Taphonomy

Cutmark frequencies are often cited in discussions of Oldowan hominid behavior, yet their interpretation remains enigmatic. To strengthen inferences derived from cutmark data, we conducted experiments with Turkana butchers. We test two hypotheses: (1) cutmark frequency is related to the amount of meat present, and (2) cutmark frequency is related to the size of the bone/carcass being butchered. Hypothesis 1 is not supported, while hypothesis 2 is supported. We document a positive correlation between bone/carcass size and cutmark frequency. We therefore advocate treating bones/ carcasses of different sizes as analytically discrete units.

En la presente tesis se presentan los primeros resultados obtenidos del análisis del registro óseo faunístico correspondiente a las diez primeras unidades de recolección provenientes de las prospecciones superficiales sistemáticas efectuadas en el año 2003 en el sitio Laguna El Doce (LED). Dicho sitio se encuentra ubicado en la margen noreste de la laguna homónima (Departamento General López, Provincia de Santa Fe), a 13 km del pueblo de San Eduardo, en el sector del borde occidental de la Pampa Húmeda, más específicamente en lo que se denomina Pampa Deprimida (Frengüelli 1950) o Pampa de las lagunas del sur de la provincia de Santa Fe (Pasotti y Castellanos 1967).
Este análisis pretende ponderar la información arqueológica que puede ser obtenida de sitios de superficie, frente a la tradicional perspectiva que considera la excavación controlada por niveles como aproximación excluyente en arqueología. En ocasiones, diferentes modificaciones en el paisaje generan las condiciones que posibilitan el estudio de evidencias antrópicas de sitios previamente en estratigrafía, que fueron expuestos a causa de una serie de dinámicas y complejas modificaciones erosivas, eólicas y/o hídricas y/o sus combinaciones. En el caso de LED, las fluctuaciones periódicas en el nivel de agua de la laguna debido al régimen pluvial, han remodelado la línea de costa produciendo el desmoronamiento progresivo de la barranca, exponiendo una importante magnitud y diversidad de evidencia arqueológica. Esta ha sufrido una serie de fenómenos naturales que han producido su sesgo, transporte, mezcla y/o fragmentación. Conocer y medir estos procesos, resulta imprescindible como primer paso previo a realizar cualquier análisis interpretativo del sitio.
En este sentido, el objetivo principal de este trabajo de tesis es examinar los
diferentes agentes involucrados en los procesos de formación y transformación que
tuvieron lugar en el sitio arqueológico LED desde el estudio de los restos de fauna
recuperados en el mismo. Para llevar adelante este objetivo se considero importante
realizar el estudio desde una perspectiva tafonómica (Behrensmeyer 1991; Borrero 1988; Lyman 1994a, 1994b; Mengoni Goñalons 1999). Ya que consideramos que los
estudios tafonómicos proveen un marco de referencia que permite identificar los agentes y procesos culturales y naturales que afectan y afectaron la distribución espacial, estructuración y preservación del material recuperado en sitios arqueológicos, tanto desde una perspectiva local como regional.

The palaeoecology of the primitive, limbed snake Pachyrhachis is reevaluated. Previously considered to have been preserved in a shallow bay with a nearby freshwater source, it is here demonstrated to have inhabited an inter‐reef basin. Evidence for this comes from the position of the nearest palaeoshoreline (450 km away), the finely laminated carbonate mudstones, and the absence of bioturba‐tion, alluvium, and unequivocally terrestrial or freshwater taxa. Marine adaptations of Pachyrhachis include the laterally compressed body and heavily ossified (pachyostotic) vertebrae and ribs. Hydrodynamic considerations indicate that it was a slow swimmer, and thus an ambush rather than pursuit predator. Morphology of the anterior vertebrae suggests that the strike muscles were well‐developed. The narrow head and neck might have been adaptations to reduce water resistance during rapid lunges, and/or to forage in burrows or tight crevices.

Umhlatuzana rockshelter has an occupation sequence spanning the last 70,000 years. It is one of the few sites with deposits covering the Middle to Later Stone Age transition (~40,000-30,000 years BP) in southern Africa. Comprehending the site's depositional history and occupation sequence is thus important for the broader understanding of the development of Homo sapiens' behavior. The rockshelter was first excavated in the 1980s by Jonathan Kaplan. He suggested that the integrity of the late Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age sediments was compromised by large-scale sediment movement. In 2018, we initiated a high-resolution geoarchaeological study of the site to clarify the site formation processes. Here, we present the results of the excavation and propose a revised stratigraphic division of the Pleistocene sequence based on field observations , sedimentological (particle size) analyses, and cluster analysis. The taphonomy of the site is assessed through phytolith and geo...

Fossil occurrences across the world are endangered by development, construction, collecting, and vandalism, even though many outstanding examples have been protected by World Heritage Sites, national parks, monuments and reserves, state and provincial parks, and local government and non-profit organizations, as well as some private individuals. The International Palaeontological Association (IPA) established a PaleoParks Initiative to protect endangered sites and to catalog and make public established parks of any nature that protect fossils in the ground, a primary source of scientific data, educational opportunities and recreational activities, as well as key places protecting "living fossils". IPA has 15 aims and goals and a web site for documenting both established and proposed sites. IPA sponsored meetings and workshops at three international meetings over the past five years to discuss these problems, successful solutions, and its goals and aims. Ten examples of Pale...

In the context of increased scrutiny of the methods in forensic sciences, it is essential to ensure that the approaches used in forensic taphonomy to measure decomposition and estimate the postmortem interval are underpinned by robust evidence-based data. Digital photographs are an important source of documentation in forensic taphonomic investigations but the suitability of the current approaches for photographs, rather than real-time remains, is poorly studied which can undermine accurate forensic conclusions. The present study aimed to investigate the suitability of 2D colour digital photographs for evaluating decomposition of exposed human analogues (Sus scrofa domesticus) in a tropical savanna environment (Hawaii), using two published scoring methods; Megyesi et al., 2005 and Keough et al., 2017. It was found that there were significant differences between the real-time and photograph decomposition scores when the Megyesi et al. method was used. However, the Keough et al. metho...

RESUMEN Se comparan las normativas vigentes sobre practicas sanitarias de conservacion cadaverica requeridas para el traslado de cadaveres, en las diferentes Comunidades autonomas y la legislacion estatal. Los criterios tenidos en cuenta han sido: que practicas sanitarias se incluyen en la normativa, cuales pueden llevarse a cabo en cadaveres de riesgo sanitario, cuando se requiere su realizacion, en que momento tras el fallecimiento pueden realizarse y que profesionales las pueden llevarlas a cabo y/o responsabilizarse de las mismas. En el momento de finalizar el articulo se esta tramitando la publicacion del nuevo decreto de sanidad mortuoria de Andalucia, asi mismo se esta elaborando, por parte del Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social, un Real Decreto sobre “Condiciones tecnico sanitarias basicas en materia de traslado internacional de cadaveres, restos humanos y restos cadavericos”.

Two outstanding Permian petrified forests, those of Chemnitz, in Germany, and northern Tocantins, in Brazil, contribute to the understanding of the composition, peculiarities and dynamics of Early Permian wetland ecosystems. These assemblages represent seasonally influenced, essentially contemporaneous but quite comparable, tree-fern-dominated plant communities in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Chemnitz fossils are embedded in coarse-grained pyroclastics of the Zeisigwald Tuff Horizon (Leukersdorf Formation, Erzgebirge Basin), whereas those of Tocantins occur in different lithofacies of a cyclic alluvial succession (Pedra de Fogo/Motuca formations, Parnaíba Basin). The outstanding three-dimensional preservation of particularly large fossil remains, made possible by siliceous permineralization, provides the opportunity to study the gross morphology , anatomy and internal organization of plant tissues, as well as taphonomical and ecological aspects of late Palaeozoic plants in a way not allowed by other preservational states. Recent studies of newly collected material permit a re-evaluation of the popular reconstructions of Early Permian floras. Various plant-plant and plant-animal interactions add to our understanding of two diverse lowland ecosystems that, irrespective of their different palaeogeographic position and taphonomic modes, show striking similarities.

The study of cremated human remains from archaeological contexts has traditionally been viewed as less valuable than the study of inhumed bodies. However, recent methodological and theoretical developments regarding the taphonomic processes that transform the human body during cremation have highlighted their potential for understanding past cultural and funerary practices. This study combines the first application of spectroscopic with more traditional methods of studying cremated bone to examine Romano-British contexts, with the aim of better understanding funerary practices along the military frontier. Five Romano-British military sites from northern England (Beckfoot, Carlisle, Herd Hill, Lincoln and Malton) were studied, with remains excavated from a range of cinerary urn contexts. Despite the known heterogeneity of the ethnic composition of the Roman army, analyses revealed a surprising consistency with respect to the cremation practice, implying shared knowledge of pyre procedure and, possibly, a prescribed funerary practice amongst military communities in the Roman North. The consistency within these five northern provincial sites in Britain stands in contrast to cremation contexts from Roman sites elsewhere in Europe, as well as other periods of the British past. The associated material culture recovered from these cremation deposits, however, does provide evidence for differences in dress and bodily display. This contrasts with the homogeneity of the cremation technology and highlights the importance of these individualizing features for signalling identity amongst Roman military communities in Britain.

Pollen analysis has long been used as a tool to make an assessment of regional vegetation. On-site pollen samples are taken for the same purpose at some excavations, because they are often the only available contexts with good preservation conditions. This paper shows that the analysis of on-and off-site pollen samples from the same region (West Frisia, the Netherlands) and time period (Dutch Bronze Age; ca. 2000-800 bc) can give very conflicting results on the type and amount of regional vegetation, in this case forest cover. Reasons for this discrepancy are discussed in relation to the use of on-site contexts by people in the past, as well as their location within a settlement. Furthermore, the potential of these contexts for the assessment of locally performed subsistence-related activities is outlined. New research directions are required to test this potential, so that wells and other man-made pollen traps can become a valuable future tool for reconstructing the past.

This work updates the zooarchaeological and taphonomic data available for La Peña de Estebanvela (Ayllón, Segovia). Diverse subsistence strategies appear to have been followed, making use of a wide range of resources. Rabbits, goats, chamois, red deer, roe deer, horses and even carnivores such as the lynx were hunted and processed by humans. The simultaneous presence of these animals in certain layers suggests that Magdalenian hunters exploited many ecological niches, making use of open areas favourable to horses and Equus hydruntinus, wooded areas favourable to red deer, roe deer and rabbits, and mountainous areas favourable to chamois. The skeletal profiles for the different taxa suggest game was brought intact to the site and, therefore, that hunting took place close to the site.

RESUMEN Se comparan las normativas vigentes sobre prácticas sanitarias de conservación cadavérica requeridas para el traslado de cadáveres, en las diferentes Comunidades autónomas y la legis-lación estatal. Los criterios tenidos en cuenta han sido: qué prácticas sanitarias se incluyen en la normativa, cuáles pueden llevarse a cabo en cadáveres de riesgo sanitario, cuándo se requie-re su realización, en qué momento tras el falle-cimiento pueden realizarse y qué profesionales las pueden llevarlas a cabo y/o responsabilizar-se de las mismas. En el momento de finalizar el artículo se está tramitando la publicación del nuevo decreto de sanidad mortuoria de Anda-lucía, así mismo se está elaborando, por parte del Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienes-tar Social, un Real Decreto sobre "Condiciones técnico sanitarias básicas en materia de traslado internacional de cadáveres, restos humanos y restos cadavéricos". ABSTRACT Comparative normative on sanitary practices of cadaveric pr...

Qualitative discrimination criteria are employed commonly to distinguish cultural shell middens from natural shell deposits. Quantitative discrimination criteria remain less developed beyond an assumption that natural shell beds tend to contain a wider range of shell sizes compared to cultural shell middens. This study further tests this assumption and provides the first comparative quantitative analysis of shell sizes from cultural mid-dens, bird middens, and beach shell beds. Size distributions of opercula of the marine gastropod Turbo undulatus within two modern Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus) middens are compared with two Aboriginal middens (early and late Holocene) and two modern beach deposits from southeast Australia. Results reveal statistically significant differences between bird middens and other types of shell deposits, and that opercula size distributions are useful to distinguish Aboriginal middens from bird middens but not from beach deposits. Supplementary qualitative analysis of taphonomic alteration of opercula reveal similar opercula breakage patterns in human and bird mid-dens, and further support previously recognised criteria to distinguished beach deposits (water rolling and bioerosion) and human middens (burning). Although Pacific Gulls are geographically restricted to southern Australia, the known capacity of gulls (Larus spp.) in other coastal contexts around the world to accumulate shell deposits indicates the broader methodological relevance of our study.

On the south coast of British Columbia in shíshálh traditional territory, an ancient burial ground (DjRw-14) contains the remains of richly decorated individuals dated to the Charles culture (4000-3500 B.P.). In addition to other grave offerings, the burials contain stone and shell beads ranging in numbers from hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Associated with these highly decorated burials is a faunal assemblage characterized by a low frequency of marine fauna and a high proportion of land mammal, particularly black-tailed deer. These proportions of animals are considered a-typical of Northwest Coast shell midden deposits and may represent specific mortuary or ritual activities associated with honoring the deceased. With an emphasis on deer remains, a zooarchaeological analysis assesses the possible role of animal remains in mortuary activities. In order to establish if the faunal assemblage from DjRw-14 is indeed unique, with its high frequency of deer remains and low numbers of marine fauna, the site assemblage is considered in comparison to other sites in the Gulf of Georgia with similar cultural components. Ethnographic and archaeological evidence of Coast Salish mortuary practices and beliefs are examined to better understand the ritual acts that took place at DjRw-14. The site ceases to be used as a burial ground with the termination of the Charles Culture, but patterns in fauna remain stable, attesting to the persistence of mortuary traditions. The social and political implications of continuing these traditions are considered in terms of creating and maintaining a social memory and an attachment to an ancestral landscape. The results of this study are critical to better understanding foodways and ritual expression in shíshálh funerary practice. The context in which we find animal remains offers the opportunity to explore expressions of mortuary customs and beliefs within the Salish landscape.

