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Intrasite Spatial Analysis of Bone: Subtracting the Effect of Secondary Carnivore Consumers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Curtis W. Marean  and
Leanne Bertino
Curtis W. Marean
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794-4364
Leanne Bertino
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306
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Abstract

Animal bones discarded by people are commonly subject to disturbance by carnivores. These carnivores are present throughout the world and include wolves, coyotes, hyenas, and many others. This disturbance not only modifies and destroys bone, but also moves many of the bone fragments away from their original position of discard. Intrasite spatial analyses of bone that seek patterns meaningful to human behavior thus need to subtract the effect of carnivore disturbance. Experimental studies with spotted hyenas show that the position of a bone fragment on a limb bone, combined with bone surface modification, can be used to identify a class of bone fragments that are minimally affected by carnivores and are thus the best indicators of spatial patterning resulting from human behavior. Limb-bone ends are moved significant distances, as are shaft fragments as a general class. However, middle-shaft portions of limb bones that preserve percussion marks from hammerstone breakage retain nearly the precise spatial position as originally discarded by hominids. Thus, any spatial analysis of bone, when carnivores are implicated as contributors or consumers at an archaeological site, should focus on middle-shaft portions of limb bones with percussion marks.

Resumen

Resumen

Los huesos animales desechados por la gente se hallan comúnmente expuestos a la perturbación por parte de carnívoros. Tales carnívoros están presentes en todo el globo e incluyen a lobos, coyotes, hienas y muchos otros. Estas perturbaciones no sólo modifican y destruyen el material óseo, sino que también ocasionan el transporte de muchos fragmentos óseos a lugares distantes del sitio donde inicialmente se encontraban. Los análisis espaciales de huesos que buscan patrones significativos del comportamiento humano necesitan por lo tanto considerar el efecto de esta perturbación por parte de los carnívoros. Ciertos estudios experimentales con hienas manchadas demuestran que la posición delfragmento óseo de una extremidad, junto con la modificación de la superficie ósea pueden ser utilizadas para identificar alguna clase de fragmentos escasamente afectados por carnívoros. Dicha clase de fragmentos óseos es la mejor indicadora de la distribución espacial resultante del comportamiento humano. Tanto las terminaciones de una extremidad como los fragmentos a lo largo del eje de ésta, en general, son desplazados distancias significativos. Sin embargo, las porciones correspondientes a los puntos intermedios de una extremidad, que conservan marcas de percusión ocasionadas por golpes de martillo, mantienen una ubicación espacial precisa, bastante próximo a aquélla en la que fueron originalmente desechados por los homínidos. Por lo tanto, cualquier análisis espacial de huesos que implique a carnivoros como contribuyentes o consumidores en un sitio arqueológico debe enfocarse en las porciones ubicadas en el punto intermedio de los huesos de una extremidad, acompanadas de señales de martillo.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 59 , Issue 4 , October 1994 , pp. 748 - 768
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1994

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