Early hominid hunting,butchering, and carcass-processing behaviors: Approaches to the fossil record

A major aim of paleoanthropology is to learn what ancient behaviors were related to the acquisition, processing, and consumption of meat and when these behaviors arose. For this reason, studies focusing on purported early hominid hunting and butchery sites are important if rigorous criteria for recognizing such sites are used. Different criteria currently used as evidence of hominid involvement with ancient bones are reviewed and it is concluded that the presence of cutmarks, verified by scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspection, is the most reliable. Successful application of this criterion depends upon a thorough knowledge of the normal variations in microscopic morphology of different types of marks that are found on bones. Therefore, variations in microscopic and gross morphology within and among a large sample of known stone tool cutmarks, carnivore tooth scratches, and rodent gnawing marks are documented. The effects of sedimentary abrasion, as caused by fluvial transport of bones, are also presented. Guidelines are presented for using microscopic criteria to identify unknown marks on fossils and possible applications of this approach are discussed. Further, it is suggested that evidence of hominid carcass-processing activities can be placed into one of three ranked categories of certainty according to the type of data used. Explicitly stating the category and type of evidence used to deduce hominid activities, and by extension to define site types (i.e., butchery, kill, base camp), may improve the clarity of hypotheses about and interpretations of early hominid behaviors.     

Identifying the Involvement of Multiple Carnivore Taxa with Archaeological Bone Assemblages

Information on the number of carnivore taxa that were involved with archaeological bone assemblages is pertinent to questions of site formation, hominid and carnivore competition for carcasses and the sequence of hominid and carnivore activity at sites. A majority of early archaeological bone assemblages bear evidence that both hominids and carnivores removed flesh and/or marrow from the bones. Whether flesh specialists (felids) or bone-crunchers (hyaenas), or both, fed upon the carcasses is crucial for deciphering the timing of hominid involvement with the assemblages. Here we present an initial attempt to differentiate the tooth mark signature inflicted on bones by a single carnivore species versus multiple carnivore taxa. Quantitative data on carnivore tooth pits, those resembling a tooth crown or a cusp, are presented for two characteristics: the area of the marks in millimetres, and the shape as determined by the ratio of the major axis to the minor axis of the mark. Tooth pits from bones modified by extant East African carnivores and latex impressions of tooth pits from extinct carnivore species are compared to those in the FLK Zinjanthropus bone assemblage. Data on tooth mark shape indicate greater variability in theZinj sample than is exhibited by any individual extant or extinct carnivore species in the comparative sample. Data on tooth mark area demonstrate that bone density is related to the size of marks. Taken together, these data support the inference that felids defleshed bones in the Zinj assemblage and that hyaenas had final access to any grease or tissues that remained.     

Taphonomy of ungulate ribs and the consumption of meat and bone by 1.2-million-year-old hominins at Olduvai Gorge,Tanzania

The phenomenon of equifinality complicates behavioral interpretations of faunal assemblages from contexts in which Pleistocene hominins are suspected bone accumulators. Stone tool butchery marks on ungulate fossils are diagnostic of hominin activities, but debate continues over the higher-order implications of butchered bones for the foraging capabilities of hominins. Additionally, tooth marks imparted on bones by hominins overlap in morphology and dimensions with those created by some non-hominin carnivores, further confounding our view of early hominins as meat-eating hunters, scavengers or both. We report on the manual/oral peeling of cortical layers of ungulate ribs as taphonomically diagnostic of hominoid/hominin meat- and bone-eating behavior that indicates access to large herbivore carcasses by hominins at the site of BK, Olduvai. Supporting these inferences, we show that certain types of rib peeling damage are very rare or completely unknown in faunas created by modern carnivores and African porcupines, but common in faunas modified by the butchery and/or consumption activities of modern humans and chimpanzees, during which these hominoids often grasp ribs with their hands, and then used their teeth to peel strips of cortex from raggedly chewed ends of the ribs. Carnivores consume ungulate ribcage tissues soon after kills, so diagnostic traces of hominin butchery/consumption on ribs (i.e., peeling and butchery marks) indicate early access to ungulate carcasses by BK hominins. Tooth marks associated with the peeling and butchery marks are probably hominin-derived, and may indicate that it was not uncommon for our ancestors to use their teeth to strip meat from and to consume portions of ribs. Recognition of rib peeling as a diagnostic signature of hominoid/hominin behavior may also aid the search for pre-archaeological traces of hominin meat-eating.     

