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Minimum Number of Individuals/Evidence
Method evidence record

Minimum Number of Individuals

Minimum number of individuals (MNI) is a quantitative zooarchaeological method that estimates the minimum number of animals represented in a faunal assemblage based on the frequency of unique skeletal elements. Developed by Theodore White in 1953, it is one of the most widely used techniques for analyzing animal bone assemblages from archaeological sites. The MNI method helps archaeologists understand hunting and butchering patterns, interpret subsistence practices, and assess the diversity of fauna exploited by past human populations.

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Source record

Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.

Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI)
Taxonomic method record · process-pipeline / archaeology
  • White, T. E. (1953). A method of calculating the dietary percentages of various food animals utilized by aboriginal peoples. American Antiquity, 19(4), 396-398. · DOI 10.2307/277116
  • Grayson, D. K. (1984). Quantitative Zooarchaeology. Academic Press. · URL
  • Lyman, R. L. (1994). Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press. · URL
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Related methods

Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.

Same method familyDental Microwear Texture Analysismachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyGeometric Morphometricsmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Taxonomic bucketNumber of Identified Specimensmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Same method familyUse-Wear Analysismachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.

Evidence status

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Bibliographic sources are present. Claim-level evidence review has not been performed.

Sources

3 recorded citations, copied from the method source record.

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