Identification of fish bones - How certain is it?

This paper emphasizes the need for any archaeozoological specimen to be identified not only as a function of its origin but also in relation to the degree of certainty in its assignment. It is argued that only in this way one can eventually reach an objective framework for intra- and interspecific sample comparisons of subfossil bone assemblages. A system of numerical codes is proposed whose feasability and advantages are discussed with the help of several fish bone assemblages from Israel.