Bone surface modifications in zooarchaeology

Cutmarks made by stone tools, conchoidal flake scars from hammerstone percussion, carnivore tooth marks, striations from sedimentary abrasion, and other surface modifications on bones from archaeological sites constitute a crucial body of evidence for investigating the role of human behaviors and of nonhuman taphonomic processes in site formation. This paper describes the various kinds of bone surface modifications produced by humans and by nonhuman processes and assesses the current status of bone surface modification studies with regard to such issues as the need for greater analytical standardization, the selection of instruments for examining bone specimens, tactics for identifying the origins of marks on bones, and strategies for inferring human behaviors.     

The hunted hunter: the capture of a lion (Panthera leo fossilis) at the Gran Dolina site,Sierra de Atapuerca,Spain

Many Pleistocene caves and rock shelters contain evidence of carnivore and human activities. For this reason, it is common to recover at these sites faunal remains left by both biological agents. In order to explain the role that carnivores play at the archaeological sites it is necessary to analyse several elements, such as the taxonomical and skeletal representation, the age profiles, the ratio of NISP to MNI, the anthropogenic processing marks on the carcasses (location and purpose of cutmarks and burning and bone breakage patterns), carnivore damage (digested bones, location and frequencies of toothmarks and bone breakage), length of the long bones, frequencies of coprolites and vertical distribution of the faunal remains, inter alia. From this, the documentation of carnivores in a faunal assemblage with a clear anthropogenic component can be understood from three main phenomena: (1) the carnivores as accumulators and the use of the site as a den; (2) carnivores as scavengers of hominid refuse and; (3) carnivores as hominids’ prey. Of these three phenomena, the last one is the least documented at the Middle Pleistocene sites. From this perspective, here we present the case of the anthropogenic use of a lion (Panthera leo fossilis) from level TD10-1 of Gran Dolina (MIS 9, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). The lion bone remains show signs of direct interaction between this big cat and human groups that occupied Gran Dolina in these chronologies. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of the role developed by large carnivores in the anthropogenic contexts and to provide data on human use of these predators at the European Middle Pleistocene sites.     

The Lower Acheulian site of Ambrona,Soria (Spain): ages derived from a combined ESR/U-series model

The Lower Paleolithic sites of Ambrona and Torralba (Soria, Spain) are often associated with each other because of their proximity although they do not represent the same morphostratigraphic unit. Systematic and extensive excavations were conducted at these sites by an American team during the 1960s and 1980s. Recently (1989–2000), a Spanish team has reactivated the research by initiating a new interdisciplinary project. In the central sector and west of the Ambrona site a stratigraphy has been established with six units from AS1 at the base to AS6 at the surface, corresponding to fluvial–lacustrine deposits in which abundant fauna associated with Acheulian artefacts were found. The most abundant species were elephant, horse, deer and aurochs. Other species like carnivores occur in small numbers only. The lithic assemblage is relatively sparse and consists of a few bifaces, choppers and several flake tools distributed throughout levels AS1 to AS5. The fauna and the lithic industry therefore document human presence at Ambrona during the Middle Pleistocene. In order to verify the presumed antiquity of the Ambrona deposits, horse teeth sampled in levels AS1, AS2 and AS6 were analysed using combined ESR/U-series (US) methods. The samples from the lower levels (AS1 and AS2) underwent a very recent uranium uptake as indicated by the U-series dates, ranging between 5 and 18 ka. In contrast, a more conventional postmortem uranium uptake was observed in the upper level samples (AS6) in the enamel and dentine tissues, while a light U-leaching was observed in the cementum. The combined ESR/U-series dates obtained on these samples suggest a minimum age of approximately 350 ka, contemporaneous of OSI 9 or the end of OSI 11, for the Ambrona site.     

