Remains Of Deer Research Articles

Reevaluating the “elephant butchery area” at the Middle Pleistocene site of Notarchirico (MIS 16) (Venosa Basin, Basilicata, Italy)

The archaeological site of Notarchirico, chronologically placed at the end of MIS 17 and MIS 16 (675-610 ka), is a key site for studying Acheulean technology in southern Europe and gaining a better understanding of human occupation in that region during the Middle Pleistocene. It was excavated between 1979 and 1995 by Marcello Piperno and re-opened since 2016. Between 1990 and 1991, around forty remains of Palaeloxodon antiquus, mostly comprising the head of the animal, such as cranium, mandible and tusks fragments belonging to a sub-adult male were discovered as a result of the excavation of a lateral discontinuity of the level A, situated in an area known as the “elephant butchery area”. Remains of deer, mainly assigned to Dama sp., and 42 stone tools, including choppers, hand-axes, cores and some flakes were also identified in the surroundings. This accumulation was originally interpreted as a butchering site, reflecting a single event of processing of an elephant carcass, and the entire paleosurface was exposed to visitors in situ. This work re-evaluates the original archaeological materials, especially those still preserved on the paleosurface, in terms of stratigraphic distribution, taphonomy and technology, to critically evaluate the putative role of hominins in the exploitation of the megaherbivore. After a meticulous examination of each element's surface and its deposition, we conclude that there is no support for the previous interpretation of the so-called "elephant butchery area" of Notarchirico as the result a butchery event, as there is no evidence of human exploitation of the remains and the accumulation derives from at least two diverse and unrelated depositional events, one resulting in the deposition of the elephant remains, and the other of the majority of the fallow deer remains and the stone tools.

Bullet Fragments in Deer Remains: Implications for Lead Exposure in Avian Scavengers

Bullet fragments in rifle-killed deer (Odocoileus spp.) carrion have been implicated as agents of lead intoxication and death in bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), California condors (Gymnogyps californianus), and other avian scavengers. Deer offal piles are present and available to scavengers in autumn, and the degree of exposure depends upon incidence, abundance, and distribution of fragments per offal pile and carcass lost to wounding. In radiographs of selected portions of the remains of 38 deer supplied by cooperating, licensed hunters in 2002–2004, we found metal fragments broadly distributed along wound channels. Ninety-four percent of samples of deer killed with lead-based bullets contained fragments, and 90% of 20 offal piles showed fragments: 5 with 0–9 fragments, 5 with 10–100, 5 with 100–199, and 5 showing >200 fragments. In contrast, we counted a total of only 6 fragments in 4 whole deer killed with copper expanding bullets. These findings suggest a high potential for scavenger exposure to lead.

Primeval Deer Hunting Pressures Revealed by Remains from American Indian Middens

Deer jaws from Indian middens were available from five populations in Missouri--three from the prehistoric period, two from the historic. Two contemporary samples from areas where any deer is legal game were used for comparison. Findings led to three conclusions: (1) The Indian kill of fawns was very light, never exceeding 8 percent of the total sample (in modern times fawns make up 30 percent of the hunting bag), which may have been a voluntary conservation practice among a people dependent upon deer as an important item of food and clothing. (2) Modern deer populations are being more closely cropped than were those hunted by Indians. (3) The proportion of old deer in the harvest (61/2 years or more) is declining. At the three prehistoric sites this proportion ranged from 20 to 26 percent; at the two historic sites it was 3 and 11 percent; modem white man's kill is only 2 percent old deer. The more rapid population turnover in contemporary deer populations indicates that white man's equipment and rapid transportation enable him to exert greater hunting pressure during a 1-week hunting season than Indians did by hunting the year round. In 1947, Leopold et al. (1947:165-170) listed 30 states suffering from overpopulations of deer; many other states could have been added to the list since that time. These overpopulations have led to many interesting speculations as to the causes and to the belief that irruptions of deer are a modem phenomenon, man-made through mismanagement of the herds. Most states with problem deer herds have been forced to legalize the hunting of does; this means that any deer is legal, and fawns as well as does are shot. It becomes of interest, therefore, to compare contemporary deer harvest pressures with those maintained by Indians under primeval conditions. The principal tool used by the modem game biologist to evaluate hunting intensity is the age compostion of the kill, determined by examination of deer rami and comparison with a standard set of rami (commonly called a jaw board). Criteria for age-classes are based on premolar replacement, third molar eruption, and degree of enamel wear, as established by Severinghaus (1949). In the present study, deer jaws from Indian middens in Missouri were available in sufficient numbers from five populations -three from the prehistoric period, two from the historic. Each jaw was compared with the same standard jaw board, and both right and left rami were included. Many of the tooth rows were so broken or in'A contribution from the Missouri Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit: U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, The Wildlife Management Institute, Missouri Conservation Commission, and the University of Missouri, cooperating. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.107 on Wed, 30 Mar 2016 06:36:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms DEER REMAINS IN INDIAN MIDDENS * Elder 367 complete as to preclude their use, and it was quite impossible to match right with left sides because the distal ends of the rami were nearly always missing. Contemporary samples were from states in which a deer of any sex or age is legal game. From Iowa, the 1953 data were used for comparison because 1953 was their first open season in many years (Sanderson and Speaker 1954). In Missouri, any deer had been legal game for 7 years prior to 1958, the year I chose for comparison. Thus biases arising from bucks-only seasons were avoided. There were some possible sources of error. It may be argued that jaws of fawns were comparatively scarce in material from middens because of poor preservation, the softer bone of the younger animal being less likely to persist. I do not believe this to be true, because rami of fawns were found in good preservation from every village site studied and were accompained by well-preserved bones of a much more delicate nature from many small mammals. Since jaws from Indian middens were not all taken during a brief, restricted fall season, they were more difficult to classify as to age than were jaws from contemporary kills. This makes possible an error of a year either way in classifying some jaws, but it does not introduce a consistent bias, and hence each jaw was placed with the age-class it most resembled. Indian midden material is not stratified sufficiently for any one year's harvest to be distinguishable; each site represents a deer kill extending over a considerable number of years and is thus an average sample. Fawns, for instance, might have been killed in time of famine but not in intervening