Gnaw Marks Research Articles

Rongements sélectifs des os par les porcs-épics et autres rongeurs : cas de la grotte Tianyuan, un site avec des restes humains fossiles récemment découvert près de Zhoukoudian (Choukoutien)

The Tianyuan cave near Zhoukoudian is among the most special localities in North China for its many porcupine gnawing marks on the bones, as is often the case acknowledged only in South China. But porcupines did not gnaw all the bones, that is gnawing is selective. Skulls, mandibles, tooth roots and long bones are frequently gnawed. The short bones are almost free from gnawing. The selection indicates that, for porcupines, bone gnawing is not only a necessity for attrition of incisors, but also a process of extracting nutrients from the marrow. Additionally, the porcupine gnawing marks can also be employed to determine the provenance of the fossils that were discovered by the local people before the systematic excavation. Those bearing porcupine tooth marks only appear in the upper assemblage. The other significance of the gnawing marks is to infer the habitant of the cave. The bones from the human fossil bearing layer have few tooth marks, which may represent a period of human occupation of the cave. In the upper assemblage, the gnawing marks appear frequently, it may indicate that porcupine and other rodents lived in the cave during this time span.

Rodents as Taphonomic Agents: Bone Gnawing by Brown Rats and Gray Squirrels*

Passive infrared technology was used to film diurnal and nocturnal scavenging behavior of brown rats and gray squirrels at the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility. This direct documentation demonstrated that brown rats modified fat-laden cancellous bone while gray squirrels generally gnawed the thicker bone cortices only after fats had leached away. A case study placed in a shaded portion of the Facility indicated the postmortem interval for initial gnawing by gray squirrels was slightly over 30 months. An examination of 53 human skeletons in the William M. Bass Forensic Skeletal Collection revealed that 10 cases had gnaw marks consistent with those made by gray squirrels. One of the 10 cases had been gnawed within 16 months of time-since-death, while the remaining nine had postmortem intervals >30 months. Additional observed modifications made to nonhuman bone by gray squirrels indicate that squirrel gnaw marks on bone can serve as a minimal estimate of time-since-death in a temperate environment similar to that of East Tennessee.

The Middle Pleistocene argali (Ovis ammon antiqua) assemblages at the Caune de l'Arago (Tautavel, Pyrénées-Orientales, France): were prehistoric hunters or carnivores responsible for their accumulation?

The argali (Ovis ammon antiqua) assemblages from the Middle Pleistocene site of the Caune de l'Arago (Tautavel, southern France) were studied in terms of zooarchaeology and taphonomy. It is possible to discern palaeobiological information lost during fossilisation, as well as the palaeoethology of the bone collector, by the observation of taphonomic details preserved on the bone assemblages. The observations leave no doubt that both humans and carnivores were involved in the accumulation of argali carcasses in the cave. In some assemblages, the type of bones found in articulation and the gnawing marks observed are characteristic of carnivores. In other levels, the intense fracturing of the major limb bones in relation to their marrow content and mineral density, and butchering marks found on specimens in the earlier levels, are in favour of human accumulation, the modalities of which are discussed. The results suggest that the degree of carnivore activity seems to have been higher in levels M, N and O than in level F. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Late Pliocene Site of Poggio Rosso (Central Italy): Taphonomy and Paleoenvironment

