[Herbert C. Kraft et al. (1994)] With seasonal freezing and thawing in the northeastern United States, clay soils expand and contract, thus moving faunal remains horizontally and vertically. This movement abrades and wears the faunal remains causing rounding and flaking. Therefore, the state of preservation of the shell specimen is an exception. I welcome any suggestions of explanations from readers of this paper. I hope that this paper will encourage others to report additional instances of exceptional preservation of faunal remains recovered from the northeast United States. Biological, cultural, environmental, and analytical factors are responsible for preservation biases of faunal remains from this region (Dirrigl 1991). Not until the importance of collecting taphonomic data at the recovery of faunal specimens is recognized by archaeologists, will interpretations of zooarchaeological assemblages become more meaningful. Archaeological Research Specialists recognized this importance of gathering taphonomic data and invited me to take part in the Phase II testing after they began recovering faunal remains. Too often, archaeological groups remove, clean, package, and send faunal specimens to analysts after excavation is completed with a request for a species list for a report. Rarely are zooarchaeologists consulted at the planning stages and throughout the excavation. For these reasons, much of the taphonomic information vital to interpreting human subsistence behavior is lost. Reitz et al.