Who Killed the Small Mammals of Ittenheim (Northeastern France)? An Integrative Approach and New Taphonomic Data for Investigating Bone Assemblages Accumulated by Small Carnivores

Sylvain Griselin,Jean-Baptiste Mallye,Maxime Pelletier,Aurélien Royer

doi:10.3390/quat4040041

Abstract

Small carnivores are susceptible to regularly accumulating small- to medium-sized mammal remains in both natural and archaeological sites. However, compared to nocturnal birds of prey, these accumulations are still poorly documented and are generally based on a limited number of samples, including those of relatively small size. Here, we present an analysis of European hamster remains from a rescue excavation at Ittenheim (Bas-Rhin, Grand-Est, France), which were recovered from an infilled burrow, three meters below the current surface. The remains are well preserved and exhibit large proportions of tooth marks. Comparisons with a new and existing reference collection combined with an analysis of all recovered faunal remains suggest the accumulation reflects the action of young red foxes. This is supported by the fact that, although these young individuals leave teeth mark, they do not necessarily consume all parts of medium-sized prey species, including the European hamster. Conversely, the remains of smaller rodents, such as microtine, show distinct patterns of digestion and tooth marks. Carnivore bone accumulations from scats are generally poorly preserved; however, our results demonstrate prey size plays a major role, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in skeletal representation, bone preservation, and bone surface modifications. The present paper underlines the need for more diversified taphonomic reference collections based on an integrative approach designed to evaluate multi-taxa accumulations.

Highlights

Small- and medium-sized mammal fossil remains are regularly preserved in both archaeological and palaeontological sites and can result from series of complex processes
Recent rescue excavation in Ittenheim (Alsace, France) recovered numerous small mammals from a burrow, including the European hamster, associated with small numbers of leporid and microtine remains. We explore whether this accumulation reflects attritional mortality or the action of carnivores based on data from three new reference collections of small mammal remains, two recovered from fox or badger dens (Bettant I and VIII, Ain, France) and one from a rabbit warren (Les Six Chemins, Charente, France)
Given the context of the site, a faunal assemblage accumulated by rapacious birds can safely be ruled out, leaving only two other possibilities: a catastrophic death related to the collapse of a burrow that was occupied by trogloxene species or a carnivore accumulation

Summary

Introduction

Small- and medium-sized mammal fossil remains are regularly preserved in both archaeological and palaeontological sites and can result from series of complex processes. Among the eight listed by Denys and Cochard [24] for red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), only one concerns rodents [31], with the rest focusing on larger prey species, such as lagomorpha and/or birds [32,33,34,35,36] This is important as prey size has a major influence on the traces left on bone remains [3,33,37,38,39]. The remains of small- and medium-sized mammals from archaeological sites do not necessarily result from the same processes, it is critical to develop multi-taxa approaches to decipher taphonomic issues [47]

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Conclusion