Other| June 01, 2004 The Late Pliocene Site of Poggio Rosso (Central Italy): Taphonomy and Paleoenvironment PAUL P.A. MAZZA; PAUL P.A. MAZZA 1Department of Earth Sciences and Museum of Natural History, Section of Geology and Paleontology, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Florence, Italy, pmazza@unifi.it Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar ADELE BERTINI; ADELE BERTINI 1Department of Earth Sciences and Museum of Natural History, Section of Geology and Paleontology, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Florence, Italy, pmazza@unifi.it Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar MAURIZIO MAGI MAURIZIO MAGI 2Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Florence, Italy Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information PAUL P.A. MAZZA 1Department of Earth Sciences and Museum of Natural History, Section of Geology and Paleontology, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Florence, Italy, pmazza@unifi.it ADELE BERTINI 1Department of Earth Sciences and Museum of Natural History, Section of Geology and Paleontology, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Florence, Italy, pmazza@unifi.it MAURIZIO MAGI 2Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Florence, Italy Publisher: SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology Accepted: 20 Jan 2004 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1938-5323 Print ISSN: 0883-1351 Society for Sedimentary Geology PALAIOS (2004) 19 (3): 227–248. https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2004)019<0227:TLPSOP>2.0.CO;2 Article history Accepted: 20 Jan 2004 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation PAUL P.A. MAZZA, ADELE BERTINI, MAURIZIO MAGI; The Late Pliocene Site of Poggio Rosso (Central Italy): Taphonomy and Paleoenvironment. PALAIOS 2004;; 19 (3): 227–248. doi: https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2004)019<0227:TLPSOP>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyPALAIOS Search Advanced Search Abstract Taphonomic, paleobiological, and paleoecological analyses have been conducted on a rich bone accumulation on Poggio Rosso in the Upper Valdarno basin (Tuscany, central Italy). Fossil mammalian remains from the Upper Valdarno, including the type specimens of important European Villafranchian taxa, have been collected from the Renaissance through the present, mostly with little concern for stratigraphy. Because the specimens, elements, skeletal parts, and even entire skeletons generally were found in isolation, a great deal of information on taxonomic co-existence, population dynamics, proportions of limb segments, and other metrics, was precluded. The discovery of the latest Pliocene Poggio Rosso site, where bones are preserved in a sandy floodplain bed, has provided opportunity to rectify these omissions. The bone accumulation largely consists of limb bones (mostly articulated) and skulls, many of which are associated with mandibles. Axial skeletal elements are strongly underrepresented. Several bones were bimodally oriented. The specimens are slightly weathered, and have common bite and gnaw marks. Some coprolites also occur.Because of its complex genesis, Poggio Rosso does not match conventional taphonomic categories. The bimodal arrangement of the elements and sedimentologic evidence indicate that an unconfined flood flow contributed to the assemblage's final arrangement. The role of carnivores, however, was far more substantial. The occurrence of skulls, limb bones, bite and gnaw marks, and coprolites and the comparative rarity of axial skeletal parts, attest to the presence and activity of carnivores—hyenas in particular, represented in the Upper Valdarno by Pachycrocuta brevirostris. Poggio Rosso thus is a sort of den with characteristics of a kill site. The proportionally high amount of carnivore remains, especially skulls, intimates that the hyaenids might have had cubs at the time. General wastage and incompletely consumed carcasses indicate surplus killing as well as actively transported prey elements; all of which, along with specific paleobiological speculations, suggest that the bone accumulation was formed by a cooperative group of hyenas preying on debilitated game populations in a moment of great environmental stress (possibly a period of drought). Sedimentological and palynological analyses confirm arid environmental conditions and reveal that the bones accumulated over a short time. Moreover, these same data indicate that the changes in the floodplain occurred during a major climatic fluctuation, with an increasingly arid phase that ended close to the fossil-bearing layer, which was then followed by wetter conditions. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Distinguishing the diets of coexisting fossil theridomyid and glirid rodents using carbon isotopes

Carbon isotope analyses were conducted on the teeth of four species of rodents and associated plant fossils from the Late Eocene–Early Oligocene Solent Group of the Hampshire Basin, UK. Results indicate that there is no detectable difference in the overall mean δ13C values between permanent cheek teeth of the two species of theridomyid, Thalerimys fordi and Isoptychus sp. This accords with their very similar teeth that indicate comparable diets. However, the teeth of the two species of glirid (dormouse), Glamys priscus and Glamys fordi, have distinctly more negative mean δ13C values than those of either T. fordi or Isoptychus sp., with which they co-existed. This indicates that both glirids had diets significantly different from those of the theridomyids. This dietary distinction is consistent in all three levels studied spanning at least 3 million years. Carbon isotope analysis of associated plant fossils combined with independent evidence from dental morphology and gnaw marks on Stratiotes seeds shows that seeds of the open water, free-floating aquatic plant Stratiotes formed a significant proportion of the diet of G. priscus and by inference that of G. fordi. In contrast calculated dietary δ13C values of T. fordi and Isoptychus sp. overlap the δ13C values of marginal freshwater aquatic plant seeds and thick-walled plant tissues. This evidence, combined with independent taphonomic and palaeoecological information, suggests that these theridomyids and glirids foraged in close association with large water bodies. This supports the use of tooth enamel from these rodents as a proxy for freshwater oxygen isotope values, in palaeoclimate reconstruction.

Experimental evaluation of rodent exclusion methods to reduce hantavirus transmission to residents in a Native American community in New Mexico.

