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1.
This study reports implications of different tooth marks left by carnivorous mammals on long bones of Haplomastodon waringi from the Quaternary of Águas de Araxá, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Analyses of gnawing damage by ursids, felids, and canids have shown that these groups produce pits on bone surfaces when the gnawing is superficial, and punctures more often when the prey is intensely consumed. Scratches or scoring marks are most often associated with gnawing by canids, which may spend a long time gnawing the bones, leading to differential tooth marking. The gomphothere bones at Águas de Araxá did not result from predation, but are a consequence of a local mass mortality in a period of low environmental humidity, with little water and a scarcity of food. Canids frequently act as opportunistic scavengers during periods when herbivores face food shortages. Previous studies of necrophagous dermestid larvae indicate that the gomphothere carcasses of Águas de Araxá were exposed for a long period of time after death. These insects are the last consumers of a carcass because they act only when the body fat is completely lost. Thus, the gomphothere carcasses at Águas de Araxá suffered canid necrophagy in the early stages of decomposition, possibly during a drought period. Thereafter, the gomphothere carcasses would have been exposed for a period about 230 days until the final burial event.  相似文献   

2.
Patagonia exhibits a particularly abundant record of Cretaceous dinosaurs with worldwide relevance. Although paleontological studies are relatively numerous, few include taphonomic information about these faunas. This contribution provides the first detailed sedimentological and taphonomical analyses of a dinosaur bone quarry from northern Neuquén Basin. At Arroyo Seco (Mendoza Province, Argentina), a large parautochthonous/autochthonous accumulation of articulated and disarticulated bones that represent several sauropod individuals has been discovered. The fossil remains, assigned to Mendozasaurus neguyelap González Riga, correspond to a large (18–27-m long) sauropod titanosaur collected in the strata of the Río Neuquén Subgroup (late Turoronian–late Coniacian). A taphonomic viewpoint recognizes a two-fold division into biostratinomic and fossil-diagenetic processes. Biostratinomic processes include (1) subaerial biodegradation of sauropod carcasses on well-drained floodplains, (2) partial or total skeletal disarticulation, (3) reorientation of bones by sporadic overbank flows, and (4) subaerial weathering. Fossil-diagenetic processes include (1) plastic deformation of bones, (2) initial permineralization with hematite, (3) fracturing and brittle deformation due to lithostatic pressure; (4) secondary permineralization with calcite in vascular canals and fractures, and (5) postfossilization bone weathering. This type of bone concentration, also present in Rincón de los Sauces (northern Patagonia), suggests that overbank facies tended to accumulate large titanosaur bones. This taphonomic mode, referred to as “overbank bone assemblages”, outlines the potential of crevasse splay facies as important sources of paleontological data in Cretaceous meandering fluvial systems.  相似文献   

3.
Upper Pleistocene remains of the Ice Age steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) have been found in the Perick Caves, Sauerland Karst, NW Germany. Bones from many hyenas and their imported prey dating from the Lower to Middle Weichselian have also been recovered from the Perick Cave hyena den. These are commonly cracked or exhibit deep chew marks. The absence of lion cub bones, in contrast to hyena and cave bear cub remains in the Perick Caves, and other caves of northern Germany, excludes the possibility that P. leo spelaea used the cave for raising cubs. Only in the Wilhelms Cave was a single skeleton of a cub found in a hyena den. Evidence of the chewing, nibbling and cracking of lion bones and crania must have resulted from the importation and destruction of lion carcasses (4% of the prey fauna). Similar evidence was preserved at other hyena den caves and open air sites in Germany. The bone material from the Perick and other Central European caves points to antagonistic hyena and lion conflicts, similar to clashes of their modern African relatives.  相似文献   

4.
Sur‐les‐Creux rockshelter is located in the Prealps of southwestern Switzerland. The sequence of deposits in the rockshelter is 80 cm thick and consists of weathered gravels in a phosphate‐rich matrix. A few Middle Palaeolithic artifacts and the bones of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) were recorded in the fill. We present the results of sedimentological, geochemical, and micromorphological analyses of the rockshelter sediment. All analyses suggest an endokarstic origin of the sediments. The alteration cortices of the gravels imply in situ weathering over a long period. The phosphates are essentially biogenic and have an apatitelike nature. Phosphatization and intense mixing of the sediment are attributed to cave bear (digging of lairs, input of excrements, and carcasses). Only rare carnivore coprolites (lynx) were preserved in the cave deposits. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.  相似文献   