Experimental study of cut marks made with rocks unmodified by human flaking and its bearing on claims of ∼3.4-million-year-old butchery evidence from Dikika, Ethiopia

In order to assess further the recent claims of ∼3.4 Ma butchery marks on two fossil bones from the site of Dikika (Ethiopia), we broadened the actualistic-interpretive zooarchaeological framework by conducting butchery experiments that utilized naïve butchers and rocks unmodified by human flaking to deflesh chicken and sheep long limb bones. It is claimed that the purported Dikika cut marks present their unexpectedly atypical morphologies because they were produced by early hominins utilizing just such rocks. The composition of the cut mark sample produced in our experiments is quite dissimilar to the sample of linear bone surface modifications preserved on the Dikika fossils. This finding substantiates and expands our earlier conclusion that—considering the morphologies and patterns of the Dikika bone surface modifications and the inferred coarse-grained depositional context of the fossils on which they occur—the Dikika bone damage was caused incidentally by the movement of the fossils on and/or within their depositional substrate(s), and not by early hominin butchery. Thus, contrary to initial claims, the Dikika evidence does not warrant a major shift in our understanding of early hominin behavioral evolution with regard to carcass foraging and meat-eating.     

Cutmarks on Capsian human remains: implications for Maghreb Holocene social organization and palaeoeconomy

In 1930, the remains of five adults, one subadult, and one infant were excavated from Site 12, a ca. 8000 bp Capsian escargotière in Algeria. Recently, cutmarks were found on several postcranial bones of each of the adult individuals. In an attempt to reconstruct the burial circumstances, archival materials including photographs and field notes were retrieved from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the Logan Museum at Beloit College, and a detailed study of the cutmarks was carried out. The cutmarks are associated mostly with long bones and skulls, while two individuals show cutmarks on the thorax. Using theories relating secondary burial practices to a nomadic lifestyle, it is hypothesized that the individuals died away from camp. Initial preparations, while awaiting transport to Site 12, involved limited exposure, followed by decapitation, dismemberment, and possibly defleshing of the thorax and removal of the internal organs. At Site 12, a formal burial ceremony was conducted during which red ochre was used. In some cases the dismembered extremities were placed in the grave with the rest of the body, but several skulls and long bones are missing. It is not known what the missing bones were used for, although Capsian groups are known for modifying human bones for either utilitarian or ritual purposes. This is the first time that cutmarks on human remains are reported for this area and period. The idea that Capsian people practiced decapitation and dismemberment has been suggested before, based on observations on other sites, however. Studies of human skeletal material from the Maghreb, often excavated decades ago, may therefore reveal similar types of evidence. It is suggested that such studies will contribute significantly to our understanding of Holocene Maghreb burial practices, and our ability to reconstruct social organization and palaeoeconomy. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cutmark systematics: Analyzing morphometrics and spatial patterning at Palangana

Cutmarks have played an important role in addressing whether our hominid ancestors were hunters or scavengers, describing ritual modification of human bone, defining the origin of metallurgy, and highlighting the diversity of prehistoric butchering behavior. The widespread occurrence of cutmarks on animal bones and their variability allows archaeologists to use this kind of evidence to address a broad range of questions. One goal in examining cutmark diversity is to identify diagnostic cutmarks of prehistoric butchering, processing, and consuming behaviors. Linking cutmarks to specific activities allows us to test fine-grained hypotheses concerning the nature of an archaeological site, and to do this a systematic method for addressing variability in both the appearance and anatomical position of cutmarks is essential. An analysis of caribou bones collected by Lewis Binford from the Palangana site in Alaska is used to build and test a diagnostic cutmark classification using their morphometric and spatial properties. This case study demonstrates that cutmarks can be used to simultaneously address large-scale anthropological questions and reveal intra-site behavioral variability in the archaeological record.     

