Historic England
FISH Archaeological Sciences Thesaurus
Terminology used for recording the techniques, recovery methods and materials associated with archaeological sciences. Maintained by Historic England on behalf of the FISH Terminology Working Group.
Bulk Sampling
Coarse Sieving
The method of retrieving animal remains, artefacts and other remains by dry or wet-sieving whole earth samples, typically over 100 litres, sieved through a 2mm or larger mesh.
C14 Dating
Carbon 14 Dating
Carbon Dating
Radiocarbon Dating
The measurement of the ratio of the radioactive Carbon 14 (C-14) isotope and non-radioactive carbon isotopes. Useful for dating organic materials such as wood and bone between 500 and 45,000 years old.
Carbonised
Charred
Material that has been burnt and at least in part reduced to carbon as a result of burning in a reducing atmosphere below 500 degrees Celsius.
Colored
Coloured
Material with evidence of the application of a pigment or dye.
Cremated
Calcined
Material burnt at high temperature (above 700 degrees Celsius) leaving only the mineral component.
Decoration
Decorated
Use where decoration is present.
Disease
Diseased
Pathology
Use for bone remodelling, new growth, loss or destruction caused by age, activity, disease or trauma during life.
Fossilised
Mineralised
Mineral Replaced
Replacement of organic material by minerals, including calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate.
Microfossils
Phytolith
Microscopic mineral body (usually silica) found in many plants.
S.E.M.
SEM
Scanning Electron Microscopy
A process using an electron microscope in which the surface of the specimen is scanned by a beam of electrons which are reflected to form an image. Very high magnification is possible.
TL Dating
Thermoluminescence
The measurement of the light emitted from sedimentary minerals, mineral inclusions in bricks, burnt flint or unburnt calcite when they are heated. The signal relates to their prior exposure to radioactivity. Used to date samples up to 500,000 years old.
Tool Marks
Tool Marked
Use where evidence of tool marks is present
Tree-Ring Studies
Tree-Ring Analysis
The use of annual incremental growth in temperate trees to investigate environmental, especially local, parameters and the history of individual trees.
Waterlogged
Anoxic
Material preserved by the exclusion of oxygen usually due to saturation with water which inhibits decay by micro-organisms.
XRD
X-Ray Diffraction
A surface technique that uses the diffraction of X-rays to examine the mineral composition of a sample. Useful for identifying corrosion products, pigments etc. but of little use with organic compounds which consist largely of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.
XRF
X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry
A surface technique of spectroscopic analysis which relies on the interaction of primary X-rays with the sample to generate a range of secondary X-rays. These have energies characteristic of the elements present in the sample.
Burnt Deposit
Silicified
Use for material that has been burnt at high temperature in a good air supply such that only the silica component remains.
Burnt
Use for material that has been burnt.
OSL
OSL Dating
Optically Stimulated Luminescence
The light emitted from sedimentary minerals or mineral inclusions in bricks when stimulated in the laboratory by light of a different wavelength. Used to date samples up to 250,000 years old; especially appropriate for geological sediments.
IRSL
IRSL Dating
Infra-Red Stimulated Luminescence
The light emitted from sedimentary minerals or mineral inclusions in bricks when stimulated in the laboratory by infrared light. Used to date samples up to 250,000 years old; especially appropriate for geological sediments containing feldspars
Heavy Residue
Residue
The material that does not float during the floatation of samples as a means of recovering charred plant remains from an archaeological context. Also, the material remaining following wet or dry sieving of course sieved samples.
Archaeozoology
Zooarchaeology
The study of vertebrate remains, excluding human remains, preserved within archaeological deposits and palaeoenvironmental archives. Use archaeomalacology for the study of mollus remains and palaeoentomology for the study of insect remains.
Bioarchaeology
Osteoarchaeology
Human Osteology
The study of human remains preserved within archaeological deposits and palaeoenvironmental archives.