5.
The taphonomic and archeological implications of massive mortality patterns of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) populations due to winter stress are discussed, considering both local and regional scales. The presentation has its focus in the Lake Cardiel basin, Southern Patagonia, Argentina. Winter stress is not an unusual event in Patagonian ecosystems and it produces a seasonal and predictable output: a huge number of dead guanacos in certain loci.Five faunal assemblages formed in 2000 are discussed, three in rock shelters and two at open-air settings, considering guanaco individuals/bone preservation, age and sex structure, death positions, degree of interment, carnivore damages, trampling marks, and the association between guanaco individuals/bones and archeological material (mainly lithic artifacts). Conditions exist for the commingling of naturally formed guanaco bone assemblages and archeological materials. The taphonomic signature of this mortality pattern is analysed, and criteria developed that allow identification of the potential mixture between archeological material and modern guanaco bones. From an archeological point of view, the potential scavenging opportunities brought by these guanaco mortality events to hunter-gatherer populations are explored.In sum, the results of this study are twofold. First, it brings new data on the regional taphonomy of guanacos and its implications for the archeological record. Second, it invites consideration of these mass mortality events in the context of strategies employed by hunter-gatherer populations to cope with their environment.  相似文献   

6.
Bone remains and a trackway of Pantheraichnus bottropensis nov. ichg. ichnsp. of the Late Pleistocene lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) have been recovered from Bottrop and other open air sites in northern Germany. Some of these bones are from open air hyena den sites. A relative high proportion of lion bones (20%) exhibit bite, chew or nibble marks, or bone crushing and nibbling caused by a large carnivore. Repeated patterns of similar bone damage have been compared to bone remains found at hyena dens in gypsum karst areas and cave sites in northern Germany. Ice Age spotted hyenas have been the main antagonists and the main scavengers on lion carcasses. The remains appear to have been imported often by hyenas into their communal dens, supporting the theory of strong hyena-lion antagonism, similar to the well documented antagonism between modern African lions and spotted hyenas. Most of the lion bones from the open air hyena den at Bottrop are probably a result of such antagonism, as are the rare remains of these carnivores found within large hyena prey bone accumulations along the Pleistocene rivers. The Emscher River terrace also has the largest quantity of hyena remains from open air river terrace sites in northern Germany. Their cub remains, and incomplete chewed prey bones from mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses, typical of hyena activity, underline the character of these sites as cub-raising and communal dens, where their prey was accumulated along the riverbanks in a similar manner to modern African hyenas.  相似文献   

7.
In southern Patagonia, the occurrence of large seabird nesting colonies condition the features of the regional bone record, which is characterized by a large amount of bird remains, despite their small body size. Bird and mammal bones have remarkably different taphonomic histories in this region: mammal remains are less damaged by carnivores and resist weathering for long periods, whereas bird bones show a greater initial destruction by carnivore activities and faster deterioration by weathering. A comparison of these results with results from research conducted in several African parks (particularly Amboseli) shows that differences in both records are mainly due to differences in community composition and predator–prey dynamics in both ecosystems. Furthermore, while in both ecosystems bird bones weather more rapidly than mammal bones, destruction by this process is more rapid in Patagonia. Overall, the analysis reinforces the need to generate specific models to understand taphonomic histories of archaeofaunal assemblages from Patagonia.  相似文献   

