An ecological neo-taphonomic study of carcass consumption by lions in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania) and its relevance for human evolutionary biology

Gidna, Agness; Kisui, Bernard; Mabulla, Audax; Musiba, Charles M.; Domı́nguez-Rodrigo, Manuel

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.08.059

Cited by 73 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This means that if hominins were acquiring the complete bones from this sample, they would be further reducing the frequency of tooth marks by breaking open the bones and generating multiple fragments. This is supported by recent studies by Domínguez-Rodrigo et al (2007b) who show that tooth mark damage reported for mid-shafts from carcasses consumed by felids (cheetah, leopard and lion) and later broken by humans are <15%, is lower than in Hammerstone-carnivore scenarios where hyenas were used as secondary scavengers (see also Gidna et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…None of Blumenschine and colleagues' models strictly reproduces felids defleshing carcasses, followed by hominin removal of flesh scraps and marrow extraction and hyenas consuming the post-depositionally discarded grease from long bone ends. This sequence of taphonomic behaviors has only been experimentally modeled by Domínguez-Rodrigo (1997a, 1997b and, more recently, by Gidna et al (2013). These and Pante et al's (2012) models involving the production of tooth, percussion, and cut marks will be used in the present work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Cut-marked upper limb bones are scarce in felid-consumed carcasses processed with stone tools. This has been documented by the only two experimental samples that have targeted replicating hominin scavenging from carnivore (felid) kills (Domínguez-Rodrigo, 1997a,b;Selvaggio, 1994;see also;Gidna et al, 2013). Selvaggio (1994:54e55) acknowledged that "limbs were abandoned by lions with little or no flesh on humeri and femora.…”

Section: Cut Marksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See details of the sample and method in Gidna et al (2013). Carcasses were not exposed to subsequent modification by bonecrunching carnivores.…”

Section: Research Question 1: Carcass Access Type By Hominins At Flk mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If hominins had access to fleshed humeri, this e according to Blumenschine's (1986) carnivore carcass consumption sequence e implies substantially early to intermediate access, because after evisceration, carnivores deflesh the hindquarters and then consume meat on both limbs, starting on upper limb bones and finishing with lower limb bones. The best way to test Pante Gidna et al (2013) et al's (2012) hypothesis would be through confrontational scavenging with lions. Given the lack of such an analog, we constructed an artificial analog by combining cut mark frequencies of humeri as documented in the HeC model and cut mark frequencies of femora as experimentally documented in FeH or FeHeH models.…”

Section: Research Question 2: Were Hominins Acquiring Partially Deflementioning

confidence: 99%

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A critical re-evaluation of bone surface modification models for inferring fossil hominin and carnivore interactions through a multivariate approach: Application to the FLK Zinj archaeofaunal assemblage (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

Domı́nguez-Rodrigo

Bunn

Yravedra

2014

Quaternary International

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Article history: Available online xxx a b s t r a c t Over the past three decades, controversial interpretations of the behavioral meaning of bone surface modifications at FLK Zinj regarding primary or secondary access to carcasses by hominins have stemmed from the independent use of mark types (cut, percussion, and tooth marks) to evaluate opposing models. Such controversy has also been based on an over-reliance on tooth mark frequencies (mostly generated by non-hominin carnivores), which have been documented to be high when hyenids are primary bone modifiers, low when felids have primary access to carcasses, and high when suids feed primarily or secondarily on carcass parts. In addition, it has also been argued that the frequency of tooth marks on the FLK Zinj bones has been overidentified by some researchers, by mistaking tooth marks with biochemical marks created by plant roots. Some methodological approaches have hampered the use of cut marks to identify hominin behavior. Most of the reasons for purported equifinality of experimental scenarios are strictly methodological and are also caused by the separate rather than joint analysis of mark types. In the present work, for the first time cut marks, tooth marks, and percussion marks will be jointly analyzed, both experimentally and at FLK Zinj. Primary and secondary access to carcasses by hominins yields different frequency associations of all of these marks, which can be diagnostic of the type of access. Such mark-type relationships can only be detected when all mark types are analyzed simultaneously and not as separate sets. This multivariate approach provides a robust interpretation of primary access to carcasses by hominins at FLK Zinj.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Cut Marksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See details of the sample and method in Gidna et al (2013). Carcasses were not exposed to subsequent modification by bonecrunching carnivores.…”

Section: Research Question 1: Carcass Access Type By Hominins At Flk mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Question 2: Were Hominins Acquiring Partially Deflementioning

confidence: 99%

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A critical re-evaluation of bone surface modification models for inferring fossil hominin and carnivore interactions through a multivariate approach: Application to the FLK Zinj archaeofaunal assemblage (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

Domı́nguez-Rodrigo

Bunn

Yravedra

2014

Quaternary International

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The zooarchaeology and paleoecology of early hominin scavenging

Pobiner

2020

Evolutionary Anthropology

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Questions about the timing, frequency, resource yield, and behavioral and biological implications of large animal carcass acquisition by early hominins have been a part of the “hunting‐scavenging debate” for decades. This article presents a brief outline of this debate, reviews the zooarchaeological and modern ecological evidence for a possible scavenging niche among the earliest animal tissue‐consuming hominins (pre‐2.0 Ma), revisits some of the questions that this debate has generated, and outlines some ways to explore answers to those questions with evidence from the archaeological record.

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Record of a juvenile of Ahytherium aureum from the Late Pleistocene of the Brazilian Intertropical Region: radiocarbon dating, isotopic palaeoecology and evidence of predation by a Felidae

Costa

Araújo‐Júnior

Barbosa

et al. 2023

J Quaternary Science

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Teeth and bone remains belonging to the juvenile Megalonychidae family were found in Engrunado cave (Nova Redenção, Bahia, Brazil). We propose an index between the mesiodistal/vestibulo‐lingual measurements of caniniforms and molariforms (Imd/vl) to differentiate isolated teeth of Ahytherium aureum and Australonyx aquae, and based on this index, we suggest that the fossil material belonged to A. aureum. The diaphysis of the right humerus of A. aureum presents biogenic marks assigned to the ichnospecies Nihilichnus nihilicus, suggesting dietary interactions and potential predation by a large felid. Radiocarbon dating and carbon and oxygen isotopic analyses suggest that this individual lived in the region between 36 181 and 41 094 Cal yr bp, feeding on C3 plant resources (fruit and leaves) in a low‐density forest. The revision of radiocarbon dating and carbon and oxygen isotopes for some species found in the Engrunado cave and in the nearby Marota cave enables a climate reconstruction and indicates the maintenance of a forested environment in the region between 15 and 40 kyr.

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An ecological neo-taphonomic study of carcass consumption by lions in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania) and its relevance for human evolutionary biology

Cited by 73 publications

References 17 publications

A critical re-evaluation of bone surface modification models for inferring fossil hominin and carnivore interactions through a multivariate approach: Application to the FLK Zinj archaeofaunal assemblage (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

A critical re-evaluation of bone surface modification models for inferring fossil hominin and carnivore interactions through a multivariate approach: Application to the FLK Zinj archaeofaunal assemblage (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

The zooarchaeology and paleoecology of early hominin scavenging

Record of a juvenile of Ahytherium aureum from the Late Pleistocene of the Brazilian Intertropical Region: radiocarbon dating, isotopic palaeoecology and evidence of predation by a Felidae

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