Biological and Cultural Evidence from Prehistoric Human Coprolites

Hunter‐gatherer use of small animal food resources: coprolite evidence

“…The bone preservation from Lovelock Cave (Heizer, 1967;Heizer & Napton, 1969), Dust Devil Cave (Czaplewski, 1985) and Hinds Cave (Williams-Dean, 1978) was good enough to allow for genus identification of many bone fragments. However, the poor preservation of bone in coprolites from Danger Cave and Hogup Cave (Fry, 1977) precluded identification of most bone fragments to any taxonomic level.…”

“…Williams-Dean (1978) presented the taxa present in each coprolite, but did not break the data down into description of elements. Heizer and Napton (1969) presented the number of taxa present in the total number of coprolites, but did not describe the bones from each coprolite. Fry (1977) presented most of his data in terms of percentage of bone weight per coprolite.…”

Human intestinal parasites in the past: new findings and a review

“…The analysis of micro and macro remains like pollen, undigested seeds, fibers, small bones, scales and charcoal can reveal important aspects of diet, paleoclimate, agricultural development and prehistoric human occupation of ancient sites (Heizer & Napton 1969, Fry 1977, Reinhard & Bryant Jr 1992. Dietary habits can also be inferred when parasites with intermediate host life cycles are found in coprolites and in latrine material (Callen & Camaron 1960, Patrucco et al 1983.…”

Synthesizing Parasitology with Archaeology in Paleopathology

“…Coprolites from Great Basin sites were the focus of defining publications in the exploratory phase. Heizer and Napton ( 1969) summarized the analyses of coprolites from Lovelock Cave, Nevada. At this site, archaeoparasitological study revealed no evidence that hunter-gatherer lifeways limited parasitism in some areas (Reinhard 1988).…”