The contribution of limb bone fracture patterns to reconstructing early hominid behaviour at Swartkrans cave (South Africa): archaeological application of a new analytical method

Pickering, Travis Rayne; Domı́nguez-Rodrigo, Manuel; Egeland, Charles P.; Brain, C. K.

doi:10.1002/oa.780

Cited by 78 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…They were put together and a perfect match was observed (Figures 2, 3), leaving only a small notch in the medial face and a larger one in the lateral face, which is interpreted as a conchoidal flaked oblique (hence perimortem) fracture like those caused by an impact when the bone was still fresh (Fisher, 1995;Pickering et al, 2005).…”

Section: Bone Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Biases in the study of relationships between biodiversity dynamics and fluctuation of environmental conditions

Jouve¹,

Mennecart

Douteau³

2017

Palaeontologia Electronica

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The hyoid apparatus in fossil Xenarthrans is rarely preserved. Its largest bone, the stylohyal, is the most frequently found as an isolated element. It is known for some species of Pleistocene ground sloths (Megalonyx jeffersonii, Megatherium americanum, Paramylodon harlani, Nothrotheriops shastensis, Glossotherium robustum and Scelidotherium leptocephalum) but not for the largest mylodontid Lestodon armatus. Here we describe a right stylohyal found in the late Pleistocene megafaunal bonebed of the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site, Uruguay, as two perfectly matched pieces that were within a few centimeters of each other. A small notch, possibly a conchoidal flaked perimortem fracture, is observed in the lateral face. The specimen, whose general form is a sinusoid cylinder with the proximal end expanded and compressed, must have belonged to a juvenile individual, since it lacks both the distal and proximal surfaces that articulate with the skull and the epihyal, respectively. Instead, both ends show an irregular surface as those seen in the contact with the growth cartilage. Additionally, its maximum length is 105 mm, larger than the equivalent part of the stylohyal of adult Glossotherium. At the expanded proximal end that articulates with the skull the large fossa found in Glossotherium and Scelidotherium cannot be observed, which could be due to a taxonomic difference, to the stage of growth or both of them. The bone shows marks, several interpreted as caused by trampling and at least one with features as those left by human tools.

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Section: Bone Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Biases in the study of relationships between biodiversity dynamics and fluctuation of environmental conditions

Jouve¹,

Mennecart

Douteau³

2017

Palaeontologia Electronica

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“…Typically, hominids accomplished this by using unmodified cobbles, or hammerstones, to batter open those bones. Fortunately for the zooarchaeologist, this activity usually results in several classes of diagnostic taphonomic data, including percussion marks [e.g., 6,7,50,53], percussion notches [e.g., 4,11,13,18,29], impact flakes [e.g., 13,18] and specific edge geometry of fractured bone specimens [2,18,46].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental patterns of hammerstone percussion damage on bones: implications for inferences of carcass processing by humans

Pickering

Egeland

2006

Journal of Archaeological Science

256

144

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The common occurrence of hammerstone percussion damage (pits, striae, notches and impact flakes) on the fossil limb bones of ungulates indicates that marrow extraction has been an important component of hominid butchery for over two million years. Beyond this level of basic inference, it would be behaviorally informative if three deeper aspects of marrow harvesting were understood more clearly: (1) whether interelement patterns of bone fragmentation vary when processing intensity is held constant; (2) whether butcher investment in marrow extraction correlates positively with the number of percussion marks generated; (3) whether taphonomic effectors can be identified based on percussion mark morphology, frequency and placement. Some experimental work has been conducted previously in service of exploring these questions, but we set out here to address them explicitly through the analysis of a large sample of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) limb elements fractured by hammerstone percussion. Our results indicate that (1) measures of bone fragmentation, which supposedly reflect processing intensity, are highly contingent on the research question being posed. This stresses the fact that researchers must be explicit in their definition of processing intensity. (2) In addition, hypothesized covariance between number of hammerstone blows and percussion mark frequencies are not met in our sample, corroborating previous conclusions of a lack of covariance between cutting strokes and cutmark frequencies. These results highlight the contingent nature of butchery mark production, and emphasize the need to investigate carcass resource exploitation by posing questions that do not rely on mark frequencies, but instead utilize other zooarchaeological measures. (3) Finally, our resultsdshowing high incidences of impact notches and flakes created by direct anvil contact and ''anvil scratches'' created by direct hammerstone contactdsuggest caution in using specific categories of percussion damage to infer their taphonomic effectors.

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“…Breakage patterns of both animal and human long bones have long been the subject of intensive research, especially carnivore and hammer stone fracturing of fresh bone (e.g., DART 1957, BINFORD 1981, BRAIN 1981, MORLAN 1984, JOHNSON 1985, LYMAN 1987, BLUMENSHINE 1988, VILLA and MAHIEU 1991, BARTRAM and MARREAN 1999, PICKERING et al 2004. Based on these findings, we take a closer look at the Blind River femur.…”

Section: Squatting Traitsmentioning

confidence: 92%

A re-examination of a human femur found at the Blind River Site, East London, South Africa: Its age, morphology, and breakage pattern

Wang

Tobias

Roberts

et al. 2008

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Modern human femoral features might have appeared in the early Middle Stone Age (156 ka to 20 ka) in South Africa, as demonstrated by the recent re-examination of a human femur fossil found at the Blind River Site, East London in the 1930s, if new dating results hold. Two optically stimulated luminescence dates from the relocated original Blind River shallow marine/estuarine deposits that contained the femur gave almost identical ages of ~120 ka, corresponding to the early part of the Last Interglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 5). Overall, the slender headless femur is of modern human form. The distal epiphysis bears some typical squatting features, including a newly recognized squatting facet on the anterior wall of the intercondylar fossa. With the typical V-shaped and oblique fracture pattern left by the missing head, the Blind River femur was most likely modified through human activity. But this style is not a cultural trait found in recent South African people. Further study is needed to place this specimen in its due context in the course of human evolution.

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The contribution of limb bone fracture patterns to reconstructing early hominid behaviour at Swartkrans cave (South Africa): archaeological application of a new analytical method

Cited by 78 publications

References 32 publications

Biases in the study of relationships between biodiversity dynamics and fluctuation of environmental conditions

Biases in the study of relationships between biodiversity dynamics and fluctuation of environmental conditions

Experimental patterns of hammerstone percussion damage on bones: implications for inferences of carcass processing by humans

A re-examination of a human femur found at the Blind River Site, East London, South Africa: Its age, morphology, and breakage pattern

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