Hiding to eat: the role of carnivores in the early Middle Pleistocene from the TD8 level of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca,Burgos, Spain)

Damage generated by large and small carnivores is common in many Middle Pleistocene sites. However, identifying the predator that produces the faunal accumulations is often a difficult task. In order to recognize the main type of carnivore that acts on a faunal assemblage, a combination of several characteristics should be taken into account: taxonomic and skeletal element representation, age profiles, carnivore damage (location, frequencies and dimensions of tooth-marks, bone breakage and digested bones), degree of fragmentation and frequencies of coprolites. But, adding environmental characteristics and the ethology of non-human predators/scavengers is also important. All these aspects are applied to the faunal assemblage from the TD8 level of the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Paleomagnetic data combined with ESR and U-series place the TD8 level at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, specifically circa 700 kyr ago. The TD8 level contains a large faunal accumulation primarily composed of ungulate skeletal elements, and to a lesser extent carnivore remains. This assemblage is characterized by an overrepresentation of fallow deer (Dama vallonetensis), a skeletal profile biased towards cranial remains and limb bones, diversity of ages at death, a high proportion of carnivore damage and tooth-marks of large size, and an absence of human activity. According to these data, the accumulation seems to have been produced primarily by large carnivores, possibly hyenas. This observation does not rule out the possible occasional activity by other carnivores. Nevertheless, the characteristics of the TD8 assemblage do not correlate entirely with those traditionally used to define carnivore dens. In TD8, there are (1) no immature carnivore remains (remains of just one young Mosbach wolf); (2) scarce traces related to the end stages of consumption and some anatomical connexions; (3) few coprolites; (4) high proportion of adult ungulates and; (5) high quantities of whole bones and epiphyses. From this perspective, the TD8 faunal assemblage seems to correspond to a succession of carnivore occupations that allows the development of a suite of features to identify the activities of several species of predators that may have used the cave in different ways and durations. This study aims to emphasize the importance of these analyzes in order to know the behaviour of different non-human predators/scavengers in the European Middle Pleistocene sites.     

A cautionary note on the use of captive carnivores to model wild predator behavior: a comparison of bone modification patterns on long bones by captive and wild lions

A study with wild lions in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania) and with captive lions in Cabárceno Reserve (Spain) has yielded two different bone modification patterns, probably as a result of the differences in environmental contexts. Captive lions have modified bones more intensively, both in the form of total number of tooth-marked bones and number of tooth marks per tooth-marked bone, probably because of stereotypic behaviors. This emphasizes the importance of environmental contexts to understand carnivore behavior and their resulting bone modification patterns. It also shows that analogical models based on experiments carried out with captive carnivores may be biased and inadequate as proxies for wild carnivore bone modification behaviors.     

Découverte d'un site prehistorique d'abattage de dugongs a Umm al-Qaiwain (Emirats Arabes Unis)

A sea-cow butchery site from the fourth and fifth millenia was discovered on Akab island in Umm al-Qaiwain (United Arab Emirates). The remains of these Sirenians are extremely numerous and mixed with fish bones, marine shells and archaeological material, namely notched net-sinking pebbles, pebbles used as hammerstones for shell crushing, a large bone awl, some flint artifacts (including a carved flake and a core), numerous discoid shell beads, and an important sample of rod-shaped shell and soapstone objects of unknown function.     