Draught Animals
Traction Animals
Use for presence of animals interpreted as having been used to for traction such as pulling ploughs, carts, carriages or canal boats, or powering mills. Evidence may include species, pathology, archaeological context or material culture.
Pets
Companion Animals
Use for presence of animals interpreted as being kept primarily as companions or for social display rather than as working animals. May include domestic or wild species. Evidence might include depositional context.
Tooth Working
Antler Working
Horn Working
Bone Working
Use for evidence of working of bone, antler, horn or tooth including waste.
Tawning
Tanning
Coppicing
Pollarding
Woodland Management
Use where there is evidence of woodland management, including coppicing and/or pollarding.
Falconry
Hunting And Trapping
Use where there is evidence that hunting or trapping reflects social factors.
Cockfighting
Baiting
Animal Fighting
Use where there is zooarchaeological evidence for animal types, physical modifications or pathologies, or contextual associations, which suggest use of animals for fighting, such as bear-baiting or cockfighting.
Hurdle
Wattle
Use where there are indicators of woven round wood or split lengths of wood, used for example in hurdles or wattle and daub coinstruction.
Cobb
Cob
Walls composed of clay, earth, straw, lime and sand, mixed with water. Constructed without shutters in layers upon a stone or brick plinth and usually covered with protective limewash.
Skin Working
Skin Processing
Use where there is evidence for tanning (could include evidence for use of plant remains such as oak bark or evidence from skeletal element distribution or butchery).
Flax Retting
Retting
Use where remains of flax, hemp, or nettle stems, especially of uniform length, are recovered with or without associated fruiting parts.
Importation
Redistribution
Importation Of Goods
Importation of animals, animal parts, plants, plant parts
Altered By Animals
Modified or damaged by an animal.
Chemically Altered
Material that has been altered as a result of chemical action.
Desiccated
Material preserved due to very low humidity which inhibits decay by micro-organisms.
Fungal Damage
Material that has been damaged by fungal growth or secretions.
Hydrolysis
The chemical breakdown of a material by water.
Impression
The negative trace left by an object type or material (eg. animal, plant or textile) on another object type or material, often on ceramics or metal corrosion products.
Mineral Preserved
Preservation of material by toxic effect of corrosion products in the immediate vicinity, or within, the material.
Plant Damage
Material that has been penetrated or disrupted by the roots or rhizomes of plants.
Waterworn
Material, especially rock, worn smooth by the passage of water.
Modification State
Amino Acid Racemisation
The measurement of chemical alterations in the amino acids in protein molecules from bones, shells and teeth. Date range can be between 1,000 and several million years.
Archaeomagnetism
Measures the remanent magnetisation direction of magnetic minerals. Useful for dating fired structures, in-situ since their last firing, and for sediments settling from non turbulent water bodies. In the UK, calibration data extends back to 1000BC.
Biostratigraphy
A technique in which the date is deduced from the presence of fauna and/or flora considered to be characteristic of a given peirod of time or that gives and indication of a probable date.
Dendrochronology
The measuring of annual tree-ring growth shown by most tree species in temperated regions. Regional chronoliges are required to date any particular piece of wood, the longest of which, for Germany, works for the present to approximately 14,000 yrs ago.
Electron Spin Resonance
The measurement of trapped electrons by exposure to high-frequency electromagnetic radiation. A useful technique for dating tooth enamel, shells, coral and calcite form 5,000-1,000,000 years old.
Fission Track Analysis
A technique for the dating of damage tracks in volcanic materials caused by the fissioning of decaying radioactive uranium (U) isotopes. Useful in samples more than 50,000 years old.
Fluorine, Uranium And Nitrogen Tests
A relative dating technique for assessing bones from the same deposit. Often used to check for contemporaneity of bones selected for radiocarbon dating or to check for hoaxes such as the Piltdown Man.
Lead Isotope Dating
A technique which uses the measurement of decay in radioactive lead (Pb) isotopes to determine a date. Useful for sediments and lead-based paints between 1 and 400 years old.
