Faunal Analysis Research Articles

Palaeolimnological responses of nine North African lakes in the CASSARINA Project to recent environmental changes and human impact detected by plant macrofossil, pollen, and faunal analyses

This paper presents multi-proxy palaeolimnological analyses from recent sediments in the nine CASSARINA lakes in northernmost Africa, three from each of Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt. The lakes are diverse, ranging from hypersaline to brackish lagoons and fresh-water lakes from high to low conductivity and pH. The macrofossils analysed include fruits, seeds, and vegetative remains of plants, lagoon and fresh-water Mollusca, a range of other aquatic animals, and from one site in each country, Ostracoda and Foraminifera. The diverse macrofossils are multi-proxy indicators of environmental change, and demonstrate changes in response to human activities in the catchments of all the lakes. The three Egyptian Nile Delta lakes have received massive inputs of fresh-water due to modifications of the flow of the R. Nile culminating in the Aswan High Dam built in 1964. Elsewhere, water withdrawal is frequently a serious threat. One lake with high biodiversity in Morocco has been drained and cultivated, and a rare acid-water lake in Tunisia is in danger of drying up. The internationally famous Garaet El Ichkeul in Tunisia, which was so important for birds, has become permanently saline with a loss of diversity. All the lakes are affected by agricultural and/or urban run-off and are experiencing changes as a result of human activities. Several are in a marginally sustainable condition, whereas others are permanently damaged.

Grave Markers: Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic Burials and the Use of Chronotypology in Contemporary Paleolithic Research

Comparison of mortuary data from the Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological record shows that, contrary to previous assessments, there is much evidence for continuity between the two periods. This suggests that if R. H. Gargett's critique of alleged Middle Paleolithic burials is to be given credence, it should also be applied to the burials of the Early Upper Paleolithic. Evidence for continuity reinforces conclusions derived from lithic and faunal analyses and site locations that the Upper Paleolithic as a reified category masks much variation in the archaeological record and is therefore not an appropriate analytical tool. Dividing the Upper Paleolithic into Early and Late phases might be helpful for understanding the cultural and biological processes at work.

Griffin Mound Site (41UR142) Faunal Analyses

The investigation of the Griffin Mound site (41UR142) in the Little Cypress Creek basin in Upshur County, Texas, yielded 394 faunal specimens with a total assemblage weight of 127.71 grams. This sum includes all turtle shell, antler, and bone fragments. Faunal material was recovered from the site surface, four shovel tests, and four units in a 2 x 2 m excavation at this Middle Caddoan site, consisting of midden deposits and a large storage pit feature. The following sections of this article discuss the methods employed in the faunal analysis, results of taxonomic identification and quantification, and distribution of these remains.

WEASELS FROM THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD OF ISRAEL

During the faunal analysis of the bone assemblage from the Roman‐Hellenistic fortress of Sha’ar-ha’Amakim, in an underground water cistern deposit dated to the Hellenistic period (250‐150 BCE), we found three complete skulls and a humerus of Mustela nivalis (weasel). The site is located to the northwest of Kibbutz Sha’ar-ha’Amakim, at the foot of the southern slope of the Carmel Mountains in the Lower Galilee (1609,2369) (Segal and Naor, 1992). These new finds, the latest recovered in Israel so far, indicate that the weasel was found in the country at least until the second century BCE. The weasel is a small mustelid of Holarctic distribution (Corbet, 1978; Sheffield and King, 1994) that presently ranges in the Middle East as far south as Lebanon (Harrison and Bates, 1991). It is also found in North Africa: Morocco and Algeria, and a disjunct population (Mustela nivalis subpalmata) in the Nile Delta of Egypt (Corbet, 1978). The weasel is currently not found in Israel and the Sinai Desert (Mendelssohn and Yom-Tov, 1987). Previous fossil and subfossil finds of weasels from Israel were related to the Natufian culture (ca. 9,000 BCE), the Chalcolithic (ca. 4,000‐3,300 BCE), the Early Bronze (ca. 3,000 BCE) (Dayan and Tchernov, 1988), and the Iron Age (ca. 1,200 BCE) (Dayan, 1997). Weasels were also found in historical contexts in Jordan, in the Iron Age sites of Tel-Hesbon, and near Madaba (Boessneck and Driesch, 1995) and Deir-Alla, at the outlet of Wadi Zarqa (Jabbok) to the Jordan valley (Es, 1998). Tristram (1866, 1884) lists the weasel as part of the local Israeli fauna, but this has been questioned by Ilany (1979), and no specimens are available to settle this issue. While it is still debatable whether the weasel remained in this country until the past century, the remains from Sha’ar-ha’Amakim attest to its presence at least until the second century BCE. The three toothless skulls have completely fused sutures and represent three adult specimens. The condylo-basal lengths of the Sha’ar-ha’Amakim specimens (42.85, 39.95, and 38.40 mm; mean = 40.40; N = 3; SD = 2.26) do not differ significantly from the mean of recent Egyptian female weasels from the Nile Delta (Mustela nivalis subpalmata) (43.18; N = 4; SD = 1.47; p = 0.37 [data from Dayan and Tchernov, 1988]). Weasels have pronounced sexual size dimorphism (Dayan and Simberloff, 1994; Sheffield and King, 1994), so the specimens from Sha’ar-ha’Amakim may either be females of a larger race or else males of a smaller race, much the same as a previously described Iron Age specimen (39.40; Dayan, 1997).

