Low-survival skeletal elements track attrition, not carcass transport behavior in quaternary large mammal assemblages

Abstract

Zooarchaeological analyses of carcass transport behavior require methodologies that control for the effects of density-mediated attrition on skeletal element abundances. Taphonomic observations suggest that based on differences in bone structure and density, large mammal skeletal elements can be divided into a high-survival subset of skeletal elements that more accurately reflects what was originally deposited, and a low-survival subset that does not. In this chapter we explore the applicability of this model of bone survivorship across 43 Quaternary large mammal assemblages from Africa (n = 33) and Eurasia (n = 10). We demonstrate that attrition explains a substantial degree of variation in low-survival element abundances, with nearly all low-survival elements affected. Because attrition severely overprints any potential signature of differential bone transport by humans, it follows that only the high-survival elements of large mammals are suitable for making behavioral inferences from skeletal element abundances. This supports predictions made from actualistic taphonomic observations.