Taphonomic Analysis of the Faunal Assemblage Associated with the Hominins (Australopithecus sediba) from the Early Pleistocene Cave Deposits of Malapa, South Africa

Abstract

Here we present the results of a taphonomic study of the faunal assemblage associated with the hominin fossils (Australopithecus sediba) from the Malapa site. Results include estimation of body part representation, mortality profiles, type of fragmentation, identification of breakage patterns, and microscopic analysis of bone surfaces. The diversity of the faunal spectrum, presence of animals with climbing proclivities, abundance of complete and/or articulated specimens, occurrence of antimeric sets of elements, and lack of carnivore-modified bones, indicate that animals accumulated via a natural death trap leading to an area of the cave system with no access to mammalian scavengers. The co-occurrence of well preserved fossils, carnivore coprolites, deciduous teeth of brown hyaena, and some highly fragmented and poorly preserved remains supports the hypothesis of a mixing of sediments coming from distinct chambers, which collected at the bottom of the cave system through the action of periodic water flow. This combination of taphonomic features explains the remarkable state of preservation of the hominin fossils as well as some of the associated faunal material.

Pleistocene Bovidae (Mammalia) from Malapa, Gauteng Province, South Africa

“…This paper provides complimentary taphonomic analyses that focus solely on specimens in the Family Bovidae. The specific results provided in this paper provide a more in depth analysis of the bovids, which are comparable with the more general results of the entire assemblage from Val et al (2015).…”

“…The faunal list presented in this paper is different than Dirks et al (2010) and Val et al (2015) based on a reanalysis of the Malapa bovid data. It is not possible to highlight exactly which identifications differ from Dirks et al (2010) due to the fact that they do not provide accession numbers for their identifications.…”

“…It is not possible to highlight exactly which identifications differ from Dirks et al (2010) due to the fact that they do not provide accession numbers for their identifications. Table 8 illustrates the differ- ences between those suggested in this paper and those in Val et al (2015). It is important to note that the purpose of Dirks et al (2010) and Val et al (2015) was not explicitly to identify the bovids.…”

“…Complete or mostly complete bones suggest that little to no modification affected the bone prior to deposition. This research expands on Val et al (2015), which included a taphonomic analysis of the entire vertebrate assemblage of Malapa. This paper provides complimentary taphonomic analyses that focus solely on specimens in the Family Bovidae.…”

Naledi: An example of how natural phenomena can inspire metaphysical assumptions

“…This vertical opening into the void below would have prevented scavengers from being able to reach the bodies, which would explain the absence of mammal scavenger gnaw marks on the bones similar to the taphonomy at Malapa described by Val et al (2015).…”