Middle Pleistocene bird consumption at Level XI of Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain)

The consumption of small prey dates back to the Plio-Pleistocene chronologies in some African sites. However, the systematic acquisition and consumption of small prey in the pre-Upper Palaeolithic times is still a highly debated topic in Europe. Although the utilization of leporids has been recorded in several pre-Late Pleistocene European sites, the evidence of bird consumption is not as common for these periods. Nevertheless, Level XI (MIS 6) of Bolomor Cave has clear diagnostic elements to document the acquisition and use of birds (Aythya sp.) for food in the form of: (1) cutmarks on bones of both the front and hind limb; (2) presence of burning patterns on the extremities of the bones (areas of the skeleton with less meat); and (3) human toothmarks on limb bones. The capture of birds is classified as quick-flying game in the archaeological sites. The acquiring of fast-running (mostly lagomorphs) and quick-flying small prey requires a sophisticated technology and involves obtaining and processing ways different from those used for large- and medium-sized animals. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine possible patterns in the processing sequence of birds from Level XI of Bolomor Cave and to improve the data on their butchery and human consumption in the Middle Pleistocene of Iberian Peninsula.     

A new method for the quantitative analysis of cutmark micromorphology

Cutmarks found on the fossilised bones of butchered animals provide direct evidence for the procurement of meat through technological means. As such, they hold some of the oldest available information on cognitive ability and behaviour in human evolution. Here we present a new method that allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of cutmark morphology and the quantification of profile parameters. We have tested this new technique on cutmarks that were experimentally inflicted on a pig rib using a steel knife and an un-retouched flint flake at different angles. The method allows for the cross-sectional shape, the sharpness and depths of the resulting cutmarks to be quantified. The data show that knife mark sections are characterised by a V-shape or √-shape depending on the inclination of the knife. Cutmarks produced with the flint flake were less clearly defined and generally less sharp than those produced by the knife. We discuss the method's potential to provide new information on butchery technique and cognitive abilities developed by the human lineage, from the earliest tool-using hominins through to modern Homo sapiens.     

Taphonomic studies with wild brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the mountains of northern Spain

In this work we present data obtained from experiments with wild brown bears from the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain. Our results show that wild brown bears do not take carcasses to their dens, but can displace them by tens of meters before eating them, and the remains can become dispersed some meters around the place where the carcass is consumed. The long bones of large-sized carcasses show no fractures, but they do show tooth marks (scores, pitting, punctures and furrowing) especially on the cancellous bone of the epiphyses. Ribs and vertebrae show fractures and furrowing. The innominate also shows furrowing on cancellous bone of the ilium and ischium. The results of this study are in agreement with previous work and also shed some light on the behavior of this carnivore in the wild. The data gathered are of great importance when interpreting paleontological and archaeological sites where the bear is a likely taphonomic agent.     

Molluscan Shell Knives and Experimental Cut-Marks on Bones

Abstract

Experimentation demonstrates that the retouched edges of molluscan shells can be used effectively as butchery knives in the absence of lithic raw materials and leave striations on bone surfaces that may be indistinguishable from cut-marks made by stone knives. The potential of such non-lithic cutting tools suggests one new possible category of early artifact, and may explain the presence of cut-marks on fossil bones in paleoenvironments where stone artifacts were absent or rare.     

Human consumption of tortoises at Level IV of Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain)

The acquisition and consumption of small prey in the pre-Upper Palaeolithic is a highly debated topic at present. For some authors, the systematic obtaining of these animals is only part of the subsistence strategies used by anatomically modern Humans. However, the consumption of small prey dates back to the Plio-Pleistocene chronologies in some sites. Although the utilization of leporids has been recorded in several pre-Late Pleistocene European sites, the evidence of tortoise consumption is documented not as common for these periods. However, Level IV of Bolomor Cave has clear diagnostic elements to document the acquisition and use of tortoises (Testudo hermanni) for food in the form of: (1) cutmarks on limb bones and ventral surface of the carapace and plastron; (2) presence of burning on tortoise skeleton and shell; (3) elements of anthropogenic breakage on carapace and plastron: percussion pits, percussion notches and impact flakes; and (4) human toothmarks on limb bones. This paper tries to examine the possible patterns in the tortoise consumption sequence from Level IV of Bolomor Cave and improves data on the butchery process and tortoise consumption in the Late Middle Pleistocene.     

