The shaft‐based methodological approach to the quantification of long limb bones and its relevance to understanding hominid subsistence in the Pleistocene: application to four Palaeolithic sites

Abstract

The present work contributes to the debate of skeletal part use in archaeology to reconstruct hominid economic behaviour during the Pleistocene. It doubles the sample of sites where comparison of long limb bone element quantification is made by using alternative identification techniques based on epiphyses and epiphyses plus shafts. A refined method of long limb element quantification using shafts is discussed and applied to four sites representing different time periods from the end of the Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Upper Pleistocene. It is shown that when long limb elements are properly quantified a hypothesis of early access to carcasses at these sites can be supported. The data thus drawn are also used to compare skeletal part evenness across the time periods represented by the four sites selected. The results indicate low-cost transport decisions by hominids at these sites.

Micromamíferos del Pleistoceno Medio y Pleistoceno Superior en el Valle del Jarama: yacimientos de Valdocarros y HAT (Madrid, España)

“…y Elephas sp. (Yravedra & Domínguez-Rodrigo, 2008). Finalmente hay un reducido núme-ro de restos de carnívoros como Felix sp., Canis lupus o Vulpes vulpes.…”

“…La presencia de este tipo de marcas de corte en restos de carnívoros es inusual en el registro arqueológico anterior al Pleistoceno Superior. Yravedra & Domínguez-Rodrigo (2008) han realizado un análisis preliminar sobre la significación de los perfiles esqueléticos documentados en este yacimiento. Un conjunto con una representación esquelética dominada por elementos craneales y metápodos, es susceptible de indicar un comportamiento carroñero (Vrba, 1980;Binford, 1981Binford, y 1984Stiner, 1994).…”

“…Un conjunto con una representación esquelética dominada por elementos craneales y metápodos, es susceptible de indicar un comportamiento carroñero (Vrba, 1980;Binford, 1981Binford, y 1984Stiner, 1994). En Valdocarros (incluyendo las diáfisis en la determinación de piezas), los húmeros y los fémures son los elementos más numerosos, lo que unido a la presencia de marcas de cortes en las zonas de los huesos con mayor potencial cárnico, lleva a considerar a Yravedra & Domínguez-Rodrigo (2008) que los homínidos fueron el principal agente de acumulación de todo el registro óseo de macromamíferos. Dichos autores (o.c.)…”

Last Interglacial (MIS 5) ungulate assemblage from the Central Iberian Peninsula: The Camino Cave (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid, Spain)

“…(Solés and Maroto, 2002;Maroto et al, 2012) and Valdocarros site (Yravedra and Domínguez-Rodrigo, 2009;Sesé et al, 2011;Blain et al, 2012). Dama cf.…”

Critical review of the MNI (minimum number of individuals) as a zooarchaeological unit of quantification

“…insertion of teres and lateral foramen in humerus; foramen, various lineae and parts of the linea aspera in femur; foramen, ulna insertion in radius and foramen, caudal set of linear muscle insertions in tibia) are, however, ignored. Thus, the SU-modified QSP system is not actually unique, as analytical division of ungulate long limb bones is actually a common practice in zooarchaeological (see review of previous systems and synthesis of them in Yravedra and Dominguez-Rodrigo 2009). …”