Mitochondrial Dna Dating
A dating technique for the founding of individual populations based on the assumption of steady rates of mutation in mitochondrial DNA. Sometimes used to produce dates for stratigraphic layers containing fossil specimens of populations.
Obsidian Hydration
A technique used to date obsidian (volcanic glass) of all ages and is thus not commonly used in the UK.
Oxygen Isotope Analysis
The use of oxygen (O) isotope ratios in ice or ocean sediment cores to date global environmental change.
Potassium Argon Dating
The measurement of the ratio of a radioactive potassium (K) isotope and the argon (Ar) gas produced as a by-product of its decay. Useful for dating volcanic material older than 1,000 years.
Tephrochronology
The use of ash and tephra deposits characteristic of single known-date volcanic eruptions to date stratigraphic sequences.
Uranium Series Dating
The measurement of the decay of radioactive uranium (U) isotopes. Particularly useful for dating calcite and sometimes bone, tooth and shell up to 70,000 years old.
Dating Techniques
Techniques applied to a material in order to date it or material associated with it. Use more specific terms.
Ancient Biomolecular Analysis
Characterisation of organic molecules extracted from fossil or sub-fossil materials, including lipids, DNA etc.
Ph Determination
The degree of acidity or alkalinity of a material.
Spot Test
The application of a chemical test to a material, usually as a rapid approximation.
Stable Isotope Analysis
Comparison of different proportions of natural occurring isotopes of lead (Pb), strontium (Sr), oxygen (O), carbon (C) and nitrogen (N).
Gamma Spectrometry
A technique that uses the emission of gamma rays of specific energies to identify the presence and concentration of certain radioactive isotopes in a sample
Alpha Spectrometry
A technique that uses the emission of alpha particles of specific energies to identify the presence and concentration of certain radioactive isotopes in a sample
Peat Humification
A method of determining peat degradation; quantified as the percentage light transmission value of the extracted humic acids, measured at a specific wavelength.
Chemical Techniques
Examination of a material using chemical means.
Antler
Outgrowths of bone borne by most members of the deer family (Cervidae). They are shed and re-grow each year.
Bone
Any of the pieces of hard tissue consisting largely of calcium phosphate that make up the skeleton of a vertebrate animal.
Coprolite
Waste material from the digestive tract of animals. The term coprolite comes from the Greek 'kopros' meaning dung and 'lithos' meaning stone, and is used for faecal matter that has been preserved by mineral replacement or dessication.
Egg Shell
Use for the remains of an egg whether from a bird, reptile or amphibian.
Feather
Use for feathers, an epidermal growth found in birds consisting of a quill, shaft and two vanes of barbs.
Fibre
Use for any thread-like material.
Hair
Use for hair, fur etc: filaments growing out of the outermost layer of mammalian skin.
Leather
Animal skin that has been tanned or tawed.
Pollen
Use for pollen and diaspores. Pollen consists of pollen grains which are the male gametes of flowering plants. Diaspores are the dispersive units of mosses, ferns, fern allies and some plants. To describe the actual object use PLANT REMAINS.
Shell
Use for any shell of an animal, principally, molluscs, crabs etc.
Skin
Use for the remains of epidermis or outermost layer. Relates to both animals and plants. If describing the actual object use PLANT REMAINS, ANIMAL REMAINS or HUMAN REMAINS.
Estuarine Deposit
An alluvial deposit laid down in an estuary.
Tufaceous Deposit
A naturally occuring deposit of calcareous tufa ('shell marl') sometimes found in alluvial deposits.
Peat Deposit
A naturally occurring deposit formed by the decomposition and partial carbonisation of vegetable matter in waterlogged conditions.
Beach Deposit
A deposit formed by wave and tidal action on an estuarine or marine beach.
Brick
Material used for construction, commonly fired in its manufacture.
Pottery
Object produced commonly by firing clay, but can include coarser material to temper it.
