Faunal Remains

The quantity of bone and shell material recovered at Howick is very small. In spite of the extensive excavations and careful recovery techniques used, including systematic flotation, the total haul of bone is approximately 1075 pieces, the great majority being broken fragments less than 5mm. This is a meagre collection by any standards and reflects highly unfavourable conditions of bone preservation resulting from the relatively acidic pH of the soil. Most pieces cannot be identified even to anatomical element, let alone to species or even to more general taxonomic categories, and this, together with the very small number of identifiable