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Viciano J, López-Lázaro S, Tanga C. Post-Mortem Dental Profile as a Powerful Tool in Animal Forensic Investigations—A Review. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12162038. [PMID: 36009628 PMCID: PMC9404435 DOI: 10.3390/ani12162038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 08/06/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Veterinary forensics is becoming more important in our society as a result of the growing demand for investigations related to crimes against animals or investigations of criminal deaths caused by animals. A veterinarian may participate as an expert witness or may be required to give forensic assistance, by providing knowledge of the specialty to establish a complete picture of the involvement of an animal and allowing the Courts to reach a verdict. By applying diverse dental profiling techniques, not only can species, sex, age-at-death, and body size of an animal be estimated, but also data about their geographical origin (provenance) and the post-mortem interval. This review concentrates on the dental techniques that use the characteristics of teeth as a means of identification of freshly deceased and skeletonised animals. Furthermore, this highlights the information that can be extracted about the animal from the post-mortem dental profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan Viciano
- Department of Medicine and Ageing Sciences, ‘G. d’Annunzio’ University of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
- Correspondence: (J.V.); (S.L.-L.); (C.T.)
| | - Sandra López-Lázaro
- Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 6850331, Chile
- Forensic Dentistry Lab, Centro de Investigación en Odontología Legal y Forense–CIO–, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
- Correspondence: (J.V.); (S.L.-L.); (C.T.)
| | - Carmen Tanga
- Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
- Correspondence: (J.V.); (S.L.-L.); (C.T.)
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2
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Akuku P, Saladié P, Mohamed A, Mwambwiga A, Bushozi P, Mercader J. Faunal Assemblages From Lower Bed I (Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.895305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Palaeobiological and archeological excavations at the site of Ewass Oldupa, found in the western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Oldupai Gorge (also Olduvai Gorge), Tanzania, revealed rich fossiliferous levels and the earliest remains of human activity at Oldupai Gorge, dated to 2 million years ago. This paper provides zooarchaeological taxonomic, taphonomic, and behavioral analyses, applying several methods to explore the setting in which the assemblage was formed. We identified agency behind bone surface modifications, such as cut, tooth and percussion marks, and determined the frequency of carnivore tooth marks as well as their distribution on both discrete specimens and across species. In addition, our work revealed co-occurrence of modifications to include butchering marks and carnivore tooth marks. Ravaging levels were estimated as percentage. The faunal accumulation from Ewass Oldupa contains two cut marked specimens, together with low degrees of percussion and carnivore tooth marks, moderate ravaging, and diagenetic changes suggestive of water flow. Thus, multiple lines of evidence indicate a palimpsest accumulation. Taxonomic diversity is high, with up to 22 taxa representing diverse habitats, ranging from open grassland to wooded bushlands, as well as moist mosaics during Bed I. Overall, this archaeo-faunal assemblage speaks to increased behavioral versatility among Oldowan hominins and interactions with the carnivore guild.
