Neotaphonomic measures of carnivore serial predation at Ngamo Pan as an analog for interpreting open-air faunal assemblages

Here I present a neotaphonomic account of natural bone accumulations that have resulted from carnivore serial predation at Ngamo Pan, a vast complex of seasonal water holes located in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Reconstructing the taphonomic histories of faunal assemblages from open-air archaeological sites is burdened with a host of interpretive complications, and this study is offered as a referential means for evaluating instances where stone tools and bone accumulations are associated in apparent archaeological contexts. While the presence of stone tools implies some involvement on the part of humans, open-air sites near water would also have served as prime locations for serial predation by large carnivores to ambush prey—a situation that, over time, can mimic archaeological bone accumulations. The taphonomic and zooarchaeological signatures of carnivore serial predation at Ngamo Pan show marked similarities with the open-air faunal accumulation from Kalkbank, a late Pleistocene site in Limpopo Province, South Africa, located along the margins of a relict pan. Many potential archaeological sites within the interior of southern Africa dating to the Middle Stone Age are known from open-air settings near permanent or ephemeral bodies of water, and the ability to decipher between hominin and non-hominin carnivore involvement with bone accumulations is paramount in determining the hunting and scavenging behaviors of our early ancestors. As much of our understanding of hominin subsistence during the Middle Stone Age is drawn from coastal cave locations, this study is intended to encourage a broadening of our perspective on the taphonomic histories of faunal accumulations dating to the Middle Stone Age by incorporating supplementary evidence provided by these open-air sites.     

Akhalkalaki: The Taphonomy of An Early Pleistocene Locality in the Republic of Georgia

As part of our investigations into the potential of the Republic of Georgia for providing information on early hominin occupation of Eurasia, we report here on Akhalkalaki, a large late Early Pleistocene locality located along the lower slopes of a Miocene andesitic cone. Originally excavated in the 1950s as a palaeontological site, it was re-opened in the 1990s and stone tools were found associated with the fauna, suggesting that it is also an archaeological occurrence. Excavations in the 1950s and 1990s uncovered thousands of bones of an early Galerian fauna, including the remains of new species of Hippopotamus,Equus , and Canis (Vekua, 1962, 1987) and dominated by the remains of Equus süssenbornensis. We present the stratigraphy of the site, which together with faunal correlations and reversed paleomagnetics indicates an age most likely in the late Matuyama Chron, probably between 980,000 and 780,000 years ago. Taphonomic analysis suggests that the fauna was deposited and buried over a short time period, and was heavily modified by carnivores, but we cannot demonstrate involvement by hominins. Based on evidence of abundant krotovina (animal burrows filled with sediment) and the lack of definitive evidence for hominin modification to the bones, the stone tools at the site may have been mixed in with the older fauna. The taphonomic characteristics of the Akhalkalaki bone assemblage are not readily explained with reference to assemblage formation processes developed with actualistic studies that have been mostly conducted in Africa, including carnivore dens, predator arenas, human hunting and scavenging, mass deaths, or attritional bone deposition. Because of extreme anthropogenic modification of the present environments, the temperate setting, and the presence of mainly extinct taxa, local models based on actualistic studies cannot approximate the mammalian ecology reflected in the Akhalkalaki bone assemblage. A few comparisons are made with preliminary taphonomic observations from Dmanisi, an Early Pleistocene Homo ergaster site not far away.     

Assessing the distribution of African Palaeolithic sites: a predictive model of collagen degradation

In order to assess the distribution of African Palaeolithic sites and hominin remains, we need an understanding of the factors that may affect the preservation of archaeological material in the fossil record. One of the main factors that is thought to affect seriously the global distribution of fossil remains is taphonomy, but it would seem that taphonomic processes may themselves be overprinted by collagen degradation.The rate of collagen loss is highly temperature dependent, and it has been shown that bone is more likely to be preserved in areas of lower temperature and so lower collagen loss. Hence, it would be expected that fossil fauna remains would be distributed in areas of low collagen loss, i.e. low temperature. Conversely, lithics will not be subject to a temperature bias in their preservation. We have tested this hypothesis through the use of archaeological material.Our results show that the distributions of both lithic and faunal assemblages are non-random across the African continent, with all archaeological sites being found in areas of relatively low collagen degradation. This implies that bone collagen degradation is not the only factor affecting the distribution of African Palaeolithic sites and hominin remains. We suggest that the site distribution is not a reflection of bias in excavation history, but is a real phenomenon reflecting hominin habitat choice.     