Burnt Flint
A form of silica, similar to quartz. Commonly black or white in colour and used for tool manufacture. Flints heated in antiquity may be dated using thermoluminescence.
Biogenic Carbonate
Any carbonate material produced by biological activity, for instance operculae of snails.
Flot
The material which floats during the floatation of samples as a means of recovering charred plant remains from an archaeological context.
Slag
A by-product usually from the smelting process.
Plant Macrofossil
Use for seeds, fruits, buds etc. To describe the actual object use Plant Remains
Material Type
Available Phosphorus Analysis
The analysis of the amount of phosphorus (P) (liable fraction) available to plants.
Inorganic Phosphorus Analysis
The analysis of inorganic phosphorus (P).
Total Phosphorus Analysis
The analysis of organic plus inorganic phosphorus (P).
Soil Phosphorus Analysis
The analysis of the amount of phosphorus (P) present in a soil.
Block Lifting
The removal of fragile or complex remains from an investigation as a block of earth for excavation under laboratory conditions. Typical examples are grave goods and cremation burials.
Flotation
Method used for the recovering of material by floating large whole earth samples, usually between 40-60 litres per context (or 100% if context contains less than this).
Hand Retrieval
The retrieval of material from deposits by hand, normally large objects visible with the naked eye, eg. Mammal remains and marine molluscs.
Specialist Sampling
The recovery of material from samples collected during field investigations, usually taken by specialists with a particular area of expertise. Normally processed in the laboratory. Also use for the processing of samples subsequent to investigation.
Method Of Recovery
Micro-Charcoal
Microscopic charcoal fragments that are concentrated and counted as part of standard pollen preparation techniques.
Charcoal
Wood that has been burnt and largely reduced to carbon as a result of burning in a reducing atmosphere below 500 degress C (Celsius).
Roundwood
Material comprising entrie or partial transverse sections of stems. Bark may be present or not. Can include complete sections of tree trunk but generally comprises smaller (<20cm diameter) material.
Twig
Small (<2cm diameter) roundwood often complete with buds or leaf scars.
Wood
Hard, compact, unprocessed, fibrous cellulose substance. The roots, trunks and branches of trees and shrubs consist of this tissue.
Investigative Techniques
Clast Lithological Analysis
The identification and grouping of stone types in stratigraphy.
Loss On Ignition Determination
The weight loss from low-temperature burning of material. It correlates well with organic matter (material derived from living things) content.
Magnetic Susceptibility
The degree to which a material will become magnetised when placed in a magnetic field.
Micromorphology
The microscopic analysis of thin sections of resin impregnated stratigraphy.
Mineralogy
The study of minerals.
Particle Size Analysis
The analysis of the distribution and proportion of sand, silt and clay in a deposit.
Stratigraphic Description
The careful observation and written description of the physical characteristics of stratigraphy. It will normally include information on texture, colour and the nature of the different components.
X-Radiography
The production of an image on a photographic plate as a result of X-rays (very short wavelength electromagnetic radiation) being passed through an object.
Moisture Content
A measure of the proportion of water within a sample.
Palynology
The study of pollen and non-pollen palyomorphs preserved within deposits, including peat.
Palaeoenvironmental Analysis
The study of biological remains preserved within deposits, including peat.
Diatom Analysis
The study of diatoms preserved in deposits.
Archaeomalacology
The study of mollusca remains preserved within archaeological deposits and palaeoenvironmental archives.
Archaeobotany
The study of plant remains, typically seeds, fruits, wood, leaves etc, preserved within archaeological deposits and palaeoenvironmental archives. Use palynology when pollen and spores are being analysed as opposed to macroscopic plant remains.
Foraminifera Analysis
The study of foraminifera preserved in deposits.
Palaeoentomology
The study of insect remains preserved within archaeological deposits and palaeoenvironmental archives.
Mortar Analysis
Sampling and analysis of historic mortars to determine mortar composition. For radiocarbon dating of organic traces within the mortar (relict mortar fuel), use Radiocarbon Dating.