Assessing Criticisms of Faunal Analyses and Environmental Reconstructions in the Tehuacan Valley Project

The Tehuacain Valley project received pointed criticism from Hardy (1999, 1996), who focused her doctoral dissertation on reevaluating the extensive data and the related chronological analyses formulated by MacNeish, Flannery, and others. Hardy (1996, p. 700) emphasized the prominence of the Tehuacain Valley project's chronological sequences within the field of Mesoamerican archaeology, and this provided a primary impetus for her critical review of the data and related interpretations. This comment evaluates Hardy's criticisms, and concludes that she applied an inappropriate statistical test in her evaluation of Flannery's analysis of rodent remains and related inferences of environmental changes over time. In contrast, Flannery (1967) applied statistical tests appropriate to the types of data used in his analysis, if those data in fact comprised a random sample. The most intriguing issues in

Ecology of cavernicolous ciliates from the anchihaline lagoons of Mallorca

On the island of Mallorca, anchihaline lagoons, meromictic in character, are common in the flooded coastal karst. These subterranean lagoons, containing important populations of crustacea, maintain a connection, albeit tenuous, to the sea. Thus, the first truly quantitative study of marine ciliates inhabiting anchihaline lagoons was undertaken between April 1996 and April 1997. Physical and chemical measurements were taken in-situ, together with water samples for faunal analysis in each of four stratified lakes. These lagoons typically displayed a temperature inversion, an increase in conductivity and a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentration with depth. Ciliates were present in all lagoons studied, with a total of nine species recorded. All were assigned to known taxa. Spatial distribution of the trophic cells was noteworthy with populations clearly stratified within the water column, most being found at the waters surface, sometimes in association with rafts of floating calcite crystals, or in the sediment. Only on one occasion were ciliates recorded in mid-water. Abundance was very low, typically <1 ciliate cm−3. The floating calcite crystals may form a delimitable biotope for ciliate populations. The role of the cyst in maintaining populations of ciliates in these cave waters is discussed.

On Equifinality in Faunal Analysis

A faunal assemblage may be dominated by dense bones either because the soft ones have been transported away or because they have been gnawed beyond recognition. Archaeologists have often despaired of distinguishing between these hypotheses and have attributed the problem to equifinality-to the fact that different causes can produce identical outcomes. Yet under the models of transport and attrition studied here, these causes do not produce identical outcomes. It has been difficult to distinguish between them only because conventional statistical methods lack power. Using the new method of abcml (Analysis of Bone Counts by Maximum Likelihood), it is easy to distinguish assemblages that were deposited by different agents. It is also possible to distinguish between assemblages that have suffered differing degrees of attritional damage, but this distinction is more difficult to make. It is also shown that the conventional method for recognizing attritional damage in faunal assemblages is remarkably low in power. The paper closes with a discussion of the word "equifinality" itself.

