Frequency Of Cut Marks Research Articles

Late Archaic Bison Hunters in Northern Colorado: 1997-1999 Excavations at the Kaplan-Hoover Bison Bonebed (5LR3953)

Limited excavations at a Late Plains Archaic arroyo trap along the Cache la Poudre River near Windsor in northern Colorado have exposed the remains of an estimated 200 bison. The bonebed was uncovered during construction activities, which removed an estimated 4 m vf sediment from above tlie upper surface of the bone bed. Partial excavation of an 18.5 m2 cross-sectional portion of the arroyo has produced an assemblage of over 4000 bison bones. An AMS date on wood charcoal and a standard radiometric age from bone collagen provided statistically similar dates and yield an averaged uncalibrated radiocarbon age of2724±35 RCYBP. The number of stone tools recovered is low, with only nine comer-notched projectile points and point fragments, several scrapers and flake tools, and over 120 resharpening flakes. Patterns of mandibular molar eruption and wear indicate a single early fall kill. Human utilization of many of the carcasses was limited, with very few of the marrow bones fractured or removed from the kill site. Based on skeletal element counts, the carcass segments most frequently taken from the kill were rib slabs, thoracic vertebrae, scapulae, femora, and lumbar-sacral units. Cutmark frequencies support this interpretation. The most common locations for butchering marks are on the thoracic spines, rib blades, and mandibular symphyses. After humans abandoned the site, carnivores extensively modified the remaining carcass segments. Subsequent burial of the bonebed included fluvial transport and re-orientation of many of the bones within the old arroyo. The project has emphasized incorporating public interaction and education into the research program.

Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the Die Kelders Cave 1 Layers 10 and 11 Middle Stone Age larger mammal fauna

Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Middle Paleolithic (MP) faunal assemblages have gained widespread attention due to their relevance to the debate over the modernity of hominid behavior during the MSA/MP. A recent critique of the scavenging argument for MSA/MP behavior drew on a summary presentation of the skeletal abundance and surface modification data from Die Kelders Cave 1 Layer 10 (Marean, 1998). This paper provides a more complete presentation of those data, adds the smaller Layer 11 sample, and provides a detailed analysis of the taphonomic history of both samples.Bone fragment density is higher in Layer 10 than in Layer 11. Bone densities vary horizontally as well, with Layer 10 showing greater deposition in the exposed areas of the cave. An analysis of long bone breakage patterns indicates that non-nutritive breakage on the Layers 10 and 11 samples was present but not intense. Size 1 mammals were predominantly accumulated by owls and/or other large raptors, not hominids, in Layer 10. Hominids were the predominant accumulator of Sizes 2–4 mammals in Layers 10 and 11 as indicated by the frequency of hammer-stone percussion marks and carnivore toothmarks. After discard by hominids, a significant portion of these remains were discovered and scavenged by carnivores. Overall, the larger mammal fauna of Layer 10 is dominated by Sizes 3 and 4 bovids, mostly young and adult eland, and thus hominids were focusing on the high-ranked prey items. Shaft portions of long bones, the portions with the most flesh, have the highest frequencies of cutmarks. A comparison of the Layers 10 and 11 cutmark frequencies to Selvaggio's (1998) scavenging model shows that the frequencies are significantly outside the range of variation documented in Selavaggio's scavenging sample.

Chew Marks and Cut Marks on Animal Bones from the Kasteelberg B and Dune Field Midden Later Stone Age Sites, Western Cape Province, South Africa

The Later Stone Age sites at Kasteelberg B (KBB) and the Dune Field Midden (DFM), western Cape Province, South Africa, were occupied at least 300-700 years after domestic stock and pottery were first introduced to the region between 2000 and 1600 years ago. Fur seal bones abound at both sites, but bones of stock are common only at KBB. At both sites, predepositional damage to bones consists mostly of chew marks, probably produced mainly by dogs. Macroscopically visible cut marks are relatively rare, suggesting that, like stone age people elsewhere, the KBB and DFM butchers avoided prolonged contact with bone. At both sites, cut marks tend to occur near major limb joints, at acute angles to long bone shafts, implying that the marks were produced mainly by disarticulation or skinning as opposed to filleting. Differences in the frequency of cut marks on homologous bones of sheep and seal at KBB probably partly reflect differences in disarticulation patterns due to differences in anatomy, but other factors, including the removal of cut marks by dog-chewing (much more common on seal bones), differences in average distance between carcass and site, and differences in average carcass condition, probably also played a role. The rarity or absence of chew marks on seal bones from older sites may imply that dogs appeared or became abundant locally only after the introduction of stock. The abundance of chew marks at the DFM may mean that the occupants were fundamentally herders, even though they left few bones of stock at the site.

Systematic Butchery by Plio/Pleistocene Hominids at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania [and Comments and Reply

Human origins research by archaeologists has expanded the evidence of the diet and subsistence activities of ancient hominids. We examine an important component of that evidence, the 1.75-million-year-old faunal assemblage from the FLK Zinjanthropus site at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Skeletal-part frequencies are used to evaluate hominid access to and differential transport of carcass portions of differing nutritional value. Cut-mark frequencies and locations are used to evaluate butchery patterns including skinning, disarticulation, and defleshing of carcasses. In contrast to other recently published assessments of the FLK Zinjanthropus data, we conclude that (1) ancient hominids had full access to meaty carcasses of many small and large animals prior to any substantial loss of meat or marrow bones through other predator or scavenger feeding; (2) ancient hominids were butchering animal carcasses by an efficient and systematic technique that involved skinning, disarticulation, and defleshing; and (3) the FLK Zinjanthropus site represents a place where the secondary butchering of selected carcass portions and the consumption of substantial quantities of meat and marrow occurred.