A new experimental study on percussion marks and notches and their bearing on the interpretation of hammerstone-broken faunal assemblages

Preliminary experiments on bone breakage have shown the potential utility of quantifying some of its diagnostic features (percussion marks, percussion notches) for taphonomic inferences about human and carnivore involvement in bone breakage in faunal assemblages. The present study increases the range of experiments undertaken to understand the identification of hammerstone percussion (dynamic loading) and its differences from carnivore bone breakage through tooth pressure (static loading). This study contributes to a better understanding of frequencies of percussion marks, uncovers and quantifies those percussion marks that lack key diagnostic features to be identifiable and that could be mistaken with carnivore tooth marks, quantifies notch types, shows different size ranges for notches on bones from small and large fauna than previously reported, quantifies the proportion of notches bearing percussion marks, and introduces new size data for percussion (impact) flakes and percussion marks. Furthermore, all these variables have been applied to a dual experimental set: one experiment using non-modified hammerstones and another based on the use of modified hammerstones. Results vary considerably according to hammerstone type. Some of these taphonomic variables increase the range of equifinality when identifying marks and notches created by different human and non-human agents. This calls for further caution when using isolated variables and features rather than a holistic approach to make taphonomic inferences.     

Of Buffalo and Butchers: Coupling Traditional Procurement Studies with Taphonomic Analyses to Explore Intensive Wild Animal Processing Patterns at Two Early Iron Age Sites in the Kruger National Park

Located in northeastern South Africa in the Kruger National Park, the wild-dominated faunal assemblages at Le6 and Le7 allow for a site-level examination of the treatment of wild species within the highly variable spectra of Early Iron Age animal use. Looking at hunting beyond pure subsistence choices, this paper couples traditional morphological analysis with taphonomic analysis and theoretical frameworks of intensification to ask new socially focussed zooarchaeological questions of these assemblages. Through this, both the procurement and processing methods utilized at Le6 and Le7 are identified and the significance of these choices is discussed. In so doing, the paper addresses possible specialization in both the hunting and the processing of large wild mammals. The socio-economic implications and potential drivers of these faunal choices are then considered within the broader context of the southern African Early Iron Age, and a potentially new faunal use strategy and site type are introduced.     

Taphonomic resolution and hominin subsistence behaviour in the Lower Palaeolithic: differing data scales and interpretive frameworks at Boxgrove and Swanscombe (UK)

The identification of human butchery-signatures on fauna from Lower Palaeolithic sites is well documented and readily identifiable. Such bone surface modifications have the potential to provide not only information about past hominin meat-procurement behaviour but address the wider issue of competition for resources with other carnivore species. To understand and discuss these broader issues both hominin and natural bone surface modifications must be understood and contextualised within a site-specific spatial and temporal framework. This paper presents new results from faunal analysis at two key British Lower Palaeolithic localities: Boxgrove and Swanscombe. It illustrates that different depositional environments and excavation histories have resulted in different scales and resolutions of available data and hence in varying interpretive potentials. At Swanscombe the archaeological record has been disturbed by both fluvial activity and excavation history providing a coarser-grained record of anthropogenic behaviour than previously acknowledged. Conversely, at Boxgrove, a finer-grained, higher resolution record of human behaviours has been preserved; this, combined with both an extensive and intensive excavation strategy, has allowed for a broader discussion of hominin landscape use, resource competition and meat-procurement behaviour. This paper highlights that assessing the specific depositional environment at each site is crucial to understanding Palaeolithic faunal assemblage formation and, consequently, the available data-resolution and behavioural interpretation.     

Testing heterogeneity in faunal assemblages from archaeological sites. Tumbling and trampling experiments at the early-Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (Israel)

The current paper reports an experimental case study to test the heterogeneity of faunal assemblages from the Early-Middle Pleistocene Layers V-5 and V-6 of the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov Acheulian site (Israel). Tumbling and trampling experiments were initiated to gain qualitative insight into processes of bone modification and to assess the timing of the biostratonomic chronology, as it was assumed that both mechanisms were responsible for the formation of striations documented on the bone surfaces from the site. The tumbling experiments mimicked sediment movement in a calm lacustrine shoreline environment whereas the trampling experiments investigate the role of animal/hominin activities in dry, muddy and wet environments. Models for the internal operational sequence of an abrasional process due to uni- and multidirectional water movement and of a trampling scenario are presented. These models are used for the interpretation of the fauna from Gesher Benot Ya’aqov.     

