Archaeofaunal Assemblages Research Articles

Carcass Processing Intensity and Cutmark Creation: An Experimental Approach

Cutmarks observed in archaeofaunal assemblages are an important source of evidence in the reconstruction of prehistoric butchery strategies. Inherent in these reconstructions is the assumed covariance of the intensity of butchery activities and the resulting cutmarks. This study proposes a simple measure of processing (butchery) intensity—the number of tool strokes amassed during defleshing activities—in an attempt to test this assumption. Data on this measure of processing intensity were collected during the experimental butchery of 16 appendicular carcass segments from large ungulates. Based on the measure of processing intensity utilized here, there seems to be no clear-cut relationship between the number of tool strokes and the resulting frequency of cutmarks or the frequency with which specific bone specimen classes are cutmarked. The results presented here have substantial implications for the interpretation of cutmarks and concomitant assessments of prehistoric human diet and subsistence behavior.

Traditional Rotuman fishing in temporal and regional context

AbstractFew archaeological sites in the central western Pacific (i.e., Fiji–Samoa–Tonga region) have provided large and temporally well‐controlled archaeofaunal assemblages. Therefore, three sizable Rotuman assemblages, dating to the ca. 7th–11th century ad, provided an opportunity to improve our understanding of the region's traditional fishing practices. The assemblages are analysed in terms of taxonomic composition, abundances, and ecological associations of the taxa. Indications are that the foraging range and intensity of Rotuman fishing may have declined through time, although the results from this single site are interpreted with caution. Comparison with other Pacific assemblages suggests that this may be a common trajectory, one which is to varying degrees intertwined with agricultural intensification, the growth of animal husbandry systems, increased competition, and possibly resource depression. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Large Mammal Relative Abundance in Pithouse and Pueblo Period Archaeofaunas from Southwestern New Mexico: Resource Depression among the Mimbres-Mogollon?

Archaeologists working in western North America have recently demonstrated temporal declines in the relative abundances of large mammals in archaeofaunal assemblages and have argued that these declines indicate resource depression, or reductions in the prey capture rates of prehistoric human hunters resulting from increases in harvest pressure. In the Mimbres-Mogollon region of southwestern New Mexico, evidence for resource depression has been controversial. Here, I employ a larger number of assemblages from this area than has been considered previously and show that large mammals are significantly more abundant at sites located in more mesic, wooded habitats. By taking this spatial patterning into account and by employing a model from foraging theory which indicates that temporal increases in large mammal relative abundance might also result from local resource depression in certain situations, I show that sites with samples large enough to produce statistically significant results do show temporal trends in large mammal relative abundance that are consistent with the hypothesis that they are due to changing intensities of human harvest pressure. This research has important implications for our understanding of prehistoric human impacts on biotic communities and may help to explain the increased reliance on agriculture that developed in the Mimbres-Mogollon region during the Pithouse and Pueblo time periods.

Archaeofaunal Accumulation, Fragmented Forests, and Anthropogenic Landscape Mosaics in the Tropical Lowlands of Prehispanic Ecuador

AbstractThis study examines archaeofaunal materials contained within a large bell-shaped prehistoric pit from the site of Pechichal (M3B4-011) in northern Manabí Province of lowland western Ecuador. This feature provides a high resolution archaeological context for understanding assemblage accumulation and deposition, and provides important data for inferring local environmental conditions. The archaeofaunal assemblage can be divided into two distinct groups based upon the vertical representation of its skeletal remains throughout the pit. One group, characterized by variable skeletal representation and vertical concentration, likely includes both culturally disposed and naturally entrapped taxa. The other group, characterized by a few isolated fragments, low skeletal completeness, and dispersion in vertical profile, is likely dominated by culturally disposed taxa. When the natural histories of the pit faunas are considered along with their distinct numerical representation, the entire pit assemblage makes ecological sense. The data suggest that the pit was located at the edge of a modified forest fragment.

The Initial Domestication of Goats ( Capra hircus ) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 Years Ago

Initial goat domestication is documented in the highlands of western Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago. Metrical analyses of patterns of sexual dimorphism in modern wild goat skeletons (Capra hircus aegagrus) allow sex-specific age curves to be computed for archaeofaunal assemblages. A distinct shift to selective harvesting of subadult males marks initial human management and the transition from hunting to herding of the species. Direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on skeletal elements provide a tight temporal context for the transition.

Simulating the Formation of Dual-Patterned Archaeofaunal Assemblages with Experimental Control Samples

Attempts to discern bone modification by early hominids from that by carnivores are limited due, in part, to the fact that most inferential models are based on the singular actions of either hominids or carnivores. In order partly to rectify this situation, I conducted two types of two-stage, or dual-patterned, actualistic studies to simulate whole carcass processing by hominids (stage one) followed by carnivores (stage two) in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro ecosystems of Tanzania in 1990 and 1991. Thirty whole-bone to carnivore experiments, which model hominid defleshing, and 39 hammerstone to carnivore experiments, which model the removal of flesh, marrow, the brain, and the mandibular nerve by hominids, were conducted to model variability in the behaviour of early hominids and determine its effect on secondary bone modification by carnivores.Vultures, maribou storks, jackals, and spotted hyenas were observed modifying bones from experiments in both samples; however, the overwhelming majority of bone modification was conducted by spotted hyenas. In stage two, spotted hyenas (1) deleted between 90 and 100% of the axial and compact elements placed in both experimental samples; (2) deleted 79·7% of long-bone epiphyses produced by hammerstone breakage and 98·9% of epiphyses from intact long bones; (3) placed at least one tooth mark on 64·3 and 23·2% of all the specimens recovered from whole-bone to carnivore and hammerstone to carnivore experiments, respectively; and (4) added and subtracted specimens which altered the number of specimens bearing at least one cut mark, scrape mark, and/or percussion mark. These results all reflect the cumulative and variable actions of hominids (via simulation) and spotted hyenas. Therefore, it is not possible to delete traces produced by carnivores without removing data indicative of hominid behaviour as well.