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3
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Hanon R, Patou-Mathis M, Péan S, Prat S, Cohen BF, Steininger C. Early Pleistocene hominin subsistence behaviors in South Africa: Evidence from the hominin-bearing deposit of Cooper's D (Bloubank Valley, South Africa). J Hum Evol 2021; 162:103116. [PMID: 34915399 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Evidence of the consumption of meat through hunting or scavenging by Early Pleistocene hominins is scarce, particularly in South Africa. Moreover, the interpretations of taphonomic evidence are subject to an important discussion commonly called the 'hunting-vs-scavenging debate.' Until today, only the Swartkrans Members 1-3 site has yielded a butchered bone assemblage large enough to permit reconstruction of carcass acquisition strategies by Early Pleistocene hominins in South Africa. This leaves an information gap between 1.4 and 1.0 Ma. Here, we provide the first evidence of meat consumption by hominins during this gap, based on the zooarchaeological study of the large mammal bone assemblage recovered from the Cooper's D site, South Africa. Based on skeletal part representation, our results show density-mediated attrition of bovid bones due to predepositional and postdepositional destruction. We argue that this attrition is the result of both abiotic (i.e., decalcification) and biotic (i.e., carnivore ravaging) processes. Bovid mortality profiles point out the involvement of ambush predators such as large felids. Bone surface modifications also indicate that the assemblage has been accumulated mostly by carnivores but with some hominin involvement as well. We observe all the stages of animal carcass processing (skinning, disarticulation, defleshing, marrow extraction) as well as the exploitation of a diversity of prey size classes at both Swartkrans Members 1-3 and Cooper's D. Thus, our study shows the importance of the Cooper's D bone assemblage for understanding Early Pleistocene hominin subsistence behaviors. Moreover, this article highlights the need for including long bone flake specimens in the analysis of large bone assemblages from South African caves to better understand the Early Pleistocene hominin bone damage record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphaël Hanon
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa; UMR 7194, HNHP, MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France.
| | - Marylène Patou-Mathis
- UMR 7194, HNHP, MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Stephane Péan
- UMR 7194, HNHP, MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Sandrine Prat
- UMR 7194, HNHP, MNHN/CNRS/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris, France
| | - Brigette F Cohen
- National Museum of Bloemfontein, P.O Box 266, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Christine Steininger
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa; Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
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4
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Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Courtenay LA, Cobo-Sánchez L, Baquedano E, Mabulla A. A case of hominin scavenging 1.84 million years ago from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). Ann N Y Acad Sci 2021; 1510:121-131. [PMID: 34881434 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Meat eating is one of the hallmarks of human evolution. It has been linked to the beginning of stone tool use, to physiological changes leading to crucial anatomical transformations defining our genus, and to new socioreproductive and cognitive behaviors. Uncontroversial evidence of meat eating goes back to 2.6 million years ago; however, little is known about the frequency and timing with which early hominins acquired animal resources. Here, we show that the combination of hunting and scavenging documented in some modern human foragers may have a long evolutionary trajectory. Using a new set of artificial intelligence methods for objective identification, we present direct evidence of an episode of hominins scavenging from large felids-probably lions-discovered at Olduvai Gorge (DS site, Bed I). This casts a new perspective on the diversity of hominin carcass acquisition behaviors and survival strategies, and places some early Pleistocene hominins in ecological proximity to African large carnivore guilds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo
- Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA), Alcalá University and Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Area of Prehistory (Department History and Philosophy), University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.,Department of Anthropology, Rice University, Houston, Texas
| | - Lloyd A Courtenay
- Department of Cartographic and Terrain Engineering, Higher Polytechnic School of Ávila, University of Salamanca, Ávila, Spain
| | - Lucía Cobo-Sánchez
- Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA), Alcalá University and Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Computational Archaeology (CoDArchLab), Institute of Archaeology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Enrique Baquedano
- Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA), Alcalá University and Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid, Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Audax Mabulla
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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5
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Coil R, Tappen M, Ferring R, Bukhsianidze M, Nioradze M, Lordkipanidze D. Spatial patterning of the archaeological and paleontological assemblage at Dmanisi, Georgia: An analysis of site formation and carnivore-hominin interaction in Block 2. J Hum Evol 2020; 143:102773. [PMID: 32272350 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Revised: 01/22/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
This study addresses the roles of biotic agents in site formation in the B1 strata of Block 2 at Dmanisi, Georgia, using theoretical and analogous frameworks for the interpretation of spatial behaviors of carnivores and hominins. For this study, stone material, faunal remains, and coprolites are analyzed to determine if any spatially distinct behaviors can be identified, located, and attributed to either hominins or carnivores. Faunal, stone, and coprolite assemblages are compared with each other, and lithic, taxonomic, and taphonomic subassemblages are compared with the overall distribution of their parent material. The spatial and taphonomic signatures suggest that hominin activity was only a small part of the contributing factors to site formation, whereas carnivores played a major role in the accumulation of bone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reed Coil
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Nur-Sult, 010000, Kazakhstan; Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, 395 Humphrey Center, 301 19th Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN, 55755, USA.