Ascertaining an agent: using tooth pit data to determine the carnivore/s responsible for predation in cases of suspected big cat kills in an upland area of Britain

The identification of the involvement of a particular carnivore in the modification of bone assemblages concerns a number of fields of research including archaeological and palaeontological enquiry. Taphonomy provides a methodology by which bone assemblages can be analysed and interpreted and this is more often undertaken with archaeological or palaeontological assemblages. A taphonomic analysis is undertaken here in order to determine the perpetrator of predation attacks on domestic stock from a modern-day setting. Recently reported techniques using tooth marks preserved on bone surfaces made by known carnivores are successful at determining some class sizes of predators and are used here to determine the perpetrator(s). Although a class size of carnivore is readily identified by this methodology, a particular carnivore taxon is not. Tooth morphology and dental configuration are reported here as better criteria for identifying a particular taphonomic agent. Tooth pit dimensions are used here to identify the class size of carnivores involved, and tooth morphology and cusp spacing to suggest a medium sized felid and fox as taphonomic agents. The identification of the medium-sized felid may support observations and reports of alleged “big” cat kills in the area. The study has important implications for the interpretation of fossil sites where felids may have been involved in the modification of animal carcasses but are archaeologically invisible in terms of their fossil remains.     

Experimental patterns of hammerstone percussion damage on bones: implications for inferences of carcass processing by humans

The common occurrence of hammerstone percussion damage (pits, striae, notches and impact flakes) on the fossil limb bones of ungulates indicates that marrow extraction has been an important component of hominid butchery for over two million years. Beyond this level of basic inference, it would be behaviorally informative if three deeper aspects of marrow harvesting were understood more clearly: (1) whether inter-element patterns of bone fragmentation vary when processing intensity is held constant; (2) whether butcher investment in marrow extraction correlates positively with the number of percussion marks generated; (3) whether taphonomic effectors can be identified based on percussion mark morphology, frequency and placement. Some experimental work has been conducted previously in service of exploring these questions, but we set out here to address them explicitly through the analysis of a large sample of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) limb elements fractured by hammerstone percussion. Our results indicate that (1) measures of bone fragmentation, which supposedly reflect processing intensity, are highly contingent on the research question being posed. This stresses the fact that researchers must be explicit in their definition of processing intensity. (2) In addition, hypothesized covariance between number of hammerstone blows and percussion mark frequencies are not met in our sample, corroborating previous conclusions of a lack of covariance between cutting strokes and cutmark frequencies. These results highlight the contingent nature of butchery mark production, and emphasize the need to investigate carcass resource exploitation by posing questions that do not rely on mark frequencies, but instead utilize other zooarchaeological measures. (3) Finally, our results—showing high incidences of impact notches and flakes created by direct anvil contact and “anvil scratches” created by direct hammerstone contact—suggest caution in using specific categories of percussion damage to infer their taphonomic effectors.     

The Lower Paleolithic of Spain and Portugal

To most English readers the Lower Paleolithic of the Iberian peninsula is known mainly through a few sites such as Torralba and Ambrona, whose age and behavioral significance remain controversial. In fact, the archaeological data base for this period and region is much larger and more varied than is generally appreciated and includes primary-context sites such as Aridos that have provided unique combinations of evidence on hominid exploitation of elephant carcasses. This paper is both a comprehensive synthesis of our current knowledge and a first attempt to see patterns in the data. Every major occurrence is presented in its regional and geochronological framework; each is critically assessed for data quality and behavioral significance. Major issues addressed in this paper include the working out of regional sequences and intersite correlation, the age and significance of the oldest occurrences, the density and preferred areas of settlement within each region, temporal variation within the Acheulean, and the strength and weaknesses of the data and of our approaches to it.M.S. is responsible for the research and form of this paper; P.V. is responsible for translating, editing, and revising certain sections in consultation with the senior author.