Neanderthal subsistence behaviours in Europe

Ten years of research about the Neanderthal's subsistence behaviour are presented. The study of large mammal bones is now recognized as a means of understanding subsistence behaviour (sensu lato), notably by analysing acquisition and processing strategies, as well as patterns of consumption. This paper summarizes the results of an analysis of a corpus of data from several European countries, representing a total of 466 levels corresponding to 323 sites (Patou-Mathis M. 1999a. Mémoire d'Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, submitted to: University Paris I. The countries involved are: France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine and Georgia. The period of study extends from the end of the Middle Pleistocene to the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene, i.e. from isotope stage 8 to stage 3. Three different sources of data are used: bone assemblage studies by the author (reference samples); fully published zooarchaeological studies (reliable samples) and publications containing relatively detailed data about fauna (more problematical samples). The information obtained from these data sources does not have the same degree of precision. In order to consider the full range of subsistence behaviour exhibited by Neanderthals, faunal analyses are compared to results of the analysis of lithic materials from the target regions. This comparison validates hypotheses about subsistence, site function, settlement territory, and human mobility. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Neanderthal subsistence behaviours in Europe

Ten years of research about the Neanderthal's subsistence behaviour are presented. The study of large mammal bones is now recognized as a means of understanding subsistence behaviour (sensu lato), notably by analysing acquisition and processing strategies, as well as patterns of consumption. This paper summarizes the results of an analysis of a corpus of data from several European countries, representing a total of 466 levels corresponding to 323 sites (Patou-Mathis M. 1999a. Memoire d'Habilitation a Diriger des Recherches, submitted to: University Paris I. The countries involved are: France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine and Georgia. The period of study extends from the end of the Middle Pleistocene to the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene, i.e. from isotope stage 8 to stage 3. Three different sources of data are used: bone assemblage studies by the author (reference samples); fully published zooarchaeological studies (reliable samples) and publications containing relatively detailed data about fauna (more problematical samples). The information obtained from these data sources does not have the same degree of precision. In order to consider the full range of subsistence behaviour exhibited by Neanderthals, faunal analyses are compared to results of the analysis of lithic materials from the target regions. This comparison validates hypotheses about subsistence, site function, settlement territory, and human mobility. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Palaeoclimatic record in the loess-palaeosol sequence of the Strelitsa type section (Don glaciation area, Russia) deduced from rock magnetic and palynological data

Until now, palaeoclimatic reconstructions for the major stages in the development of the Quaternary loess–palaeosol sequence on the Russian Plain have been based on pedological, palynological and faunal (vertebrates and molluscs) analyses. In order to demonstrate the palaeoclimatic influence on the magnetic properties of this sequence, the magnetic susceptibility signature of the Strelitsa type section in the Upper Don basin is compared with a detailed landscape – climate reconstruction of loess and soil from palynological data. Large amplitude fluctuations of palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment are reflected clearly in the lithology and in the rock magnetic properties, which usually are enhanced in wet and warm interglacial periods, but stay at low levels during cold glacial epochs. Palynological climate zonation, however, is sometimes in conflict with the pedologic–magnetic record. Strong climate fluctuations, as indicated by changing pollen assemblages, are not always paralleled by corresponding changes in lithology and/or rock magnetic properties. Alternatively, light coloured illuvial horizons with low magnetic signal sometimes appear to have formed during early stages of interglacials, and the top parts of some palaeosols apparently formed during glacial stages. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Missing molluscs as evidence of large-scale, early skeletal aragonite dissolution in a Silurian sea

In the Silurian carbonate platform succession of Gotland, Sweden, interreef limestone and marl sequences have shallow-marine shelly assemblages dominated by brachiopods, typical of many Paleozoic benthic faunas. Locally, from similar facies, where early skeletal silicification occurred associated with bentonites, there are rich and diverse assemblages of originally aragonitic molluscs. Quantitative faunal analysis suggests that massive depletion of skeletal aragonite, chiefly molluscs, took place, and the entire molluscan fauna may generally be underrepresented by at least 100-fold. Previous workers on the Gotland succession have already shown that abundant diagenetic limestones were sourced by early aragonitic remobilization. Our findings indicate molluscs as the probable source of this diagenetic calcite, not aragonite mud as was previously thought. The taphonomic window represented by the silicified faunas illustrates the importance of aragonitic shells among the original Silurian shelf benthos, and raises the possibility that the paucity of such shells among many fossil faunas may be largely an early taphonomic effect.

