeting in
> 2027 in Vancouver Canada.  A number of us have felt frustrated by the lack
> of coordination between faunal analysts and specialists in worked bone as
> concerns identification of waste bone from manufacturing - among
> other problems. We are expecting papers from people who have found
> solutions to this common problems as well as hearing from specialists who
> are still wrestling with the problem.
>      We see this session as more of a brain-storming opportunity with the
> aim of ultimately producing a reference book to help faunal analysts
> recognize waste bone. The long version of the abstract I submitted to ICAZ
> is copied below.
>
> Best,
> Alice Choyke
>
> *The case of the missing waste bone data: Workflow gaps in *
>
> *recognizing hard osseous manufactured material *
>
>
>
> This methodological, hybrid session aims at improving cooperation between
> bone tool specialists and general faunal analysts. The goal is to create an
> open-source, downloadable, digital identification book, available to all
> academic, archaeology-related institutions. Ideally, access to this
> reference book should help faunal analysts to recognize less obvious, bone
> fragments that are likely associated with manufacturing activities as well
> as very fragmented pieces of worked bone. Since what constitutes worked
> bone and manufacturing will differ significantly depending on geographical
> location, time-period and degree of serial, industrial production the
> reference book will need to be continually revised.
>
> In the best of all possible worlds, these two groups of specialists work
> together in an organic fashion. However, Although there are places where
> faunal analysts and specialists in worked hard osseous materials work
> together organically as a team, the stark reality is that financial and
> time constraints often, make such direct cooperation difficult. Debris from
> manufacturing can be very difficult to recognize. Furthermore, the presence
> of very fragmented or unusually used objects can also be signaled by the
> presence of macroscopically visible areas of polish from heavy use or even
> ritual handling of bone which was essentially unworked (or only
> minimally worked). Such objects must be properly identified during
> microscopic analysis, but their surfaces often have visible polish or minor
> (but sometimes very specific) modifications, visible at low magnifications,
> which can
> provide grounds for their preliminary classification.
>
> The session would revolve around developing general protocols to define
> what both groups of specialists would be interested in adding to their
> research repertoire and different possibilities of transmitting basic
> know-how between these two tightly related fields. Papers should be kept
> short and be closely concerned with what waste bone from manufacturing
> sequences looks like in their research area
>
> Possible points to cover:
>
> 1. Recognition/identification of waste and worked hard osseous material.
>
> a. What type of tool marks are associated with bone tool reduction and
> where are they typically located?
>
> b. How can these marks be distinguished from butchery marks and taphonomic
> damage (or can they be)?
>
> c. What is the best way to disseminate this information?
>
> d. What kind of information about worked hard osseous materials would be
> of most practical use to faunal analysts?
>
> 2. When there is no bone tool specialist - what minimal but basic
> information do zooarchaeologists need to take into account about the
> worked hard osseous materials they find in the faunal sample?
>
> 3. How should worked bone specialists organize their workflow in the
> absence of a zooarchaeologist?
>
> 4. Structural, storage problems with separation of small finds assemblages
> and objects found in the faunal assemblage.
>
> 5. How can the study of worked hard osseous material be included in
> zooarchaeology courses?
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