Fish have a markedly different skeleton to mammals. Many of the bones are very small and thin, and so do not survive very well on archaeological sites. However, some bones are commonly preserved, notably the jaws and some other head bones, otoliths and the centra of vertebrae. They usually accumulate in refuse deposits and may be interpreted in terms of diet and fishing on the site or in the area that supplied it.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied