The archaeology and paleoenvironment of an Upper Pleistocene hyena den: An integrated approach

Pleistocene cave hyenas in the Iberian Peninsula: New insights from Los Aprendices cave (Moncayo, Zaragoza

“…In other words, if the hyena had been with a clan of cave hyenas at the time of its death, these other hyenas would have scavenged on its carcass, causing a large part of the skeleton to disappear and dispersing the bones (Figure 18). Cannibalistic and scavenging activities of this sort have been recorded in many central European sites (Diedrich, 2005(Diedrich, , 2011a(Diedrich, , 2011b(Diedrich, , 2011c(Diedrich, , 2011d(Diedrich, , 2012a(Diedrich, , 2012b(Diedrich, , 2014Villa et al, 2010). FIGURE 18.…”

“…The accumulations generated by hyenas tend to show a great number of carnivore tooth marks (Diedrich, 2011a(Diedrich, , 2011b(Diedrich, , 2011c(Diedrich, , 2012b, with 60-100% of the sample altered. At fossil sites where alterations to remains have been attributed to hyenas (Blumenschine, 1986;Blumenschine and Marean, 1993;Domínguez-Rodrigo, 1994;Marean and Kim, 1998;Yravedra, 2006;Villa et al, 2010), the percentage of bones with tooth marks is greater than 40%. By contrast, accumulations produced by medium-sized carnivores result in a percentage of altered remains of no more than 25% (Brain, 1981;.…”

Studying Pleistocene Neanderthal and cave hyena Dietary Habits: Combining Isotopic and Archaeozoological Analyses

“…A large bone assemblage and a small number of stone tools have been excavated (Bartram and Villa 1998). Electron spin resonance dates suggest that the bone assemblage was accumulated around 69.7±4.1 ka (Villa et al 2010). Large amounts of coprolites are present, as well as juvenile hyena bones and deciduous teeth.…”

“…This impression is reinforced by the importance of the herbivore size class 3/4 category (Villa et al 2004). Analysis of micromammals and pollen from coprolites indicates that the assemblage was accumulated during cold, steppic conditions (Sesé and Villa 2008;Villa et al 2010).…”

An exclusively hyena-collected bone assemblage in the Late Pleistocene of Sicily: taphonomy and stratigraphic context of the large mammal remains from San Teodoro Cave (North-Eastern Sicily, Italy)

“…Hyenas are considered as an important taphonomic agent in the formation of many bone assemblages from African and European PlioePleistocene sites and evidence of alternate occupation by humans and hyenas has been frequently recognized (e.g., Arribas and Palmqvist, 1998;Brugal et al, 1997;Diedrich, 2009;Diedrich and Zák, 2006;Enloe et al, 2000;Fernández Rodríguez et al, 1995;Fosse, 1994Fosse, , 1996Fosse, , 1997Klein, 1975;Klein and Cruz-Uribe, 1984;Klein et al, 1991;Marean et al, 2000;Palmqvist and Arribas, 2001;Palmqvist et al, 1996;Stiner, 1991Stiner, , 1992Villa and Bartram, 1996;Villa et al, 2004Villa et al, , 2009. Many actualistic studies have been conducted in order to clarify the role of these carnivores in the formation of the archaeological and/or palaeontological record (e.g., Binford, 1981;Brain, 1981;Bunn, 1983;Capaldo and Blumenschine, 1994;Faith and Behrensmeyer, 2006;Faith et al, 2007;Hill, 1980Hill, , 1984Hill, , 1989Holekamp and Smale, 1998;Holekamp et al, 1997;Kruuk, 1972;Kuhn et al, 2010;Lansing et al, 2009;Pickering, 2002;Pokines and Kerbis Peterhans, 2007;Sutcliffe, 1970).…”