Аннотация:Archaeologists have refitted or conjoined fragments of lithic and ceramic artifacts and bones for more than a century. Mechanical refitting involves finding conjoining fragments of an originalentity; refitting offaunal remains also can involve intermembral articulations, neighborhood analysis, and bilateral symmetry. One question that has not previously been raised concerns the size of the area from which possible refitting specimens are drawn. This analytical search radius should be determined by the research question under scrutiny, but in reality it is typically delimited by the extent of excavation within one site. North American elk (Cervus elaphus) remains from two contemporaneous archaeological sites about seven kilometers apart in southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon reveal possible bilateral pairs of astragali within one site and also between the two sites. These pairs suggest within-site/ between-house meat sharing and also between-village meat sharing between ca. AD 1400 and 1800. This finding underscores the critical nature of defining the analytical search radius when refits of any material are sought.
