Etica protestante esperito e de captalismo

Journal of Archaeological Science 34 (2007) 613e625 http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Pleistocene micromammals from Wonderwerk Cave,
South Africa: practical issues
D.M. Avery
Iziko South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
Received 3 May 2006; received in revised form 30 June 2006; accepted 5 July 2006

Abstract
The combination of large samples and broken material raises practical issues and potential problems that may be undetectable in smaller samples. Informal identification keys are provided to indicate the types of non-dental features that may be usefully employed when standard features are not present. This process has so far been taken to the generic level. The ratio of minimum numbers of individuals based on mandibles alone (MD) to those obtained using mandibles and maxillae (MNI) varies from 0.59 in Gerbillinae to 0.97 in Macroscelididae, thereby demonstrating that counting only mandibles will skew sample structure. Differential difficulty of identification at lower taxonomic levels, combined with differential susceptibility to breakage, also influences the likelihood that the proportional representation of taxa will be correct.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pleistocene; Micromammals; Identification; MNIs

1. Introduction
As early as 1941 Malan and Cooke were able to state that
Wonderwerk Cave (27 50 0 4500 S: 23 33 0 1900 E), some 45 km south of Kuruman in what is now the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, ‘has long been known as a site at which prehistoric rock paintings occur’ (Malan and Cooke, 1941: 300).
Subsequently, Wonderwerk has become increasingly recognized for its long sequence of artefacts, fossils and environmental information (Avery, 1981, 1995; Beaumont, 1979,
1982, 1990, 2004; Camp, 1948; Humphreys and Thackeray,
1983; Malan and Wells, 1943; Thackeray, 1984; Van Zinderen
Bakker, 1982). Particularly important is the sequence of Middle Pleistocene fossils, which is