Volumen 9. Issue 1. Year 2011.

2020-03-28T19:21:40+02:00octubre 26th, 2019|Volumen 9. Issue 1. Year 2011.|

VOLUME 9. NUMBER 1. 2011

How Can Taphonomy Be Defined in the XXI Century?

Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, Sixto Fernández-López, Luis Alcalá.

Keywords: TAPHONOMY, ARCHAEOLOGY, PALAEONTOLOGY, PALAEOBIOLOGY, BIOSTRATINOMY, FOSSIL-DIAGENESIS

[+info] VOLUME 9. ISSUE 1. 2011 (1 issue)

Taphonomy, as a branch of learning and a research area, has undergone a tremendous growth in the past few decades. It has extended its application from palaeontology to other disciplines, it has broadened its referential scope and has incorporated humans as taphonomic agents. This has affected the way taphonomy is perceived by its practitioners and requires a modification of its definition, following a process that is common in most evolving natural science disciplines.

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Badger (Meles meles) Remains Within Caves as an Analytical Tool to Test the Integrity of Stratified Sites: The Contribution of Unikoté Cave (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France).

Jean-Baptiste Mallye

Keywords: BADGER, BIOTURBATION, TAPHONOMY, SPATIAL ANALYSIS, REFITTINGS, SITE FORMATION PROCESSES, UNIKOTÉ CAVE

[+info] VOLUME 9. ISSUE 1. 2011 (2 issue)

This papers deals with the analysis of Eurasian badger (Meles meles) remains in an archaeological context. Eurasian badgers dig large burrows as living structures and so the identification of their remains in archaeological context appears doubtful. More than 400 remains of these small carnivores were recovered from Unikoté Cave. This site is assumed to be a hyena den with the occurrence of human remains and lithic artefacts. In this paper, we aimed to: 1) explain how and why so many remains of these carnivores are recognised at Unikoté Cave; 2) evaluate the role of Eurasian badgers in site formation processes and 3) to test the archaeological relevance of a bioturbated site.

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A Taphonomic Study of Wild Wolf (Canis lupus) Modification of Horse Bones in Northwestern Spain.

José Yravedra, Laura Lagos, Felipe Bárcena.

Keywords: TAPHONOMY, WOLF, WILD HORSE, HUNTING, SCAVENGING, TOOTH MARKS

[+info] VOLUME 9. ISSUE 1. 2011 (3 issue)

Taphonomic studies of carnivores have become an integral part of taphonomic research in the past two decades. These studies are developing a referential framework for the identification of carnivore signature variety in the fossil record. Hyaenas and felids are predominant in these studies, whereas other carnivores such as wolves have not received as much attention yet. This paper analyses wild horse carcasses processed by wild wolves and discusses the implications for the study of site formation in the Euroasian Pleistocene. Carcasses have undergone different kinds of consumption by wild wolves and show important differences in the degree of bone modification according to wolf hunting and scavenging strategies. The different degree of bone destruction when consumed in one or many events is also discussed.

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The Taphonomist´s Corner: Fossil microorganisms.

María Dolores Pesquero

Keywords

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Volumen 10. Issue 2. Year 2012.

2020-03-28T19:22:55+02:00octubre 26th, 2019|Volumen 10. Issue 2. Year 2012.|

VOLUME 10. NUMBER 2. 2012

Can Colour Be Used as a Proxy for Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions Based on Archaeological Bones? El Harhoura 2 (Morocco) Case Study.

Yannicke Dauphin, Roland Nespoulet, Emmanuelle Stoetzel, Mohamed Abdeljalil el Hajraoui, Christiane Denys.

Keywords: BONE COLOUR, EL HARHOURA 2, RODENTS, TAPHONOMY, PROXY

[+info] VOLUME 10. ISSUE 2. 2012 (1 issue)

The El Harhoura 2 cave (Temara region, Morocco) has yielded abundant micromammal remains. Eleven sedimentary layers have been identified in the Late Pleistocene-Middle Holocene series. Rodent bones show various colours from white to black. Conodont colour alteration index is a widely used technique for assessing maturation and diagenesis. Despite fossil and archaeological bones may be black due to mineral staining (manganese) or burning, a similar index does not exist. We perform colour measurements in the visible light of the external surface of archaeological Meriones bones. Specific wavelengths were then selected for multivariate statistical analyses to try to characterize and differentiate the sedimentary layers. In this preliminary study, the origin of the colour is not yet known, despite some spots are Mn deposits. In the future, we hope that colour measurement, a non destructive analysis, will be used as a taphonomic index to estimate the state of preservation and history of fossil and archaeological sites.

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Recent Indian Porcupine (Hystrix indica) Burrows and their Impact on Ancient Faunal and Human Remains: A Case Study from Tel Zahara (Israel).

Liora Kolska Horwitz, Susan L. Cohen, Wieslaw Wi?ckowski, Henk K. Mienis, Jill Baker, Emilia Jastrzebska.

Keywords: HYSTRIX INDICA, NEAR EAST, TEL ZAHARA, PORCUPINE BURROWS BONE DAMAGE, BIOTURBATION

[+info] VOLUME 10. ISSUE 2. 2012 (2 issue)

It has long been known that porcupines accumulate and modify bones, but few actualistic studies on the contents of porcupine burrows have been undertaken. Here we present the results of an investigation of recent Indian porcupine (Hystrix indica) burrows that riddle the archaeological site of Tel Zahara (Israel). Faunal remains were recovered from the den entrances and inside a burrow system that we excavated. Bones exhibiting typical porcupine gnaw-damage i.e., flat-bottomed parallel grooves, were recovered from all dens, but no clear porcupine damage was evident on human osteological remains that were encountered by the porcupines during excavation of their dens. The surface patina of many of the bones is dark, signifying long-term burial, and is probably indicative of their archaeological origin. Porcupine gnawed areas on these bones are lighter in colour and so post-date the patina. Compared to the Roman period deposits on the tel, the den assemblage contains significantly higher numbers of wild taxa, a lower proportion of large-sized taxa, but a similar proportion of bones of medium-sized taxa, suggesting preferential selection of smaller-sized bones. Both tel and den deposits comprise similar frequencies of burnt bones and body part breakdowns are alike. As expected, higher frequencies of rodent and carnivore gnawed bones were found in the den samples. The results suggest that the porcupine burrow sample is a selected sub-set of the Roman faunal assemblage from the tel. This study has led us to conclude that the Indian porcupine plays a significant role as an agent of bioturbation of archaeological sediments and also as a collector and modifier of bones.

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With Only One Flake. An Experiment About the Possibilities of Processing a Carcass with Flint during Hunting.

Santiago David Domínguez-Solera.

Keywords: FLINT, EXPERIMENTAL TAPHONOMY, HUNTING

[+info] VOLUME 10. ISSUE 2. 2012 (3 issue)

Inspired on the present Inuit hunting techniques, a small experiment was designed to estimate the extent of butchery that could be carried out with only one flint flake in the process of preparing a female fallow deer (Dama dama) for transportation. The results are useful to understand the potential and economy of flint flakes in prehistoric times.

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The Taphonomist´s Corner: Out-of-water shells.

Juan Carlos Braga

Keywords

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