Aurignacian Settlement Patterns in the Vézère Valley

Etude de la mobilite des groupes aurignaciens du bassin de la Vezere a partir de l'economie de la matiere premiere lithique et de la saisonnalite animale. Ces elements fournissent des donnees nouvelles sur l'extension du territoire exploite, sur le degre de sedentarisation et de saisonnalite humaine

Effects of Landscape Disturbance on Animal Communities in Lake Tanganyika, East Africa

Abstract:Watershed deforestation, road building, and other anthropogenic activities result in sediment inundation of lacustrine habitats. In Lake Tanganyika, this threatens the survival of many rock‐dwelling species by altering the structure and quality of rocky habitats. We investigated the relationship between habitat quality, as related to watershed disturbance intensity, and the biodiversity of faunal communities at three rocky littoral sites of low, moderate, and high disturbance. Turbidity measurements and other environmental observations confirmed that our lake sites represented a gradient of disturbance conditions. We documented differences in species density (number of species per constant area or time), species richness, abundance, and trophic ecology for fishes, molluscs, and ostracods. Fish censuses were performed by scuba divers at 1–20 m and by remotely operated vehicle (ROV) at 40–80 m. In the fish surveys, abundance, species density and richness, and herbivory reached their maxima at intermediate water depths. The depth range of herbivores, however, was restricted at higher‐disturbance sites. The ROV fish surveys at the high‐disturbance site showed high species richness despite low species density and abundance, and piscivores were proportionally more prevalent than in all other surveys. Molluscs censused by diver quadrats and sieve samples showed decreasing species richness and species density (sieve samples only) with increasing disturbance and no significant abundance trend. Ostracod species richness was similar between low‐ and moderate‐disturbance sites but was markedly lower at the high‐disturbance site (species density and abundance data were not available). Our faunal analyses suggest that all three taxonomic groups are negatively affected by sediment inundation but may have varying response thresholds to disturbance. Further, this study emphasized the utility of using complementary survey techniques to monitor and ultimately manage biodiversity in complex freshwater ecosystems.

Late Quaternary sea-level changes along the Tyrrhenian coast near Orbetello (Tuscany, central Italy): palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using ostracods

A multidisciplinary study has been carried out on a 51 m long core, drilled on coastal lowlands near the Albegna River (Tuscany, Central Italy). Both sedimentological and faunal analyses (ostracods and molluscs) indicate a coastal lagoon environment repeatedly influenced both by the rising Holocene sea and the Albegna River alluvial inflow. δ 13C, δ 18O, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and 87Sr/ 86Sr analyses were performed on Cyprideis torosa shells in order to detail the influence of Albegna River freshwater on the coastal lagoon water. The analytical data illustrate the difficulties of using geochemical proxies in marginal marine settings. Four radiocarbon dates provide a chronostratigraphy for the early Holocene part of the core. The data are used to reconstruct Late Pleistocene to early Holocene palaeoenvironments along this part of the coast and show the development of freshwater environments followed by a coastal brackish lagoon formed in response to the initial Holocene rapid rise in relative sea level. An attempt is made to relate sediments and age data from the core to the relative sea-level curve for the Tyrrhenian Sea.

A size analysis of planktic foraminifera from the Arabian Sea

Planktic foraminiferal faunas from different environments in the Arabian Sea were size fractionated using 14 sieves with meshes between 100 and 710 μm, to assess the effect of the sieve mesh size cut off level on the faunal composition and to determine the size frequency distribution of individual species. Nine samples from a plankton pump and a towed net, a sediment trap, a box-core and a piston core were selected, to cover living and settling flux faunas as well as fossil faunas from the sediment. In living faunas, most species show an exponential size frequency distribution, with highest numbers in the finest interval of the size spectrum. In sediment trap and core samples, individual species size frequency distributions may consist of: (1) an exponential distribution of relatively small pre-adult specimens; (2) a Gaussian-shaped distribution of larger specimens, which may be classified as adult or terminal; or (3) a combination of both. The distributions are separated using a best fit technique. The composition of the total planktic foraminiferal fauna strongly changes along the size spectrum. Dominant taxa in >355 μm fractions are Orbulina universa, Globorotalia menardii, Globorotalia tumida, Globigerinella siphonifera and Globigerinoides sacculifer, in 125–355 μm fractions Globigerina bulloides, Globigerinoides ruber, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei and Globigerinita glutinata, and in <125 μm fractions Dentigloborotalia anfracta, Tenuitella compressa, Tenuitella iota, Turborotalita quinqueloba and the immature specimens of larger species. Consequently, the choice of the sieve mesh size strongly determines the percent composition of the assemblage and in turn the paleoceanographic interpretations based on these counts. Species richness and the Shannon diversity increase with decreasing sieve mesh size, while equitability generally decreases with decreasing size. In the water column approximately 60% of the fauna (>100 μm) is present in the 100–125 μm fraction and 1–6% is larger than 250 μm. In samples representing a settling flux (sediment trap and sediment samples) 29–57% of the fauna is present in the 100–125 μm fraction, while 6–23% is larger than 250 μm. Size frequency distributions of the dextral Neogloboquadrina complex (= Neogloboquadrina dutertrei and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma + P–D intergrades) show a bimodal pattern; a smaller peak reflecting dextral Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, and a larger peak of adult Neogloboquadrina dutertrei. By applying a best fit technique to the data, the two species may be separated from each other. In size fractions larger than 150 μm most species have reached the adult stage of ontogeny and we recommend this mesh size for standard faunal analysis. In addition, sieve mesh sizes of 125 and 250 μm have to be used to obtain a reliable estimate of the abundance of small and large species, respectively.

