Quantitative methods in funerary archaeoentomology: a systematic literature review protocol v1

This protocol details a systematic literature review search using a three-faceted Boolean search line and a Population - Concept - Context (PCC) model. Step-by-step directions are given for performing the search, auditing the search and extracting data specific to funerary archaeoentomology research. Archaeoentomology specifically applied to mortuary contexts is referred to as funerary archaeoentomology and heavily draws from the principles of forensic entomology (Huchet 2014). Nevertheless, while modern forensic entomology is used to aid legal investigators in determining likely post-mortem intervals or a time of colonization, providing these high-resolution details is beyond the limits of funerary archaeoentomology. Rather, funerary archaeoentomology can be used to estimate the season of burial, identify possible challenges to food security, hindcast past environmental conditions, and compare these historical data with the site’s contemporaneous conditions. A notable contribution here is also a deeper understanding of the mortuary practices of the population being studied (Vanin and Huchet 2017). Blow fly and other calyptrate fly puparia have been used as seasonal indicators of death or interment (Gilbert and Bass 1967, Teskey and Turnbull 1979, Tuccia et al. 2022). Importantly, even well-preserved contexts represent a snapshot of the total entomofauna contemporaneous to the deposit. Further, the volume of insect remains contained within a given site is highly variable. This variability is a challenge for standardizing analysis methods, especially for contexts that yield a relatively low volume of insect data. The objective of this review is to explore the quantitative tools currently used in funerary archaeoentomology and identify areas where traditional statistical approaches used by contemporary entomologists could be employed. As of July 2025, we have not found a systematic or scoping literature review that seeks to answer this question using a search protocol similar to the one detailed below.