Some taphonomic effects of scavenging canids on the bones of ungulate species : some actualistic research and a Romano-British case study
Bones of dogs are found on most archaeological sites of holocene date in several continents. The presence of tooth marks on the bones of other species often suggests that a recovered assemblage has undergone scavenging by canids and may be taphonomically biased. An actualistic study monitored the destruction, weathering and burial of bones of modern sheep and deer that had died naturally and been scavenged by foxes. The assemblages recovered after three years are biased severely towards certain element types and have suffered the preferential loss of young bones or epiphyses. Subcollections within the sheep assemblage indicate that relative frequencies of elements are different in residual and carnivore transported assemblages. Comparisons with work by other researchers indicate that: (1) inherent factors influence element survival rates, and (2) the patterns of element frequencies in assemblages from carnivore-scavenged carcasses are consistent across a wide range of environmental settings. The results of the actualistic study were applied to some Romano-British material from a military site in northern Britain. Several of the ungulate bones show tooth marks and patterns of breakage that are very similar
Stallibrass, Susan Mary
Some taphonomic effects of scavenging canids on the bones of ungulate species : some actualistic research and a Romano-British case study. Bones of dogs are found on most archaeological sites of holocene date in several continents. The presence of tooth marks on the bones of other species often suggests that a recovered assemblage has undergone scavenging by canids and may be taphonomically biased. An actualistic study monitored the destruction, weathering and burial of bones of modern sheep and deer that had died naturally and been scavenged by foxes. The assemblages recovered after three years are biased severely towards certain element types and have suffered the preferential loss of young bones or epiphyses. Subcollections within the sheep assemblage indicate that relative frequencies of elements are different in residual and carnivore transported assemblages. Comparisons with work by other researchers indicate that: (1) inherent factors influence element survival rates, and (2) the patterns of element frequencies in assemblages from carnivore-scavenged carcasses are consistent across a wide range of environmental settings. The results of the actualistic study were applied to some Romano-British material from a military site in northern Britain. Several of the ungulate bones show tooth marks and patterns of breakage that are very similar
taphonomic effect bone ungulate specie romano_british case_study bones dog find archaeological_site holocene date several continent presence tooth mark bone specie often suggest recovered assemblage undergone may bias study monitor destruction weather burial bone modern sheep deer die naturally fox assemblage_recover bias severely towards certain_element type suffer loss young bone within sheep assemblage indicate relative frequency element different residual transport assemblage comparisons work researcher indicate inherent factor_influence element survival rate pattern element frequency assemblages carcass consistent across_wide range environmental_setting study apply romano_british material military_site northern_britain several ungulate bone show tooth mark pattern breakage similar