| | - Martha Tappen
- Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, 395 Humphrey Center, 301 19th Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN, 55755, USA
| | - Reid Ferring
- Department of Geography and the Environment, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305279, Denton, TX, 76203, USA
| | - Maia Bukhsianidze
- Georgian National Museum, 3/10 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, 0105, Georgia
| | - Medea Nioradze
- Georgian National Museum, 3/10 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, 0105, Georgia
| | - David Lordkipanidze
- Georgian National Museum, 3/10 Shota Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi, 0105, Georgia
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6
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Harris JA, Marean CW, Ogle K, Thompson J. The trajectory of bone surface modification studies in paleoanthropology and a new Bayesian solution to the identification controversy. J Hum Evol 2017; 110:69-81. [PMID: 28778462 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2017] [Revised: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 06/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
A critical issue in human evolution is how to determine when hominins began incorporating significant amounts of meat into their diets. This fueled evolution of a larger brain and other adaptations widely considered unique to modern humans. Determination of the spatiotemporal context of this shift rests on accurate identification of fossil bone surface modifications (BSM), such as stone tool butchery marks. Multidecade-long debates over the agents responsible for individual BSM are indicative of systemic flaws in current approaches to identification. Here we review the current state of BSM studies and introduce a novel probabilistic approach to identifying agents of BSM. We use control assemblages of bones modified by modern agents to train a multivariate Bayesian probability model. The model then identifies BSM agents with associated uncertainties, serving as the basis for a predictive probabilistic algorithm. The multivariate Bayesian approach offers a novel, probabilistic, and analytical method for BSM research that overcomes much of the bias that has typified previous, more qualitative approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Harris
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874101, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4101, USA.
| | - Curtis W Marean
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874101, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4101, USA; Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| | - Kiona Ogle
- School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
| | - Jessica Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
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7
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Diez-Martín F, Sánchez Yustos P, Uribelarrea D, Baquedano E, Mark DF, Mabulla A, Fraile C, Duque J, Díaz I, Pérez-González A, Yravedra J, Egeland CP, Organista E, Domínguez-Rodrigo M. The Origin of The Acheulean: The 1.7 Million-Year-Old Site of FLK West, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). Sci Rep 2015; 5:17839. [PMID: 26639785 PMCID: PMC4671088 DOI: 10.1038/srep17839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2015] [Accepted: 11/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The appearance of the Acheulean is one of the hallmarks of human evolution. It represents the emergence of a complex behavior, expressed in the recurrent manufacture of large-sized tools, with standardized forms, implying more advance forethought and planning by hominins than those required by the precedent Oldowan technology. The earliest known evidence of this technology dates back to c. 1.7 Ma. and is limited to two sites (Kokiselei [Kenya] and Konso [Ethiopia]), both of which lack functionally-associated fauna. The functionality of these earliest Acheulean assemblages remains unknown. Here we present the discovery of another early Acheulean site also dating to c. 1.7 Ma from Olduvai Gorge. This site provides evidence of the earliest steps in developing the Acheulean technology and is the oldest Acheulean site in which stone tools occur spatially and functionally associated with the exploitation of fauna. Simple and elaborate large-cutting tools (LCT) and bifacial handaxes co-exist at FLK West, showing that complex cognition was present from the earliest stages of the Acheulean. Here we provide a detailed technological study and evidence of the use of these tools on the butchery and consumption of fauna, probably by early Homo erectus sensu lato.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Diez-Martín
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Pza. del Campus, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
| | - P Sánchez Yustos
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Pza. del Campus, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
| | - D Uribelarrea
- Department of Geodynamics, Complutense University, c/José Antonio Novás 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - E Baquedano
- Museo Arqueológico Regional, Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
- IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Museo de los Orígenes, Plaza de San Andrés 2, 28005 Madrid, Spain
| | - D F Mark
- NERC Argon Isotope Facility, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, Scotland, G75 0QF, UK
| | - A Mabulla
- Archaeology Unit, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35050 Tanzania
| | - C Fraile
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Pza. del Campus, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
| | - J Duque
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Pza. del Campus, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
| | - I Díaz