Fremont Hunting and Resource Intensification in the Eastern Great Basin

Empirical tests of resource-intensification models argue for diminishing foraging efficiency among hunter–gatherers in California over the past 2000 years (Basgall, 1987,Research in Economic Anthropology9,21–52; Broughton, 1994aJournal of Archaeological Science21,501–514; 1994bJournal of Anthropological Anthropology13, 371–401). The evidence for this long-term trajectory consists of decreases in the abundance of large, high-ranked prey in archaeofaunal assemblages. This paper presents faunal data from Fremont structural sites in the eastern Great Basin and Northern Colorado Plateau as an additional empirical test of resource intensification patterns and compares them to trends in California and the American Southwest. The measure of resource efficiency used is the artiodactyl index (following Broughton, 1994ab), a tool derived from prey choice models of optimal foraging. Faunal data from Fremont structural sites argue that (1) foraging efficiency declined during the Fremont period, and (2) this decline was due to population growth.

Volume density of South American camelid skeletal parts

AbstractThis paper provides a set of volume density values for skeletal parts of lama (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Camelidae). The method by which these values were obtained is described and compared with published data of densitometries made on cervids, showing a high positive correlation between the bone densities of the two artiodactyls. The camelid bone density data are used to discuss the interpretation of skeletal patterning in an Andean archaeofaunal assemblage.

Captive hyaena bone choice and destruction, the Schlepp effect and olduvai archaeofaunas

Abstract Skeletal element representation at archaeological and palaeontological sites often differs from natural anatomical proportions. At archaeological sites this pattern could result from hominid behaviour, predepositional destructive or dispersive forces (such as carnivore ravaging), or post-depositional destructive forces (such as sediment compaction and leaching). Predepositional ravaging by carnivores is documented at several important Plio-Pleistocene archaeofaunal assemblages (FLK Zinjanthropus and FLKN levels 1–2). Here we present the first systematic and controlled experimental data on the effect of this process on skeletal element survival. Simulated archaeological assemblages of defleshed hammerstone-broken and unbroken bones were created within a captive spotted hyaena enclosure, and controlled numbers of hyaenas were allowed to ravage the sites. Vertebrae and pelves were nearly always chosen first for consumption by the hyaenas. Vertebrae and ribs were nearly always destroyed completely and pelves were destroyed 50% of the time. Limb-bone ends were frequently destroyed, while limb middle shaft fragments preserve nearly 100% of the original number of elements. Thus, hominid discarded bone assemblages, regardless of the original representation of elements, can come to resemble the schlepp effect simply through post-hominid hyaena scavenging. The documented pattern at FLK Zinjanthropus and FLKN1–2 of low frequencies of vertebrae, ribs and pelves and high frequencies of limbs may be due to post-hominid ravaging by hyaenas and not selective hominid transport of limb elements to the sites.

Late Quaternary extinct ungulates of East Africa and palaeoenvironmental implications

UNGULATE communities of two East African savannas, the Serengeti and Athi-Kapiti Plains, are dominated by wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) supplemented by zebra (Equus burchelli), topi (Damaliscus lunatus), hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), buffalo (Syncerus caffer) eland (Taurotragus oryx) and gazelles (Gazella grand and G. thomsoni)1–3. Before this research, little was known of East African large mammal communities in the Late Pleistocene and early to middle Holocene. We document an extinct impala-sized alcelaphine antelope that is numerically dominant in Late Pleistocene archaeofaunal assemblages from the Athi-Kapiti Plains. The extinct giant buffalo Pelorovis antiquus is present, and a number of arid-adapted regionally extinct species are common. The small alcelaphine is rare in northern Tanzania, but regionally extinct arid-adapted species are present in Late Pleistocene deposits. These data indicate that as recently as 12,000 years ago, the large mammal community structure of East African savannas was very different and dry grasslands and arid-adapted ungulates expanded at least as far south as northern Tanzania during the Last Glacial Maximum.

The eastern wood rat ( Neotoma floridana) as a taphonomic factor in archaeological sites

Bones from six animal taxa were experimentally introduced into an active wood rat denning site in a rock shelter on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. After 6 months, patterns were examined relative to taxonomy, element selection, weight selection, rapidity and distance of bone movement, and gnawing. These analyses demonstrate that wood rats can affect significant changes in the character of an archaeofaunal assemblage through their compulsive acquisitive tendencies. The presence of wood rats in enclosed sites may result in a complex and confusing array of conditions that zoo-archaeologists will want to recognize before applying basic quantitative techniques to a related faunal assemblage.