Archaeometallurgy
The the study of metalworking structures, tools, waste products and finished metal artefacts, from the Bronze Age to the recent past. It can be used in the field and in post excavation to identify and interpret metalworking structures, tools, waste etc.
Physical Techniques
The examination of material by physical means, including detailed observation.
Carved
Worked
Use for any material that shows evidence of modification by humans.
Copper Alloy
Use for a combination (alloy) of two or more different metals where copper (Cu) is the principal component.
Gold
A precious metal characterised by its yellow colour and resistance to tarnishing.
Silver
A precious metal of lustrous, white colour with great malleability and ductility.
Non-Ferrous Metal
Any metal that does not contain the chemical element Iron (Fe) as a principal component.
Ferrous Metal
Any metal prinicipally composed of the chemical element Iron (Fe).
Metal
Class of elements and alloys that are characteristically lustrous, ductile, fusible and malleable. These are extracted from ore minerals originally existing in nature and processed before becoming a recognisable metal.
Manufacturing Debris
Use where the material presents debris or waste from manufacturing.
Human Aspects
Aspects of a material which result from the modification or use of the material by humans.
Aspect
Luminescence Dating
A range of techniques that use the build up of charge stored within a crystalline material to estimate its age
Ivory
Use for a tusk or tooth of a mammal large enough to be carved or used to make objects such as those of mammoths, elephants, walruses and whales.
Tooth
Use for teeth, hard structures found in the jaws of vertebrates used principally for chewing and eating.
Polarised Light Microscopy
Light microscopy in which vibration directions of the light are constrained into single planes.
Microscopy
The use of magnifying equipment to examine materials not visible to the naked eye.
Multi-Element Analysis
Techniques investigating more than one element at a time.
Non-Metric Traits
Use for congenital (present at birth) abnormalities (absent/extra or morphologically unusual features) present in an individual or population.
Natural Aspects
Aspects associated with the genetic make up and/or factors that affected the organism from which the material is derived during its life
Quartz
A mineral composed of SiO2. Commonly clear or milky in appearance. A common constituent of rocks and sediments.
Feldspar
A group of aluminosilicate minerals with varying compositions. The most common mineral in igneous rocks, and common in other rocks and sediments.
Zircon
A mineral of the composition Zr[SiO4]. Commonly brown or yellow in colour. May contain high levels of uranium and thorium. Can be used for dating using luminescence or fission track methods.
Polymineral
A general term to describe a sediment or sample that contains a variety of different minerals.
Geological Sediment
A material composed of mineral grains derived from the breakdown of rocks by environmental processes.
Guard Animals
Use for presence of animals interpreted as performing a guarding function for example, sheep dogs or guard dogs, geese. May be based on morphological characteristics, archaeological context or material culture.
Pack Animals
Use for presence of animals interpreted as having been used to carry loads, for example equids. May be based on species and pathological evidence, or material culture.
Riding Animals
Use for the presence of animals interpreted as having been ridden e.g. horses with pathology or associated with riding paraphernalia.
Animal Roles
Use where there is evidence for specific roles being performed by animals.
Interpretations
Caulking
Use where the presence of mosses, plant or animal fibres is interpreted as caulking material (including oakum, specifally hemp or flax fibres), used to fill gaps between timbers, particularly on ships (Cappers et al 2000), especially from in situ contexts or if coated or impregnated with tar or pitch.
Cereal Thatchng
Non-Cereal Thatching
Use where there heather, turfs or reeds are present and where other proxies or the context suggest the presence of roofing material.
Packing Material
Use where plant material is present in a container (context) or associated with artefacts that suggest it was used as packing.
Turves
Use where indicators of turves are present, including the roots and basal plants of grasses and/ or heathers, Cenococcum sclerotia, and earthworm egg capsules (Hall 2003).
