Abstract
Abstract Human and nonhuman faunal remains from small deposits at three sites, NGRP 16, 23, and 46, were analyzed to determine the species and minimum numbers of individuals represented, and to investigate the processes of natural and human-induced modification that resulted in the extensive fragmentation of the human remains. Taphonomic analysis indicates perimortem modification of the human remains during disarticulation and processing as well as pig predation. The types and locations of tool marks, fractures, and fracture products are quantified and described, and quantitative taphonomic profiles for the human remains are compared to human and nonhuman bone assemblages from middens and normative burial contexts on Fiji. The NGRP assemblages do not taphonomically match other assemblages believed to represent incidents of cannibalism, but this does not rule out the consumption of human flesh or decomposition fluids. We reject the notion of a universal taphonomic signature of cannibalism, and find it more...
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