Why does skeletal part representation differ between smaller and larger bovids at klasies river mouth and other archeological sites

Abstract The Middle Stone Age (MSA) caves at Klasies River Mouth, South Africa, are well known for fragmentary fossils supporting the hypothesis that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa. They have also provided numerous artifacts and faunal remains that bear on the behavior of early modern or near-modern people. The faunal remains come mainly from bovids exhibiting a pattern of skeletal part representation that has become highly controversial. At issue is why, relative to the smaller bovids, the larger ones tend to be more poorly represented by proximal limb bones and better represented by bones of the feet and skull. The contrast is more than locally interesting, because it characterizes many other archeological habitation sites throughout the world. One intriguing explanation, offered specifically for Klasies River Mouth, is that it indicates that the smaller bovids were mainly hunted, while the larger ones were mainly scavenged. More prosaically, ethnographic and archeological observations summarized in this paper suggest that the contrast is due mainly to differences in carcass size as these affect (1) the likelihood that particular skeletal parts will be transported from a carcass to a base camp and (2) the likelihood that the parts will survive in identifiable condition. Recently, it has also been suggested that the Klasies excavators created the contrast when they discarded bones they thought were unidentifiable. This can never be totally discounted, but there is no reason to invoke it, except for the sake of argument.

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