Comparer des méthodes

	Nombre minimum d'individus	Nombre de spécimens identifiés
Domaine	Archéologie	Archéologie
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	1953	1971
Auteur d'origine	Theodore White	R. E. Chaplin
Type	Faunal quantification method	Faunal quantification method
Source fondatrice	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.	Chaplin, R. E. (1971). The Study of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites. Seminar Press.
Alias	MNI method, minimum individual number	NISP method, specimen count
Apparentées	4	4
Résumé	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.	Number of identified specimens (NISP) is a fundamental zooarchaeological method that quantifies the abundance of faunal remains by counting all identifiable bone fragments or specimens in an assemblage. Formalized by R. E. Chaplin and later refined by Donald Grayson and others, NISP is the most straightforward and widely used quantification metric in zooarchaeology. Despite its simplicity, NISP is sensitive to both cultural and taphonomic factors that affect preservation, fragmentation, and identification of bone assemblages.