Taphonomy and zooarchaeology of the Upper Palaeolithic cave of Dzudzuana,Republic of Georgia

We present the results of a detailed taphonomic and zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains from the Upper Palaeolithic layers of Dzudzuana Cave, Republic of Georgia. This study presents the first carefully analysed Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblage from the southern Caucasus and thus serves as a significant point of reference for inter‐regional studies of Upper Palaeolithic subsistence in Eurasia. A series of intra‐site taphonomic comparisons are employed to reconstruct the depositional history of the bone assemblages within the different occupational phases at the site and to investigate subsistence, meat procurement and bone‐processing strategies. Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and steppe bison (Bison priscus) were the major prey species throughout the Upper Palaeolithic. Their frequencies do not change significantly over time, and nor does bone preservation vary by layer. The assemblage is characterised by significant density‐mediated biases, caused by both human bone‐processing behaviours and in situ post‐burial bone attrition. Bone marrow extraction produced large numbers of unidentified bone fragments, many exhibiting green bone fractures. The density and size of bone assemblages and the extent of fragmentation indicate that Dzudzuana Cave was repeatedly occupied by Upper Palaeolithic foragers over many years. Skeletal part representation and butchery marks from all stages of carcass processing suggest that prey occasionally underwent field butchery. Intra‐site taphonomic comparisons highlight uniform patterns of cultural and economic behaviours related to food procurement and processing strategies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

Reconsideration of criteria for differentiating faunal assemblages accumulated by hyenas and hominids

Zooarchaeologists have established several criteria for differentiating hominid‐ and hyena‐derived faunal assemblages. In some cases, however, the patterns of skeletal part representation and bone surface modification on which these criteria are ultimately based have been observed in fossil bone assemblages of unknown origin, rather than in modern assemblages of known origin. When the proposed criteria are evaluated within an actualistic framework, only three are able to differentiate between hominid‐ and hyena‐created faunal assemblages. I suggest that only these three criteria—proportions of carnivores to ungulates in the assemblage, the preserved condition of long bone specimens (either as whole cylinders or as splintered shaft fragments), and the types of bone surface modifications—should be retained as important factors in a diagnosis of the ancient bone‐collector. The remaining four criteria—the relative proportion of horn pieces in the assemblage, the relative representation of podial bones, the relative representation of small and large bovid skeletal parts, and bovid mortality profiles—are not relevant or applicable to the problem of differentiating hominid‐ from hyena‐derived faunal assemblages. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

灵宝西坡遗址动物骨骼的收集与整理

本文介绍了河南灵宝西坡遗址动物骨骼的收集与整理过程 ,并重点对收集方法和埋藏因素对动物遗存的影响作了评估。结果表明 ,自然和生物因素对骨骼埋藏过程的影响较小 ,而人为因素的影响比较显著。不同的收集方法对出土骨骼的绝对数量和重量有直接影响 ,但用相对比例分析主要动物的骨骼发现率 ,能够减小不同收集方法造成的差异     

Changing patterns of carnivore modification in a landscape bone assemblage, Amboseli Park, Kenya

This study compares the landscape-scale taphonomic signal of carnivore modification to the surficial bone assemblage in Amboseli Park, Kenya as it was in 1975 and 2002–2004. Change in predator abundances over time provides a means of assessing the taphonomic signal of carnivore-mediated bone consumption and destruction under differing ecological conditions and varying levels of conspecific competition for resources. The landscape assemblage indicates taxonomic variation in the patterning of carnivore modification to ungulates of different size classes as well as within equivalent size classes. Analyses of long bone elements indicate that the differential destruction of limb ends and the strength of the correlation between limb end abundance and bone mineral density provide an indication of the intensity of carnivore modification to a faunal assemblage. The ability to infer levels of carnivore modification based on limb elements can provide faunal analysts with the tools to determine whether the taphonomic signals in the fossil record relate to carnivore modification, hominin transport of appendicular elements, or both.     