Structural Timber
Evidence for the presence of structural timber. Can include possible re-use as fuel. This interpreatation might be put forward where there is evidence of working and insect infestation.
Cereal Thatching
Use where there is evidence for straw/ whole sheavesand where other proxies or the context suggest the presence of roofing material.
Organic Additive
Use where plant or animal material is visibly contained within a lime based or unbaked clay matrix, such as daub, plaster or cobb (including in situ remains).
Daub
An earth based plaster the mixture of which may contain clay, dung, straw, lime putty, sand or horsehair.
Plaster
A building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster can refer to gypsum plaster (also known as plaster of Paris), lime plaster, or cement plaster. Lime plaster, consisting of lime and sand, is the oldest type of render. Applied externally to walls or onto laths for infill panels and usually limewashed.
Construction Materials
Use where there is evidence materials have been used in construction, including decoration.
Basketry
Use where there is visible indicators of woven plant material indicative of basketry (including matting).
Textile Production
Use where textile production is indicated e.g. by presence of dye plants, stems or bast fibres of textile plants, or animal fibres. May be evidenced through artefacts or archaeological features.
Craft Working
Use where there is evidence for the use of plants and animals in the manufacture of objects. Use more specific terms where known.
Wood Working By-Product
Use where there is evidence of wood chips, off cuts or other by-products of wood working.
Wood Working Product
Use where there is evidence of tool marks, turned wood and other indicators of working but not necessarily obviously objects/artefacts.
Wood Working
Use where there is general evidence for wood working. Use a narrow term where possible
Kitchen Waste
Use where remains suggest discard during the preparation of food. Evidence might include animal species, butchery mark and skeletal representation profiles, and/or archaeological context.
Stable Waste
Use where there is evidence for a mixture of animal bedding and dung.
Structured Deposition
Use where remains, including Associated Bone Groups (ABGs), in their own right, or in association with other remains indicate carefully considered placement, suggesting the act of depositing the material held significance to those involved. Use for deliberate deposits in sacred spaces.
Table Waste
Use where remains suggest discard following consumption rather than during the preparation of food. Evidence might include animal species, butchery mark and skeletal representation profiles, and/or archaeological context.
Sewage
Human waste, often in association with other refuse and liquid. Use where mineralised or waterlogged plants and/or invertebrate and other remains such as highly fragmented bone, partially digested bone, mineral concretions or coprolites, indicate sewage.
Natural Plant Accumulation
Use for non-anthropogenic accumulations of plants, for example pitfalls, natural infilling, vegetation succession, peat growth.
Natural Faunal Accumulation
Use where local habitat characteristics or site use are interpreted from non-anthropogenic accumulation of animals, for example pitfall, predator or littoral accumulations.
Deposition
Use for the deposition of material that has a documented signature in the archaeological record. Can include both natural deposition or depostion by people or other organisms.
Dairying
Use where remains suggest husbandry of mammals for milk production. Evidence may include species and age profiles in bone assemblage or material culture including its chemical analysis.
Egg Production
Use where remains suggest husbandry of birds for egg production. Evidence may include eggshell from domestic species, or sex profile of domestic bird bone assemblage.
Fodder Production
Use where there is clear evidence for the production of fodder. Use hay where this is indicated and stable waste where the remains of animal bedding and animal dung are present.
Manuring
Use where manuring is interpreted on the basis of arable weed assemblage (Stroud et al 2024) and/or stable crop isotopes (Fraser et al 2011).
Meat Production
Use where meat production is interpreted as a primary economic focus for species which may have multiple functions or products e.g. sheep, rabbits, pigeons.
Nutritional Stress
Use where palaeopathological evidence suggests nutritional stress within human or animal populations.
On-Site Breeding
Use where evidence of foetal or neonatal animals or of hatched domestic eggshell suggests local breeding of livestock.
Selective Breeding
Use where there is evidence for change in size and shape or other characteristics (e.g. coat colour), through intended manipulation or introductions.