8.
Boegoeberg 1 (BOG1) is located on the Atlantic coast of South Africa, 850 km north of Cape Town. The site is a shallow rock shelter in the side of a sand-choked gully that was emptied by diamond miners. Abundant coprolites, chewed bones, and partially digested bones implicate hyenas as the bone accumulators. The location of the site, quantity of bones, and composition of the fauna imply it was a brown hyena nursery den. The abundance of Cape fur seal bones shows that the hyenas had ready access to the coast. Radiocarbon dates place the site before 37,000 14C yr ago, while the large average size of the black-backed jackals and the presence of extralimital ungulates imply cool, moist conditions, probably during the early part of the last glaciation (isotope stage 4 or stage 3 before 37,000 14C yr ago) or perhaps during one of the cooler phases (isotope substages 5d or 5b) within the last interglaciation. Comparisons of the BOG1 seal bones to those from regional Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) archeological sites suggest (1) that hyena and human seal accumulations can be distinguished by a tendency for vertebrae to be much more common in a hyena accumulation and (2) that hyena and LSA accumulations can be distinguished by a tendency for hyena-accumulated seals to represent a much wider range of individual seal ages. Differences in the way hyenas and people dismember, transport, and consume seal carcasses probably explain the contrast in skeletal part representation, while differences in season of occupation explain the contrast in seal age representation. Like modern brown hyenas, the BOG1 hyenas probably occupied the coast year-round, while the LSA people focused their coastal visits on the August–October interval when nine-to-eleven-month-old seals were abundant. The MSA sample from Klasies River Mouth Cave 1 resembles BOG1 in seal age composition, suggesting that unlike LSA people, MSA people obtained seals more or less throughout the year.  相似文献   

9.
Leporids (Lagomorpha, Mammalia), especially the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) and the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), have been among the most abundant small game in western Europe since the Pleistocene. These animals are preferred prey for more than 40 predators, which increases the chances of finding their skeletal remains at archaeological or natural sites, and in particular karstic formations alternately occupied by Palaeolithic human societies and other predators. Moreover, specific eco-ethological characteristics for both species also offer the possibility to produce a substantial quantity of their bones accumulated by natural mortality without predation, making it more difficult to identify their origin in the fossil record. Despite this fact, the taphonomic signature of accidental-natural accumulations of leporids in karsts, such as pitfalls, has never been properly characterised. In order to address these issues, we carried out a detailed taphonomic study of leporid remains in a pitfall without any evidence of human activity, namely at Coulet des Roches (Monieux, Vaucluse, south-eastern France). At this site, leporids are the most abundant species throughout the Last Glacial Maximum sedimentary sequence. The bone accumulation was analysed in order to determine the most relevant criteria to identify a natural accumulation that results from the accidental fall of individuals in the pitfall. The relative proportions of each species are consistent with their current ethology, and their mortality profiles are compatible with the structure of a living natural population. The completeness rate of the different skeletal portions for both species is relatively high, bones are less fragmented and, unlike what might be expected, very few anatomical connections were preserved. The observed anatomical representation, breakage, and bone surface modification patterns are discussed and compared with available data concerning accumulations with predation. Taken together, the identified criteria contribute valuable help in the recognition of accidental mortality in the fossil record, as well as to evaluate the proportion of leporid bones accumulated naturally and those accumulated by predation, human or not, in a deposit.  相似文献   

10.
The annual freezeup and violent breakup of temperate and high-latitude rivers produces unique geomorphic features that can be recognized in ancient sediments. The forces and materials involved in the breakup process could modify entrained bones in ways similar to those attributed to human activity. An intuitive taphonomic model is developed to explain how river ice may affect bones, and to predict the modifications expected. Partial testing of the model by experiments designed to simulate river breakup produced bone modifications such as fractures, flakes, facets, striations, isolated cuts, and polish. The taphonomic effects of river ice must be discounted prior to the interpretation of such features as human in origin.  相似文献   

11.
Fossil bones and teeth are potentially important repository for geochemical proxy data and a target for radiometric dating. The concentration of many trace elements in bones and teeth increases by orders of magnitude after death and it is this diagenetic incorporation that forms the basis for several areas of geochemical study. The use of bones and teeth in this context relies on two assumptions: first, that target metal ions are incorporated rapidly after death, reflecting a known environmental signal, and second, that after early incorporation, the bone or tooth remains as an essentially closed system, resistant to later diagenetic change. A wide literature has developed exploring these assumptions, but relatively little direct evidence has been used to assess the long-term diagenetic stability of trace elements within bones and teeth. In this study, we use the Lu-Hf isotope system to show that bones and teeth of Cretaceous and Triassic age from both terrestrial and marine settings experience continued, long-term diagenetic change, most likely through gradual addition of trace elements. Modelling suggests that diagenetic addition after initial recrystallisation may account for >50% of the total REE content in the sampled bones, the extent depending on initial uptake conditions. Tooth enamel and enameloid may be more resistant to late diagenetic changes, but dentine is probably altered to the same extent as bone. These results have significant implications for the use of bones and teeth as hosts of chronological, palaeoceanographic, palaeoenvironmental and taphonomic information, particularly in Mesozoic and Palaeozoic contexts.  相似文献   

