Abstract
Here, we present the first three-dimensional taphonomic analysis of a carnivore-modified assemblage at the anatomical scale of the appendicular skeleton. A sample of ten carcasses composed of two taxa (zebra and wildebeest) consumed by wild lions in the Tarangire National Park (Tanzania) has been used to determine element-specific lion damage patterns. This study presents a novel software for the 3D spatial documentation of bone surface modifications at the anatomical level. Combined with spatial statistics, the present analysis has been able to conclude that despite variable degrees of competition during carcass consumption, lions generate bilateral patterning consisting of substantial damage of proximal ends of stylopodials and zeugopodials, moderate damage of the distal ends of femora and marginal damage of distal ends of humeri and zeugopodials. Of special interest is, specifically, the patterning of tooth marks on shafts according to element, since these are crucial to determine not only the type of carnivore involved in any given bone assemblage, but also the interaction with other agents (namely, hominins, in the past). Lions leave few tooth marks on mid-shaft sections, mostly concentrated on certain sections and orientations of stylopodials and, to a lesser extent, of the proximal tibia. Redundant occurrence of tooth marks on certain bone sections renders them as crucial to attest lion agency in carcass initial consumption. Indirectly, this can also be used to determine whether hominins ever acquired carcasses at lion kills.
Highlights
We present the first three-dimensional taphonomic analysis of a carnivore-modified assemblage at the anatomical scale of the appendicular skeleton
The general interpretation that any given assemblage has been modified by carnivores is of limited value when one tries to address questions like: (a) did those carnivores intervene before or after hominins? (b) Were certain hominin fossil accumulations generated by carnivores and if so, by what type? (c) Were hominins scavenging from felid kills? (d) Did sabertooth felids modify carcasses subsequently consumed by hominins or other carnivores?
That such a behavior may have had in the food chain of those ecosystems); (e) Given the ubiquitous nature of cave deposits, were such assemblages formed by the intervention/interaction of ursids, canids, hyenids and/or felids? (f) What was the degree of the impact of each of these agents if operating on the same assemblage? (g) How does that relate to ecological conditions of food availability, biomass diversity and habitat-specific degrees of competition? (h) Unless we are capable of determining carnivore taxon-specific agency, we will not be able to use taphonomic information for ecological purposes or for reconstructing basic interpretations of hominincarnivore interactions that are essential for human evolutionary purposes
Summary
We present the first three-dimensional taphonomic analysis of a carnivore-modified assemblage at the anatomical scale of the appendicular skeleton. The patterning of tooth marks on shafts according to element, since these are crucial to determine the type of carnivore involved in any given bone assemblage, and the interaction with other agents (namely, hominins, in the past). One of the biggest criticisms of these methods is that they lack any objective (i.e., statistical) way to carry out inter-assemblage comparison, and interpretations on archaeofaunal assemblages are mostly made using subjective comparisons with experimental controls by the analyst As if these were not sufficient cautionary arguments, far from what could be thought, the kernel density maps that these methods are based on come in many types and are determined by the selected smoothing bandwidth. This is why kernel methods in taphonomic analysis of BSM are statistically unreliable
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