Transhumance
Use where there is evidence for the seansonal movement of livestock across a landscape. Evidence may include animal species, bone morphology and biochemistry, or archaeological features.
Wool Production
Use where remains suggest husbandry of sheep for wool production. Evidence may include age or sex profiles of sheep remains.
Husbandry
Use where the remains of plants and animals indicate husbandry regimes, including the care and raising of animals and the cultivation of plants for food and other uses. Use a narrow term where possible.
Fungal Infestation
Use when ergot or other fungi are present and associated with a particular taxa.
Insect Infestation
Use when either the remains of insect pests are presencet or there is clear evidence of their presence such as holes or frass
Infestation
Use where there is clear evidence of the presence of pests or other detrimental organisms.
Brewing
Use where brewing waste and/or the presence of beer additives are present after K E Behre (1999). Use malting where sprouted grain or detached sprouts are present.
Cereal Processing By-Product
Crop Processing By-Product
Use where there is evidence for use (eg as fuel, temper, thatch, fodder) or discard of crop processing by-products including cultivated legumes, fibre crops and cereals (especially from early crop processing stages, or of free-threshing varieties).
Cereal Processing Product
Crop Processing Product
Use where crop product (the seeds, grain etc) is present with an absence or rarity of chaff, pods, stems, or arable weed seeds, suggesting crops arrived or were stored in a processed state.
Malting
Use for the remains of sprouted grain and/or large numbers of detached coleoptiles (comings) are present. Van der Veen (1987) suggests a percentage of sprouted grain >75% can be taken as conclusive, though lower percentages may be more typical.
Bone Processing
Use where there is evidence for the extraction of non-muscle meat components from bones, e.g. marrow, fats, collagen, including soup kitchen assemblages.
Food Preservation
Use where there is evidence for the preservation of food, including salting, smoking, drying of meat or fish.
Roasting
Use for evidence of roasting meat, nuts etc including in situ deposits.
Processing
Use where there is evidence for the processing of plants and animals to produce different types of product. Use terms under craft working where manufacture of objects is evidenced.
Feasting
Use where evidence suggests consumption of unusual or high-status foods, or of a large quantity of foods, suggestive of social activity rather than everyday sustenance. Evidence may also come from archaeological context or associated finds.
Funerary Use
Use for pyre material, pyre goods, grave goods or components.
Seasonality
Use where there is evidence for activities happening at a particular time of year (season).
Social Differentiation
Use where there is evidence that allows the distinction of social status, e.g. elite, ecclesiastical, impoverished.
Storage
Use where storage of material is implied, usually due to association of context (eg granary structure, storage jar, storage pit) and assemblage composition (eg processed product, or by-product), and possibly including evidence of pests of storage.
Medicinal Use
Use where plants or animal parts have been interpreted as used for medicinal purposes by the specialist, because of context or associated finds, or because of concentrations of a limited range of taxa with known properties.
Social Behaviour
Use where the remains of plants and animals can be interpreted as evidence for a specific social behaviour.
Charcoal Production
Evidence for the on-site production of charcoal from wood, traditionally made in pits or in stacks. Primarily charcoal would have been used as fuel, but also used for other purposes e.g. gunpowder.
Fuel Use
Evidence of combustible material, usually wood, peat or turf, being used as fuel. Information on the types and potential sourcing of these materials can include, wood type use and selection preferences, and local availability.
Gathering
Use when there is clear evidence for gathered plants due to the taxon (taxa) being found in a particular context such as a container or in significant concentrations.
Hay
Use where the distinctive flora associated with traditionally managed hay meadows has been found in association, including Rhinanthus minor, Leucanthemum vulgare, Centaurea nigra, Sanguisorba officinalis, Filipendula ulmaria and various grasses.
Peat Burning
Use where peat or sods (turf) has been used as fuel.
Wild Plant Use
Use where there is evidence for the use of wild resources by people as opposed to evidence for the presence of a particular type of habitat or vegetation.