Hunted or Scavenged Neanderthals? Taphonomic Approach to Hominin Fossils with Carnivore Damage

Carnivore damage on Neanderthal fossils is a much more common taphonomic modification than previously thought. Its presence could have different explanations, including predatory attacks or scavenging scenarios, which are both situations with important implications concerning Neanderthal behaviour. In the present paper, we analyse several Neanderthal hominin fossils from a taphonomic and forensic perspective in order to infer the nature of the modifications observed on the bone surfaces. Fossils displaying carnivore modifications from Spain, Germany, Belgium and Greece are evaluated from a taphonomic perspective for the first time in a significant sample of hominin specimens. Our results show that the materials analysed have been modified by small to large carnivores and that both attacks and strictly carnivore scavenging events can be inferred. This study also points out the importance of developing taphonomic approaches to the analysis of hominin bone surfaces, which can contribute significantly to knowledge of several aspects of Neanderthal behaviour. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dietary Diversity on the Swahili Coast: The Fauna from Two Zanzibar Trading Locales

Occupants of coastal and island eastern Africa—now known as the ‘Swahili coast’—were involved in long‐distance trade with the Indian Ocean world during the later first millennium CE. Such exchanges may be traced via the appearance of non‐native animals in the archaeofaunal record; additionally, this record reveals daily culinary practises of the members of trading communities and can thus shed light on subsistence technologies and social organisation. Yet despite the potential contributions of faunal data to Swahili coast archaeology, few detailed zooarchaeological studies have been conducted. Here, we present an analysis of faunal remains from new excavations at two coastal Zanzibar trading locales: the small settlement of Fukuchani in the north‐west and the larger town of Unguja Ukuu in the south‐west. The occurrences of non‐native fauna at these sites—Asian black rat (Rattus rattus ) and domestic chicken (Gallus gallus ), as well as domestic cat (Felis catus )—are among the earliest in eastern Africa. The sites contrast with one another in their emphases on wild and domestic fauna: Fukuchani's inhabitants were economically and socially engaged with the wild terrestrial realm, evidenced not only through diet but also through the burial of a cache of wild bovid metatarsals. In contrast, the town of Unguja Ukuu had a domestic economy reliant on caprine herding, alongside more limited chicken keeping, although hunting or trapping of wild fauna also played an important role. Occupants of both sites were focused on a diversity of near‐shore marine resources, with little or no evidence for the kind of venturing into deeper waters that would have required investment in new technologies. Comparisons with contemporaneous sites suggest that some of the patterns at Fukuchani and Unguja Ukuu are not replicated elsewhere. This diversity in early Swahili coast foodways is essential to discussions of the agents engaged in long‐distance maritime trade. © 2017 The Authors International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Variation in the taphonomic effect of scavengers in semi‐arid Australia linked to rainfall and the El Niño Southern Oscillation

Scavenging is one of the primary taphonomic processes shaping the final composition of fossil faunal assemblages. The taphonomic effect of scavengers is variable and must be understood in the context of the causes of that variation. In this study, we investigated relationships between the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), variable rainfall and scavenging on 20–40 kg mammal carcasses in semi‐arid New South Wales over four years. Following periods of above‐average rainfall (coincident with the La Niña phase of the ENSO), there was an increased availability of non‐carrion food and scavenging activity was moderate. Following below‐average rainfall (coincident with the El Niño phase of the ENSO), foraging options diminished, leading to a greater importance of carrion in the diet of scavengers and a resultant increase in carcass disturbance, transport and destruction by scavengers. Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were the most taphonomically significant scavengers in the study. Australian ravens (Corvus coronoides) and wedge‐tailed eagles (Aquila audax) were active scavengers throughout the period of the study, but had little impact on bone survival. Lace monitors (Varanus varius) also fed mostly on soft tissue and were only present seasonally. We found that climate variability in the form of short‐term oscillation can result in significant variation in the impact of scavengers on carcasses and may be an important consideration when evaluating site formation scenarios and biases in fossil faunal assemblages. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resource intensification in the Late Upper Paleolithic: a view from southern China

Resource intensification is often viewed as a precursor to sedentism and thereby to agriculture. Late Upper Paleolithic sites in China are also seen as important precursors to the beginnings of sedentism and agriculture, but few faunal assemblages have been studied in detail and therefore little is known of pre-Neolithic economies in the region. A large faunal sample from a key site for early pottery and possible rice collection sheds light on subsistence strategies at the end of the Paleolithic. We apply an array of taphonomic analyses to the mammal remains to investigate the extent to which carcasses were processed for within-bone nutrients, which we see as a possible indicator of resource intensification. Determining if this is a regional trend, and/or represents diachronic change in subsistence strategies, will depend on the availability of comparative data in the future.     

