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· Explain in your own words how to determine the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) from a collection of bones.

With a basic understanding of human anatomy, it is quite simply to identify the minimum number of individuals (MNI) that a site holds. The easiest way to do this is to total up the number of each type of bone present on the site. You must be sure to separate right and left sides of the body. Once you have done that, look and see which type of bone has the most fossils assigned to it. This will give you the MNI for the site. If for example a site contains 10 radii, six hyoids, and two patellae, you can not say that the MNI is 10. If it turns out all the radii are left and right pairs then the radii indicate five individuals. You would conclude that the MNI for the site is six, because hyoids are not paired.

· Explain how a sample of assorted skeletal remains from a large number of people from an ancient population, as was found at Sima de los Huesos, can provide more information about that ancient population than the remains of just one person, even if the remains of the one person are more complete.

The large number of remains present allows researchers to do many different things that they would not be able to do with one specimen. For example, it will allow the researchers to determine average sizes of various bones including cranial capacities for the individuals present so that outliers (larger or smaller individuals) are not mistakenly identified as new species. It also allows for a bigger picture of what the population may have looked like and the variety within the population.

Additionally, it allows the researchers to come up with new study questions regarding the population that have found. Questions regarding inequality within bands and the type of life they may have led are more easily answered when you have a population to draw from. For example, if the researchers at Sima de los Huesos found only one individual with multiple skull fractures the may have thought he was an anomaly and that most individuals did not survive with such extensive injuries. However, the presence of multiple skull fractures without arm fractures have led to further research questions about life in caves as opposed to warfare.