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Pza. del Campus, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
| | - A Pérez-González
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, CENIEH. Pza. Sierra de Atapuerca s/n, 09002 Burgos, Spain
| | - J Yravedra
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - C P Egeland
- Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, USA
| | - E Organista
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - M Domínguez-Rodrigo
- IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Museo de los Orígenes, Plaza de San Andrés 2, 28005 Madrid, Spain
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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8
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Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Pickering TR, Baquedano E, Mabulla A, Mark DF, Musiba C, Bunn HT, Uribelarrea D, Smith V, Diez-Martin F, Pérez-González A, Sánchez P, Santonja M, Barboni D, Gidna A, Ashley G, Yravedra J, Heaton JL, Arriaza MC. First partial skeleton of a 1.34-million-year-old Paranthropus boisei from Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80347. [PMID: 24339873 PMCID: PMC3855051 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2013] [Accepted: 10/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent excavations in Level 4 at BK (Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) have yielded nine hominin teeth, a distal humerus fragment, a proximal radius with much of its shaft, a femur shaft, and a tibia shaft fragment (cataloged collectively as OH 80). Those elements identified more specifically than to simply Hominidae gen. et sp. indet are attributed to Paranthropus boisei. Before this study, incontrovertible P. boisei partial skeletons, for which postcranial remains occurred in association with taxonomically diagnostic craniodental remains, were unknown. Thus, OH 80 stands as the first unambiguous, dentally associated Paranthropus partial skeleton from East Africa. The morphology and size of its constituent parts suggest that the fossils derived from an extremely robust individual who, at 1.338±0.024 Ma (1 sigma), represents one of the most recent occurrences of Paranthropus before its extinction in East Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo
- Instituto de Evolución en África, Museo de los Orígenes, Madrid, Spain
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
| | - Travis Rayne Pickering
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Transvaal Museum), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Enrique Baquedano
- Instituto de Evolución en África, Museo de los Orígenes, Madrid, Spain
- Museo Arqueológico Regional, Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, Madrid, Spain
| | - Audax Mabulla
- Archaeology Unit, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Darren F. Mark
- Natural Environment Research Council Argon Isotope Facility, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Charles Musiba
- Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Henry T. Bunn
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | | | - Victoria Smith
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Fernando Diez-Martin
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
| | | | - Policarpo Sánchez
- Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Manuel Santonja
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain
| | - Doris Barboni
- Centre Européen de Recherche et d'enseignement de Géosciences de l'Environnement, Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Agness Gidna
- Instituto de Evolución en África, Museo de los Orígenes, Madrid, Spain
- Paleontology Unit, National Museum of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Gail Ashley
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - José Yravedra
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jason L. Heaton
- Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Transvaal Museum), Pretoria, South Africa
- Department of Biology, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
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9
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Ferraro JV, Plummer TW, Pobiner BL, Oliver JS, Bishop LC, Braun DR, Ditchfield PW, Seaman JW, Binetti KM, Seaman JW, Hertel F, Potts R. Earliest archaeological evidence of persistent hominin carnivory. PLoS One 2013; 8:e62174. [PMID: 23637995 PMCID: PMC3636145 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 140] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2012] [Accepted: 03/18/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of lithic technology by ∼2.6 million years ago (Ma) is often interpreted as a correlate of increasingly recurrent hominin acquisition and consumption of animal remains. Associated faunal evidence, however, is poorly preserved prior to ∼1.8 Ma, limiting our understanding of early archaeological (Oldowan) hominin carnivory. Here, we detail three large well-preserved zooarchaeological assemblages from Kanjera South, Kenya. The assemblages date to ∼2.0 Ma, pre-dating all previously published archaeofaunas of appreciable size. At Kanjera, there is clear evidence that Oldowan hominins acquired and processed numerous, relatively complete, small ungulate carcasses. Moreover, they had at least occasional access to the fleshed remains of larger, wildebeest-sized animals. The overall record of hominin activities is consistent through the stratified sequence – spanning hundreds to thousands of years – and provides the earliest archaeological evidence of sustained hominin involvement with fleshed animal remains (i.e., persistent carnivory), a foraging adaptation central to many models of hominin evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph V Ferraro
- Department of Anthropology and Institute of Archaeology, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA.