12.
We describe a large collection of fossil ‘waterfowl’ bones that are referable to the extinct clade Presbyornithidae (Anseriformes). All of these fossils were collected between 1971 and 1994 from Upper Paleocene and Lower Eocene sediments at the Tsagaan Khushuu site in the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia. The collection includes specimens referred to a new small species within the genus Presbyornis Wetmore, 1926 as well as large numbers of bones that we place in the genus Presbyornis. On this basis of the Tsagaan Khushuu collection we suggest that several species of Presbyornis likely coexisted in this region; indeed, the presence of large numbers of middle‐sized, morphologically consistent but probably ecologically disparate species at the Tsagaan Khushuu site is consistent with the range of variation seen, for example, in taxa of extant dabbling ducks (Anatini). Although the anatomy and phylogenetic position of Presbyornithidae (in particular Presbyornis) are well known, this material from Mongolia further demonstrates the prevalence of these birds in aquatic and semi‐aquatic habitats by the earliest Paleogene. Because presbyornithids are also well documented from the late Cretaceous, their palaeoecology and morphological diversity provides a clue to selective avian survivorship across the Cretaceous‐Paleogene (K‐Pg) boundary. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

13.
The Lapa do Santo archaeological site, located in the Lagoa Santa region, Brazil, represents an important hunter-gatherer occupation dated from the Early and Middle Holocene. Prior studies of archaeofauna dating to this period are few and most of them only provide basic faunal identification with limited information on taphonomic processes. The main goal of this study is to identify the archaeofauna, record the taphonomic processes, and make inferences about its natural (interpreted as the death of the animal in the rockshelter area due to natural causes or due to predation) or anthropic origins. No extinct species (including megamastofauna) were identified. Taxonomic analysis indicated that most faunal remains consist of taxa that may be of mixed origin (natural or anthropic), such as microvertebrates and carnivorous mammals. The Cervidae are the main vertebrate family found in the studied material and these are likely the result of hunting. The Cervidae Ozotoceros support the presence of a fauna that is typical of savannah environments, although the assemblage contains mostly generalist fauna that can thrive in a variety of environments. Very few remains showed clear evidence for taphonomic processes related to human interaction, such as burnt bones.  相似文献   

14.
A new genus and species of percoid fish, Hendrixella grandei gen. & sp. nov. is described from the upper Ypresian limestone of Monte Bolca, Italy. It is based on four well-preserved specimens that show an elongate and slender body and a unique combination of features, including possession of 11 + 13 vertebrae, two series of intermuscular bones, fused haemal spine of third preural centrum, caudal fin with 17 principal rays and 11 upper and eight lower procurrent rays, predorsal formula 0/0/1 + 1/1/, two separated dorsal fins with rayless pterygiophore in-between, and a single supernumerary spine in both dorsal and anal fins. Due to this unique combination of features, Hendrixella cannot be placed within any existing fossil or extant percoid families and it is placed incertae sedis in the Percoidei. The possession of two series of intermuscular bones represents an unambiguous autapomorphy of Hendrixella. A comparative analysis of the distribution of intermusculars among percomorph fishes indicates that the intermuscular bones of the upper series can be homologized with the epineurals and those of the lower series are the homologs of the epicentrals of non-acanthomorphs.  相似文献   

15.
An unusually severe drought in 1982 led to a temporary die-off of elephants at a natural water source in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Compared to living populations, the age structure of the animals killed by drought is strongly biased toward 2-to 8-year-old animals. However, the fresh carcasses of these young elephants were commingled with weathered remains of adults that had died earlier, creating a mixed skeletal sample whose age structure was much closer to that of living populations. Observations of elephant bones that have accumulated due to natural mortality at water holes might provide analogs for paleoecological interpretations of fossil proboscidean assemblages.  相似文献   

