Meat Weight Utility Index

Combine measured element-associated meat/marrow mass using caller weighting and normalize to maximum; these are model utility scores, not recovered food yield or behavioral preference.

Description

Meat and marrow utility indices compare supplied element-associated resources on a chosen weighting basis.

Meat and marrow utility indices compare supplied element-associated resources on a chosen weighting basis. Normalization to the largest score makes relative values visible without claiming actual food recovery.^[1]

Combine measured element-associated meat/marrow mass using caller weighting and normalize to maximum; these are model utility scores, not recovered food yield or behavioral preference.

When to use Meat Weight Utility Index

Use this tool to combine measured element-associated meat/marrow mass using caller weighting and normalize to maximum; these are model utility scores, not recovered food yield or behavioral preference.

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 Meat Weight Utility Index 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 elementMeatMassesKg, elementMarrowMassesKg, callerMarrowUtilityWeight using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read combinedUtilityMassesKg, maximumNormalizedUtilityPercentages. 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
elementMeatMassesKg	Element meat masses kg	list of number	Required
elementMarrowMassesKg	Element marrow masses kg	list of number	Required
callerMarrowUtilityWeight	Caller marrow utility weight	number	Required

Pair nonnegative meat and marrow masses in kg and supply a nonnegative marrow weight. At least one combined utility must be positive. Return combined scores and percentages normalized to the largest, which therefore receives 100.

Paired lists must be nonempty and have equal lengths.

utility_i = meat_i + marrowWeight × marrow_i; normalizedPercent_i = 100 utility_i/max utility

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

Output field	Meaning	Value type
combinedUtilityMassesKg	Combined utility masses kg	list of number
maximumNormalizedUtilityPercentages	Maximum normalized utility percentages	list of number

json

{
  "input": {
    "elementMeatMassesKg": [
      1,
      3,
      0
    ],
    "elementMarrowMassesKg": [
      1,
      0,
      1
    ],
    "callerMarrowUtilityWeight": 2
  },
  "output": {
    "combinedUtilityMassesKg": [
      3,
      3,
      2
    ],
    "maximumNormalizedUtilityPercentages": [
      100,
      100,
      66.66666666666667
    ]
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Resource masses and weighting are supplied model inputs. The index does not establish consumption, transport preference, nutritional adequacy or recovered food yield.

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 Withers Height Long Bone Factor: Apply caller taxon/element-specific animal long-bone calibration with offsets/residual sigma; no embedded species coefficients or human stature inference, and residual bounds exclude length/calibration parameter uncertainty. For a complementary task, use MNI From Elements: Take maximum element-specific individual lower bounds from caller nonduplicated age/side/diagnostic strata; MNI depends on pooling and identified copies, not raw fragmented NISP.

References

Meat Weight Utility Index — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Withers Height Long Bone Factor
Apply caller taxon/element-specific animal long-bone calibration with offsets/residual sigma; no embedded species coefficients or human stature inference, and residual bounds exclude length/calibration parameter uncertainty.
MNI From Elements
Take maximum element-specific individual lower bounds from caller nonduplicated age/side/diagnostic strata; MNI depends on pooling and identified copies, not raw fragmented NISP.