Sources of variation in carnivore tooth-mark frequencies in a modern spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) den assemblage,Amboseli Park,Kenya

Distributions and frequencies of carnivore tooth-marks on large mammal long-bone fragments are commonly used to infer the timing of hominin and carnivore access to prey resources in archaeofaunal assemblages. The strength of these inferences, however, is limited by a broad and currently inexplicable range of tooth-mark frequencies across experimental and archaeological assemblages. Controlling for this variation first requires that the sources be identified. Several sources of variation are examined here in an analysis of tooth-marked bone recovered from a modern spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) den assemblage in Amboseli Park, Kenya. Results indicate that tooth-mark frequencies: (1) depend on fragment size, (2) vary across mammals of different size classes, (3) are highly variable across equivalent portions of different long-bone elements, and (4) on certain long-bone portions are correlated with bone density and can be depressed in archaeological assemblages subjected to density-mediated attrition. Stronger inferences based on tooth-mark frequencies will require that such variation be taken into consideration, and methods for doing so are suggested.     

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.