Cut Mark Count Per Bone Tool

Distinguish count per examined bone, marked-bone prevalence and surface-standardized cut-mark density; observed mark identification remains caller supplied, not inferred butchery behavior.

Description

Cut-mark counts, marked-bone prevalence and marks per observable surface measure different aspects of an assemblage.

Cut-mark counts, marked-bone prevalence and marks per observable surface measure different aspects of an assemblage. Reporting all three keeps differences in preservation and specimen size visible.^[1]

Distinguish count per examined bone, marked-bone prevalence and surface-standardized cut-mark density; observed mark identification remains caller supplied, not inferred butchery behavior.

When to use Cut Mark Count Per Bone Tool

Use this tool to distinguish count per examined bone, marked-bone prevalence and surface-standardized cut-mark density; observed mark identification remains caller supplied, not inferred butchery behavior.

Prepare the artifact, site or survey measurements and any independently established calibration or model choices. Keep paired observations aligned and confirm units and coordinate conventions.

How to use Cut Mark Count Per Bone Tool and understand its results

Prepare the artifact, site or survey measurements and any independently established calibration or model choices. Keep paired observations aligned and confirm units and coordinate conventions.
Enter cutMarkCountsByBone, observableSurfaceAreasCm2 using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read meanCutMarksPerExaminedBone, markedBoneFraction, pooledMarksPerObservableCm2. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
cutMarkCountsByBone	Cut mark counts by bone	list of number	Required
observableSurfaceAreasCm2	Observable surface areas cm2	list of number	Required

Pair nonnegative integer cut-mark counts with positive observable areas in cm². Return mean marks per examined bone, the fraction of bones with any marks and pooled marks per observable cm². All-zero counts are valid.

Paired lists must be nonempty and have equal lengths.

mean = Σmarks/bones; marked fraction = count(marks>0)/bones; surface rate = Σmarks/Σarea

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
meanCutMarksPerExaminedBone	Mean cut marks per examined bone	number
markedBoneFraction	Marked bone fraction	number
pooledMarksPerObservableCm2	Pooled marks per observable cm2	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "cutMarkCountsByBone": [
      0,
      2,
      4
    ],
    "observableSurfaceAreasCm2": [
      1,
      2,
      3
    ]
  },
  "output": {
    "meanCutMarksPerExaminedBone": 2,
    "markedBoneFraction": 0.6666666666666666,
    "pooledMarksPerObservableCm2": 1
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Marks must already be identified and samples comparable. The tool does not infer butchery behavior, distinguish mark causes or correct for unavailable bone surfaces.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Numeric lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Bone Root Etching Score Tool: Summarize independently observed root-etching coverage and caller ordinal bands; no automatic mark attribution or physical-damage diagnosis. For a complementary task, use Pathology Prevalence Per Skeleton: Summarize caller-observed skeletal pathology prevalence and Wilson binomial interval on assessable skeletons, retaining unassessable coverage; not living-population disease prevalence or clinical diagnosis.

References

Cut Mark Count Per Bone Tool — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Bone Root Etching Score Tool
Summarize independently observed root-etching coverage and caller ordinal bands; no automatic mark attribution or physical-damage diagnosis.
Pathology Prevalence Per Skeleton
Summarize caller-observed skeletal pathology prevalence and Wilson binomial interval on assessable skeletons, retaining unassessable coverage; not living-population disease prevalence or clinical diagnosis.