Examining criteria for identifying and differentiating fossil faunal assemblages accumulated by hyenas and hominins using extant hyenid accumulations

Numerous authors have put forth criteria for distinguishing between assemblages collected by hyenas and hominins. Of the seven most recognised criteria used to distinguish hyenid from hominin assemblages, it has recently been suggested that four be rejected and three retained. The four rejected criteria are: an excessive proportion of horns and horn cores in hyena accumulated assemblages; the absence of small, hard, compact bones; mortality profiles; and the ratio of cranial bones to postcranial bones. The three criteria previous researchers suggested be retained are: a carnivore MNI ratio of ≥20%; an abundance of cylinder fragments; and hyena‐inflicted damage upon the bones. In this examination of over 27,000 faunal remains associated with all three species of extant bone‐collecting hyenids from four countries and two continents, six of the seven previously established criteria and reconsiderations of criteria have been evaluated. The results of the present study indicate that of the six criteria examined, none, as written, are indicative of hyenid activity on bone assemblages of unknown origin. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scale,Factor Analyses,and Neighborhood Effects

Studies of potential neighborhood effects have been constrained in most situations by the absence of small‐area data generated to characterize the local contexts within which individuals operate. Using small‐area data from the U.K. Census, this paper Illustrates the creation of bespoke neighborhoods—local areas defined separately for each individual in a sample survey—at a variety of scales, and their characterization using factor analysis techniques. Theories of neighborhood effects are uncertain as to the spatial scale at which the relevant processes operate, hence the value of exploring patterns consistent with those processes at a range of spatial scales. One problem with such comparative study is the incommensurability of regression coefficients derived from analyses using factor scores as the independent variables. The work reported here adapts a procedure introduced for reconstituting partial regression coefficients to circumvent that problem, and illustrates that patterns of voting at a recent British general election showed neighborhood‐effect‐like patterns at two separate scales simultaneously—with individual voter characteristics held constant.     

The Palaeolithic of the Middle Son valley, north-central India: Changes in hominin lithic technology and behaviour during the Upper Pleistocene

The Middle Son valley in north-central India preserves extensive Quaternary alluvial deposits. A long history of archaeological and geological research in the valley has resulted in the discovery of lithic assemblages ranging from Lower Palaeolithic to microlithic, a rich corpus of fossilised faunal remains, and ash deposits from the 74,000 year-old Toba supereruption. This paper reviews the chronology and stratigraphy of the valley’s Quaternary sediments, and presents a model that hypothesizes the temporal sequence of important lithic assemblages from excavated and surface contexts. Artefacts in these assemblages are analysed and changes in lithic technology through time are described; this evidence is used to propose shifts in hominin behaviour and demographic structure in this region during the Upper Pleistocene. Recognising gaps in our understanding of the Middle Son record, future avenues of research are recommended that will build upon previous research and address questions of palaeoanthropological significance. The Middle Son valley preserves a long and rich record of hominin occupation from all periods of the Palaeolithic that is rarely paralleled by other sites in India.     

Fluvial spatial taphonomy: a new method for the study of post-depositional processes

Traditional taphonomic analyses do not consider the emergent properties resulting from the relationship of variables. Several of these emergent properties are expressed spatially. Here, we present a spatial taphonomic approach to the understanding of post-depositional processes affecting experimental assemblages modified by fluvial currents. Spatial statistical methods are a great tool to understand how different taphonomic variables relate at a spatial scale. The results of the application of this method to bone assemblages affected by low- and high-energy flows show the loss or modification of most of the original spatial taphonomic relationships. It also shows the degree of bone loss according to element, anatomical section and bone structure, and shape types. Anisotropy is identified in both experimental contexts. These results add new criteria to assess the impact of water flows in bone assemblages and contribute to define the properties of lag assemblages.