We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of rodent proofing continuously occupied homes as a method for lowering the risk for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) among residents of a Native American community in northwestern New Mexico. Rodent proofing of dwellings was paired with culturally appropriate health education. Seventy homes were randomly assigned to treatment or control categories. Treatment homes were rodent-proofed by sealing openings around foundations, doors, roofs, and pipes and repairing screens and windows. Repairs to each dwelling were limited to $500 US. After repairs were completed, 15-20 snap traps were placed in each treatment and control home and checked approximately every 2 days for an average of 3-4 weeks. During 23,373 trap nights, one house mouse (Mus musculus) was captured in one treatment home, and 20 mice (16 deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus, two Pinyon mice, Peromyscus truei, and two unidentified mice) were captured in five control homes (one house had 14 captures, two had two captures, and two had one capture). Trap success was 0.01% in treatment homes and 0.15% in controls. Intensity of infestation (mean number of mice captured per infested home) was 1 in treatment homes and 4 in controls. Observations of evidence of infestation (feces, nesting material, gnaw marks, or reports of infestation by occupant) per 100 days of observation were 1.2 in treatment homes and 3.1 in controls. Statistical power of the experiment was limited because it coincided with a period of low rodent abundance (August-November 2000). Nevertheless, these results suggest that inexpensive rodent proofing of occupied rural homes can decrease the frequency and intensity of rodent intrusion, thereby reducing the risk of HPS among rural residents in the southwestern United States.

Gnaw marks on Eocene seeds: evidence for early rodent behaviour

Gnawed holes in fossil seeds of the freshwater aquatic floating plant Stratiotes, collected from the Solent Group of Late Eocene (Priabonian) age at two localities in the Hampshire Basin, UK, are recognised as the oldest direct evidence of seed predation by rodents. The type of gnawing is similar to that made by Wood Mice, Apodemus sylvaticus, today and a more reliable means of differentiating the resultant pattern from those of other gnawing types is described. By using the size relationship between modern gnaw marks and the rodent incisors that made them, isolated fossil incisors from the same strata at sites near to those where the seeds were found are matched closely to the fossil gnaw marks. By comparison with incisors in situ in jaws from the Continental European Palaeogene, and by eliminating other contenders amongst the known Solent Group rodent fauna, it is concluded that the fossil Stratiotes seeds were predated by the extinct glirids Glamys priscus and Glamys devoogdi. Different patterns of gnaw marks associated with different hole sizes are interpreted as different stages in the opening of the seeds and as demonstrating learning behaviour on the part of the predators. Similarity of fossil astragali (ankle bones) from the Solent Group, identified as Glamys devoogdi, to the recent glirid Eliomys quercinus suggests a scansorial rather than arboreal locomotor mode for the former, in keeping with a ground-level foraging strategy as indicated by the habitat of the Stratiotes plant. The direct evidence of feeding from the fossil seeds and the clear link to the specific predators are an important indication of ancient dietary adaptation independent of that deduced from tooth morphology. It supports the change in dominant frugivorous feeding type amongst European rodents from soft fruit-eating pseudoparamyine paramyids and pseudosciurids in the Middle Eocene to hard seed-eating glirids in the Late Eocene, coincident with the global climatic deterioration shown by oxygen isotopes. One new ichnogenus with one new ichnospecies is erected for one type of gnawing in fossil seeds: Glirotremmorpha entectus igen. et isp. nov., from the English Late Eocene.

Surface marks on bones from a neolithic collective grave (odagsen, lower saxony). A study on differential diagnosis

The differentiation between animal gnawing marks and human cutmarks on bones meets with difficulties, as reliable criteria are rare. Marks on human bones from a neolithic collective grave were compared with gnawing scratches produced in feeding experiments and slicing marks made with various flint knives. Statistical analysis showed the Odagsen marks to differ markedly from cutmarks but to compare with gnawing scratches in form features regarding width and depth. A very distinctive “splitting-effect” characterized most of the experimentally produced cutmarks. The criterion of striations in slicing marks, proposed by Shipman (1981) , had to be dismissed, as longitudinal striations were found in carnivore tooth scratches as well.

Early hominid hunting, butchering, and carcass-processing behaviors: Approaches to the fossil record

A major aim of paleoanthropology is to learn what ancient behaviors were related to the acquisition, processing, and consumption of meat and when these behaviors arose. For this reason, studies focusing on purported early hominid hunting and butchery sites are important if rigorous criteria for recognizing such sites are used. Different criteria currently used as evidence of hominid involvement with ancient bones are reviewed and it is concluded that the presence of cutmarks, verified by scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspection, is the most reliable. Successful application of this criterion depends upon a thorough knowledge of the normal variations in microscopic morphology of different types of marks that are found on bones. Therefore, variations in microscopic and gross morphology within and among a large sample of known stone tool cutmarks, carnivore tooth scratches, and rodent gnawing marks are documented. The effects of sedimentary abrasion, as caused by fluvial transport of bones, are also presented. Guidelines are presented for using microscopic criteria to identify unknown marks on fossils and possible applications of this approach are discussed. Further, it is suggested that evidence of hominid carcass-processing activities can be placed into one of three ranked categories of certainty according to the type of data used. Explicitly stating the category and type of evidence used to deduce hominid activities, and by extension to define site types (i.e., butchery, kill, base camp), may improve the clarity of hypotheses about and interpretations of early hominid behaviors.