Hyena scavenging behavior and its implications for the interpretation of faunal assemblages from FLK 22 (the zinj floor) at olduvai gorge

Binford, Lewis R.; Mills, M. G. L.; Stone, Nancy M.

doi:10.1016/0278-4165(88)90011-6

Cited by 102 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The latter process has been documented to be pervasive and rapid in Africa. 25,[68][69][70] Eurasian and African Stone Age sites, with their massive quantities of stinking discarded bones, must have been magnets for carnivores. Fortunately, a technique exists for identifying this process.…”

Section: Articlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooarcheological evidence for the faunal exploitation behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans

1999

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Section: Articlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooarcheological evidence for the faunal exploitation behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans

1999

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“…This is true even though it is widely assumed that "in inspecting the contents of a single structure, we can be fairly confident that the associated assemblage was all in use at one time, if not made at the same time" (Deetz 1968, p. 283). Besides the two above-mentioned factors, there are three others of major importance regarding (1) the complete excavation of an occupation unit, an enterprise that has been successfully undertaken only on very few occasions (Clark 1968, p. 277), (2) the functional nature of the (seasonal) site itself (Hehmsoth-Le Mouël 1999, p. 81), and (3) the eventual impact of scavengers on the bone remains originated by human activity (Binford et al 1988).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

24 Modeling the Past: The Paleoethnological Evidence

Biagi¹

2007

Handbook of Paleoanthropology

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This chapter considers the earliest Paleolithic, Oldowan (Mode 1), and Acheulean (Mode 2) cultures of the Old Continent and the traces left by the earliest hominids since their departure from Africa. According to the most recent archaeological data, they seem to have followed two main dispersal routes across the Arabian Peninsula toward the Levant, to the north, and the Indian subcontinent, to the east. According to recent discoveries at Dmanisi in the Caucasus, the first Paleolithic settlement of Europe is dated to some 1.75 Myr ago, which indicates that the first "out of Africa" took place at least slightly before this date. The data available for Western Europe show that the first Paleolithic sites can be attributed to the period slightly before 1.0 Myr ago. The first well-defined "structural remains" so far discovered in Europe are those of Isernia La Pineta in Southern Italy, where a semicircular artificial platform made of stone boulders and animal bones has been excavated. The first hand-thrown hunting weapons come from the site of Schöningen in north Germany, where the first occurrence of wooden spears, more than 2 m long, has been recorded from a site attributed to some 0.37 Myr ago. Slightly later began the regular control of fire. Although most of the archaeological finds of these ages consist of chipped stone artifacts, indications of art seem to be already present in the Acheulean of Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

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“…We are well aware of the vast dataset accumulated from actualistic/experimental taphonomic and ethnoarcheological research conducted in Africa to distinguish primary from secondary access to a carcass (e.g. Binford et al, 1988;Bunn et al, 1988;O'Connell et al, 1988;Bartram, 1993;Selvaggio, 1994Selvaggio, , 1998Capaldo, 1995Capaldo, , 1997Capaldo, , 1998Bartram and Marean, 1999). We chose Blumenschine's actualistic study because it is the foundation from which many of these carnivore feeding experiments developed, and Lupo and O'Connell's ethnoarcheological data, because they published cut mark and tooth mark counts broken down by skeletal region.…”

Section: Bone Surface Modificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing archeological and paleontological faunal collections from Pleistocene Japan: taphonomic perspectives from Hanaizumi

Norton

Hasegawa

Kohno

et al. 2007

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The application of modern methodological taphonomic approaches to Pleistocene faunal assemblages that were excavated and interpreted before taphonomic analyses became common are critical to verifying whether the original interpretations are valid. Even though taphonomic research is common in North America, Africa, and Europe, few such studies of faunal collections have been carried out in East Asia. In this regard, taphonomic analysis of the faunal assemblage from Hanaizumi, Japan serves as an excellent case study because few taphonomic re-analyses of previously excavated Pleistocene assemblages have been performed in Japan. Hanaizumi was excavated in the 1950s and the original behavioral interpretation was that hunter-gatherers were responsible for the accumulation of the faunal assemblage, which is dominated by bison (Bison priscus). The taphonomic analysis presented here indicates that evidence of human modification is present on the bones. However, results suggest that even though hunter-gatherers may have had primary access to many of the bison in the assemblage, Hanaizumi was probably not a kill site or a hunter-gatherer home base as was originally proposed. Rather, the acquisition of bison may have taken place further up river and Hanaizumi is the locality to which the already processed carcasses were transported via fluvial movement. Accordingly, it is difficult to use the Hanaizumi faunal dataset to address current paleoanthropological debates. Future fieldwork at the site may indicate that hunter-gatherers played a more significant role in the formation of the bison bone assemblage. For now, Hanaizumi is best considered an allochthonous paleontological collection that has assisted in paleoenvironmental reconstructions of Late Pleistocene Japan.

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Hyena scavenging behavior and its implications for the interpretation of faunal assemblages from FLK 22 (the zinj floor) at olduvai gorge

Cited by 102 publications

References 17 publications

Zooarcheological evidence for the faunal exploitation behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans

Zooarcheological evidence for the faunal exploitation behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans

24 Modeling the Past: The Paleoethnological Evidence

Distinguishing archeological and paleontological faunal collections from Pleistocene Japan: taphonomic perspectives from Hanaizumi

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