16.
This paper presents the study and palaeoecological analysis of fossil fish vertebrae of the Arbreda Cave (Serinyà, Girona), probably the most significant Catalan palaeolithic site. Morphological and radiographical studies were used to identify vertebrae to genus and, whenever possible, to species level. The taxa identified are: Anguilla anguilla, Barbussp., Leuciscussp., Rutilus sp., Salmo salar, Salmo trutta and Salmo sp. Species distribution at various archaeological levels provided palaeoecological data. There is a high proportion of Salmo trutta remains in the Upper Gravettian level and a sudden decrease of fossil fish bones in the Solutrean level with shouldered points. This decrease coincides with the period of lower temperatures of the Late Pleniglacial. Finally, the post-glacial terra rossa level is characterised by the absence of Salmo trutta remains. The presence of Salmo salar in Mediterranean sites has often been discussed. However, the dating of remains of this Atlantic species found in the Arbreda Cave makes it likely that these specimens were caught in Atlantic rivers on the northern Pyrennean slope and then transported to the area studied. © 1997 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

17.
New remains of Eremotherium were recovered from the Pacific coast of Ecuador’s Manabi province. The Machalilla fossiliferous locality records the northernmost presence of Eremotherium along the Pacific coast of South America. Most of the fossil remains belong to the same individual, mainly its posterior half, but other individuals are represented. Among the better-preserved specimens are skull fragments, most of the hind limb bones and a number of trunk and caudal centra. These remains were compared with samples collected during the 20th century along the southern coastal regions of Ecuador and northern Peru. Many characters of the long bones and tarsals testify to a possibly different lineage despite the closeness of other Eremotherium populations. Some metric and morphological aspects suggest a different space-temporal southern Caribbean provenance. Other Eremotherium specimens, coming from other Ecuadorian localities, were studied and compared with classic Eremotherium samples. Interesting morpho-functional aspects are pointed out with regard to the tail and its importance in the bipedal stance.  相似文献   

18.
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19.
古湖泊学研究中的鱼化石埋藏学方法   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  
陈平富 《现代地质》2000,14(3):379-384
鱼化石埋藏学方法在古湖泊环境研究中主要是利用鱼死亡及其骨骼解体和保存的方式 ,去推测湖泊的水文状况、沉积环境、群落结构、鱼类的生活史、死亡方式和保存特征等 ,这种方法的可行性取决于对现代湖泊中生物与环境对应关系的观察研究。在鱼化石埋藏学研究中 ,温度是决定鱼化石保存状况的主要因素 ,当水温在 1 5℃以上 ,多数鱼尸体就会因细菌腐解产生的气体而漂浮到水面 ,然后在水面上进一步腐烂 ,最后散落到湖底 ,或者被水流带到近岸区 ,遭受更强烈的破坏 ;当水温在 1 5℃以下时 ,鱼尸体可以保存在水底 ,直至被埋藏 ,在湖下层水氧气充足、有食腐动物生活的条件下 ,也可以被食腐动物破坏  相似文献   

20.
During the Final Gravettian, the Reclau Caves (northeast Iberia) were intensively occupied by hunter-gatherer communities. The study of residential level D (c. 25.4–19.7 kyr bp ) of Arbreda Cave offers a new view of subsistence strategies of communities which inhabited the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, a transition region between the steppe-tundra and the Iberian wooded steppe biomes, during Greenland Stadial 3. Presented here are the results of the zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of ungulate and carnivore remains recovered from level D. The study confirms that the faunal assemblage of this level was mainly brought there by humans. The zooarchaeological analysis indicates selective hunting based on the exploitation of familial groups of horses and deer, while other ungulate taxa appear to be infrequent. Hunter-gatherers frequented the site throughout the year, but more intensive use in spring is indicated by subadult sensu lato horses. There was extensive exploitation of ungulate carcasses: various butchery activities, marrow extraction, the use of bone as fuel and ‘less elaborate tools’ are documented. Carnivore canines were exploited to produce ornaments. The great dominance of horses reveals cold conditions and the expansion of open environments related to the chronology span of Greenland Stadial 3.  相似文献   

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