Choice Cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt

Choise cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt is a book about all aspects of meat processing in ancient Egypt. The book lists and examines the different types of meat consumed by the Egyptians: poultry, fish, and mammal, and their immediate by-products, such as blood and fat. The author discusses how each type of animal was slaughtered and processed for either immediate consumption or stored for later use, using pictorial, artefactual, textual, woodarchaeological, ethnographic and experimental evidence. Slaughter, jointing, and general processing locations are discussed, as well as storage locations, vessels used for storage, and transportation of animals as well as processed meat products. The book concludes with an attempt to determine how much meat was consumed in ancient Egypt, by whom, and what type. The appendices include lists of scenes showing meat processing as well as pig farming. The book has grown out of Dr. Salime Ikram's dissertation at Cambridge University. She now teaches Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, and works on excavations in Egypt and Turkey. Her specialities are daily life (especially food production) and mummification in ancient Egypt, as well as focus on faunal analysis.

Aurignacian Settlement Patterns in the Vézère Valley

Aurignacian Settlement Patterns in the Vézère Valley

Live benthic foraminiferal faunas off Cape Blanc, NW-Africa: Community structure and microhabitats

Live (Rose-Bengal stained) benthic foraminifera were studied along a transect across the main area of organic matter deposition in the Cape Blanc upwelling region. The faunal analyses suggest that at the shallowest station (1200 m) the benthic ecosystem is permanently influenced by the upwelling, whereas at the deepest stations (3010 and 2530 m depth) the ocean bottom is subject to significant organic influxes only in summer. The vertical zonation of foraminiferal species in the sediment shows a close correspondence with the depth distribution of oxic respiration, nitrate and sulphate reduction. It is suggested that this linkage is caused by the presence of various stocks of anaerobic and sulphate- and nitrate-reducing bacteria. Deep infaunal foraminiferal species are thought to feed selectively, either on the bacterial stocks or on nutritious particles produced by bacterial degradation of more refractory organic matter. As such, foramininiferal microhabitats are only indirectly controlled by pore water oxygen concentrations.

Le modèle des biofaciès à Trilobites: un test dans l'Ordovicien inférieur de l'Anti-Atlas, Maroc

The faunal analysis of the Upper Fezouata Shales Formation (Arenig, central Anti-Atlas, Morocco) shows five distinct associations, one of graptolites and four of trilobites, and an environment is proposed for each one. The results obtained from the sedimentary facies confirm this interpretation and allow the environment of the trilobite biofacies and transport phenomena on a storm-dominated marine platform to be defined.

Benthic fauna in the pechora sea

Abstract Quantitative samples of benthic fauna were collected at 15 stations for analysis of species distribution and faunal composition. Multivariate statistics indicate that the sampling stations cover a heterogeneous area with different types of community composition, as might be expected, since the Pechora Sea encompasses a wide range of depths and oceanographic conditions. However, some distinct station groupings were evident, which are considered to represent different faunal community types. Around the Island of Kolguyev, the fauna was dominated by sub-surface detritivorous Polychaeta. On the coast of Novaya Zemlya, the Chernaya Fjord contained an opportunistic faunal composition. The deep area immediately south of Novaya Zemlya was characterised by high numbers oflarge, surface deposit feeding Polychaeta. The Kara Strait area showed some spatial variation in faunal characteristics, but generally contained high numbers of surface deposit feeding Polychaeta and Crustacea, as well as encrusting suspensivores on stones. The stations sampled between Kolguyev and the Pechora Bay contained large amounts of macrofaunal Foraminifera and detritivorous Polychaeta, while the fauna sampled in the Pechora Bay was typical of northern, low salinity environments. Canonical correspondence analyses indicate that water depth and sediment type playa major role in structuring the benthic fauna. The distribution of community types described in this investigation largely follow those outlined in previous Russian investigations, despite the use of different analytical strategies. This investigation provides the background for an intercomparison of methodologies in faunal analyses.