Author, as appears in the article.: Marqueta M; Huguet R; Núñez-Lahuerta C
Department: Història i Història de l'Art
URV's Author/s: Huguet Pàmies, Rosa
Keywords: Taphonomy Sima del elefante Raptor Early-pleistocene Early pleistocene Bird accumulations taphonomy taphonomic signature subsistence strategies site sima del elefante raptor middle hominin subsistence golden eagle food remains early pleistocene cave bones
Abstract: Bird assemblages can be found in archeological sites throughout the Pleistocene. Taphonomy studies are key to understanding how such assemblages were formed. These assemblages can be generated by various agents, including human groups, animals, and natural death. In this paper, we analyzed the avifaunal assemblage from level TE9d at the Sima del Elefante site, where corvid (Corvidae) remains are the most abundant taxa, as reported in previous studies from that deposit. The remains of smaller birds (Charadriiformes, Rallidae) and large raptors (Aquila cf. heliaca/adalberti, Haliaeetus albicilla) have also been documented. Our taphonomic analysis shows that birds of prey were the main accumulators of bird remains at the site. The presence of modifications such as beak/talon marks and different degrees of digestion reinforce the idea that both diurnal and nocturnal raptors were involved. Nevertheless, we cannot rule out the accumulation by natural death of those species that could have nested in the rocky walls of the cave. The absence of evidence of anthropogenic activity on the bird remains from level TE9d therefore indicates that hominins were not involved in this accumulation. These results can be considered a new contribution to the discussion on the origin of avifaunal accumulations in Pleistocene archeological contexts.
Thematic Areas: Saúde coletiva Interdisciplinar Historia Ciencias sociales Ciencias humanas Archeology (arts and humanities) Archeology Archaeology Antropologia / arqueologia Antropología Anthropology
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Author's mail: rosa.huguet@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0002-1750-6249
Record's date: 2024-07-27
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oa.3185
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Papper original source: International Journal Of Osteoarchaeology.
APA: Marqueta M; Huguet R; Núñez-Lahuerta C (2022). Accumulation agents and bird assemblages: The case of the TE9d level at Sima del Elefante (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). New York: Wiley
Article's DOI: 10.1002/oa.3185
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2022
Publication Type: Proceedings Paper