Differential diagnosis in archaeology

Diagnosing archaeological bone specimens can be likened to practices used in medical and veterinary medical health care. Increasing the rigor of archaeological diagnosis can be supported by a systematic approach derived from health care settings. The process of information synthesis and diagnosis can be viewed as being very similar among these disciplines. A first diagnostic step is developing an Initial Information Set (sometimes called an Initial Database in health care environments) from descriptive data about the archaeological specimen or the patient, accompanied by recording environmental and ecological observations. The second diagnostic step is to develop an Expanded Information Set that includes structured physical examination, constructing a problem list, and considering potential differential diagnoses for each recorded problem. Subsequently, a Diagnostics Information Set consists of outcomes of carefully selected diagnostic testing, and a Diagnostic Assessment is developed from an orderly mental synthesis of information across Information Sets. Critical aspects of a structured and orderly process are preparing inclusive differential diagnoses, thorough mental synthesis across Information Sets, and recognizing that a short list of the most plausible diagnostic alternatives may represent the furthest possible extent of the evaluation for many archaeological bone specimens.