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10
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Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Pickering TR, Diez-Martín F, Mabulla A, Musiba C, Trancho G, Baquedano E, Bunn HT, Barboni D, Santonja M, Uribelarrea D, Ashley GM, Martínez-Ávila MDS, Barba R, Gidna A, Yravedra J, Arriaza C. Earliest porotic hyperostosis on a 1.5-million-year-old hominin, olduvai gorge, Tanzania. PLoS One 2012; 7:e46414. [PMID: 23056303 PMCID: PMC3463614 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2012] [Accepted: 08/29/2012] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Meat-eating was an important factor affecting early hominin brain expansion, social organization and geographic movement. Stone tool butchery marks on ungulate fossils in several African archaeological assemblages demonstrate a significant level of carnivory by Pleistocene hominins, but the discovery at Olduvai Gorge of a child's pathological cranial fragments indicates that some hominins probably experienced scarcity of animal foods during various stages of their life histories. The child's parietal fragments, excavated from 1.5-million-year-old sediments, show porotic hyperostosis, a pathology associated with anemia. Nutritional deficiencies, including anemia, are most common at weaning, when children lose passive immunity received through their mothers' milk. Our results suggest, alternatively, that (1) the developmentally disruptive potential of weaning reached far beyond sedentary Holocene food-producing societies and into the early Pleistocene, or that (2) a hominin mother's meat-deficient diet negatively altered the nutritional content of her breast milk to the extent that her nursing child ultimately died from malnourishment. Either way, this discovery highlights that by at least 1.5 million years ago early human physiology was already adapted to a diet that included the regular consumption of meat.
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12
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How Accurate are Paleoecological Reconstructions of Early Paleontological and Archaeological Sites? Evol Biol 2010. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-010-9087-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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13
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Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Mabulla A, Bunn HT, Barba R, Diez-Martín F, Egeland CP, Espílez E, Egeland A, Yravedra J, Sánchez P. Unraveling hominin behavior at another anthropogenic site from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania): new archaeological and taphonomic research at BK, Upper Bed II. J Hum Evol 2009; 57:260-83. [PMID: 19632702 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2008] [Revised: 01/13/2009] [Accepted: 04/26/2009] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
New archaeological excavations and research at BK, Upper Bed II (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) have yielded a rich and unbiased collection of fossil bones. These new excavations show that BK is a stratified deposit formed in a riverine setting close to an alluvial plain. The present taphonomic study reveals the second-largest collection of hominin-modified bones from Olduvai, with abundant cut marks found on most of the anatomical areas preserved. Meat and marrow exploitation is reconstructed using the taphonomic signatures left on the bones by hominins. Highly cut-marked long limb shafts, especially those of upper limb bones, suggest that hominins at BK were actively engaged in acquiring small and middle-sized animals using strategies other than passive scavenging. The exploitation of large-sized game (Pelorovis) by Lower Pleistocene hominins, as suggested by previous researchers, is supported by the present study.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Domínguez-Rodrigo
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
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Domínguez-Rodrigo M. Are all Oldowan Sites Palimpsests? If so, what can they tell us about Hominid Carnivory? INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO THE OLDOWAN 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9060-8_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
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