A total of 112 individuals representing 21 species was identified from the faunal assemblage from the 1985 excavations of the Fredricks site. A full listing of the faunal remains making up this assemblage is provided in Table 13.
Thirty-two percent of the identified individuals were fish. One of these was gar, one was sucker, and the remaining 34 were catfish. Catfish was the most abundant species in the assemblage.
Only one frog bone was identified in the 1985 assemblage, representing 0.9% of the individuals. No other amphibian remains were identified.
Reptiles accounted for 10 individuals, or 8.9% of the total number of individuals. The majority of the 1,438 fragments identified as reptile were small pieces of turtle carapace. Because of the highly fragmentary nature of these remains, it is likely that the minimum number of turtles underestimates the actual number of individuals in the assemblage. Box turtle was represented by a minimum of eight individuals, whereas snapping turtle and painted turtle were each represented by one individual. Seven elements were identified as belonging to snake but could not be identified as to species.
Birds accounted for 17.8% of the individuals in the assemblage. Two of these individuals were passenger pigeons, two were members of the family Fringillidae (sparrows), and one was of the family Picidae (woodpeckers). Fifteen of the birds identified were turkeys. A count of spurs indicates that at least three of these individuals were males.
Just over 79% of the bone fragments were identified as mammal. A majority of these fragments appeared to be from the long bones of large mammals such as bear or deer and could not be identified beyond this level. About 40% of the individuals in the assemblage were identified as mammals. Deer, with a minimum of 24 individuals, accounted for over 20% of the individuals identified in the 1985 assemblage. Squirrel, represented by nine individuals, was the second-most numerous mammal. Although a minimum of four white-footed deer mice was identified, it is likely that these animals were intrusive in the deposits in which they were found. A minimum of three individuals identified as black bear was represented in the assemblage. All other mammals identified, namely opossum, raccoon, short-tailed shrew, indeterminate rodent, and one individual belonging to the family Canidae (dog, wolf, fox) were represented by only one individual each. No European-introduced species were identified in this assemblage.
Although a minimum of 24 deer was identified in the 1985 faunal assemblage, only seven mandibles were complete enough to age using Severinghaus's (1949) method based on tooth development and wear. Using this technique, it was determined that one of the individuals was between the ages of 13 and 17 months and another between 17 and 20 months at the time of death. One individual was approximately 3-1/2 years old, three were approximately 4-1/2 years old, and one was approximately 6-1/2 years old. Using Edwards et al.'s (1982) criteria for pelvic suture closure, it was also possible to determine that one individual was less than one year old at the time of death.
Ten innominates and innominate fragments were complete enough to permit the use of Edwards et al.'s (1982) method for determining sex of the deer. Of the seven individuals represented by these innominates, three were females and four were males.
The age of black bears can be determined using Marks and Erickson's (1966) technique based on epiphyseal closure. Using this technique, it is apparent that the three individuals represented in the 1985 assemblage were each at least five years old. Using Carson's (1961) method for determining the age of squirrels (also based on epiphyseal closures) it was determined that at least four of the nine squirrels were a minimum of 33 weeks old. The age of raccoons can be determined using tooth wear criteria (Grau et al. 1970); however, no raccoon mandibles were recovered.
A total of 85 bones and bone fragments exhibited cut marks. The majority of these marks (n=64) were observed on deer bones. Cut marks were also present on bone fragments identified as bear (five fragments), turkey (13 fragments), and indeterminate mammal (three fragments). All of the marks on the deer and bear bones were consistent with the description provided of the cuts produced during the skinning and butchering of the animals at the Eschelman site in Pennsylvania (Guilday et al. 1962). Only four of the 13 turkey bones exhibiting cut marks were consistent with those found at the Eschelman site. It was hypothesized that the absence of cuts on such elements as the femora, innominates, dorsal vertebrae, and sternums indicated that the turkey carcasses were probably boiled to remove the meat (Guilday et al. 1962:80). Three femora, four humeri, and two carpometacarpuses from the Fredricks site exhibited cuts, possibly indicating that meat was stripped from the bones rather than boiled off.
Only a very few fragments of worked bone were present in the 1985 faunal assemblage. These consisted of the bone handles of several European knives, one awl of European manufacture, and two pieces of a highly polished deer ulna awl of aboriginal manufacture. Other fragments of worked bone recovered were: one small, polished fragment of deer antler; one pointed and slightly polished splinter of long bone from a large bird (probably turkey); and one polished splinter of long bone from an indeterminate mammal.