We present volume bone mineral density values from five different canid species: domestic dog (Canis familiaris), wolf (Canis lupus), coyote (Canis latrans), red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and swift fox (Vulpes velox). We use these density values to investigate Canidae remains from four archaeological sites in western Canada and show the importance of explicitly stating assumptions made about the original composition of the deposited faunal assemblage as this influences whether correlations are found between density and
percent survivorship (%MAU)

Four juvenile specimens referable to Pinacosaurus grangeri (Ankylosauria: Dinosauria) are described from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) locality Bayan Mandahu in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (People’s Republic of China). All the specimens preserve the skulls as well as, in some cases, mandibles, postcrania, and osteoderm. They are not taphonomically deformed by expanding matrix distortion, unlike many Gobi specimens, including the holotype of P. grangeri. Bayan Mandahu is also the type locality for Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus. The proximity in space and time of these two closely related species warrants a generic and specific revision for Pinacosaurus. The distinction of the two species is based on characters of the squamosal dermal elaborations, cranial roof posterior to the orbits, premaxillary notch, and distal margin of the ilium. Although a relatively well-represented ankylosaur taxon, the phylogenetic position of Pinacosaurus has not been unequivocally resolved. A new analysis recovers Pinacosaurus as the most basal member of the Ankylosaurinae.

The article presents the diagnosis and aetiology of an arthropathological horse (Equus sp.) radius from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Pfeddersheim (Rhine-Hesse, Germany). For the contextualisation of the results the chronological and archaeological frame of the site, the taphonomic history of the faunal assemblage and site formation are summarised. A fracture of the ulna caused a malposition of the humeroradial joint, that developed into a degenerative arthrosis with severe grooving of the articular surface of the radius, extension of the joint by new bone formation and exostosis around the epiphysis. The progression of the disease from the trauma to the final grade of arthrosis and how it affected the horse's life is portrayed. Eventually, the horse fell prey to a large carnivore. Finally, the palaeoecological significance of this very specific palaeopathological finding is discussed.

Members of several insect orders are known to modify osseous vertebrate remains postmortem, whether for nutritional or habitational purposes. Recognizing the appearance of these taphonomic traces is important in the evaluation of skeletal remains recov- ered from forensic and archaeological contexts. Thus far, ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) have only been anecdotally noted in the litera- ture to modify bone as a presumed food resource and have not yet been shown to modify human bone. This paper presents a contemporary case where a colony of ants was directly observed nesting inside human bone and describes the appearance of modi ed entrances into their repurposed medullary cavity dwellings. This case may prompt further considerations of ants as agents of bone modi cation, how and why such behaviors occur, and how to recognize these ichnological traces.

Despite an increasing literature on the decomposition of human remains, whether buried or exposed, it is important to recognise the role of specific microenvironments which can either trigger or delay the rate of decomposition. Recent casework in Northern England involving buried and partially buried human remains has demonstrated a need for a more detailed understanding of the effect of contrasting site conditions on cadaver decomposition and on the microenvironment created within the grave itself. Pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as body analogues in three interrelated taphonomy experiments to examine differential decomposition of buried human remains. They were buried at three contrasting field sites (pasture, moorland, and deciduous woodland) within a 15 km radius of the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK. Changes to the buried body and the effect of these changes on hair and associated death-scene textile materials were monitored as was the microenvironment of the grave. At recovery, 6, 12 and 24 months post-burial, the extent of soft tissue decomposition was recorded and samples of fat and soil were collected for gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis. The results of these studies demonstrated that (1) soil conditions at these three burial sites has a marked effect on the condition of the buried body but even within a single site variation can occur; (2) the process of soft tissue decomposition modifies the localised burial microenvironment in terms of microbiological load, pH, moisture and changes in redox status. These observations have widespread application for the investigation of clandestine burial and time since deposition, and in understanding changes within the burial microenvironment that may impact on biomaterials such as hair and other associated death scene materials.

This paper presents stratigraphical details of the Chedworth Nature Reserve Road Bridge Cutting, a detailed analysis of the fossils of one particular bed within the Clypeus Grit Member and a comparison of this assemblage with a more typical Clypeus Grit bed on Cleeve Hill. The Chedworth CG Soft Bed has very few deep-burrowing bivalves, a lower proportion of encrusting animals and a higher proportion of crushed Stiphrothyris shells. The latter two features could indicate a more rapid sedimentation rate for the bed.