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Carbonised and calcined animal bones are regularly present in archaeological contexts. If they appear in combination with human burial sites, especially cremations, their function as food offerings is a safe guess. The occurrence of burnt animal bones in only small quantities rarely causes debate, as faunal remains usually come into contact with heat during food preparation for example cooking over an open fire or in an oven, resulting in partial carbonisation which can extend to the complete destruction of the organic components (calcination). However, if burned and calcined bones are present in unusually high proportions, they often provoke the impression that they are the relics of religious acts, e.g. ritual feasts or burning sacrifices. This study uses the faunal remains from two Bronze to Iron Age sites in the Jtilicher Borde (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) to demonstrate that not only the location and situation of the deposit, but also, in particular, the distribution of burning traces on the various skeletal elements found in the different animal species, can provide important information about profane or religiously motivated deposition.

This paper presents the latest results of archaeological research in Epigravettian deposits of Blazi Cave in north-central Albania. This Epigravettian site is the first of its kind in Albania with a large sample of stone artifacts, faunal remains and dating material. The study material stems from the last remaining Late Pleistocene deposits in this cave and therefore characterizes the site in its totality. AMS C-14 dates place the cultural layers between 18 and 17 ka cal. BP. This age model coupled with the density of anthropogenic remains attests an intensive use of the shelter by hunter-gatherers in the final phase of the Last Glacial Maximum. The radiocarbon results place the Blazi data into the early phase of the Late Adriatic Epigravettian complex. This chronology is corroborated by certain technological and typological traits identified within the stone tool sample. Analysis of the faunal remains suggests a repeated use of the shelter in the warmer summer period. Blazi Cave functioned as a specialized ibex hunting site and therefore fits into a larger complex of task localities in the wider region. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.