Could Direct Killing by Larger Dingoes Have Caused the Extinction of the Thylacine from Mainland Australia?

Invasive predators can impose strong selection pressure on species that evolved in their absence and drive species to extinction. Interactions between coexisting predators may be particularly strong, as larger predators frequently kill smaller predators and suppress their abundances. Until 3500 years ago the marsupial thylacine was Australia's largest predator. It became extinct from the mainland soon after the arrival of a morphologically convergent placental predator, the dingo, but persisted in the absence of dingoes on the island of Tasmania until the 20th century. As Tasmanian thylacines were larger than dingoes, it has been argued that dingoes were unlikely to have caused the extinction of mainland thylacines because larger predators are rarely killed by smaller predators. By comparing Holocene specimens from the same regions of mainland Australia, we show that dingoes were similarly sized to male thylacines but considerably larger than female thylacines. Female thylacines would have been vulnerable to killing by dingoes. Such killing could have depressed the reproductive output of thylacine populations. Our results support the hypothesis that direct killing by larger dingoes drove thylacines to extinction on mainland Australia. However, attributing the extinction of the thylacine to just one cause is problematic because the arrival of dingoes coincided with another the potential extinction driver, the intensification of the human economy

Testing the impact of environmental zone on experimental taphonomic faunal models

Traditional paradigms governing the generation of actualistic taphonomic faunal models suggest that outcomes will vary depending on the particular environmental zone in which data is generated. Scavenging experiments were carried out in two distinct environmental zones (temperate and semi-arid) in New South Wales, Australia, to test the validity of this prevailing paradigm. The results of this study suggest that a particular environmental zone may not be as important a variable as other taphonomic factors, such as natural versus cultural agents of accumulation. These observations are part of larger study whose goal is to provide a working taphonomic model for faunal accumulations in open archaeological sites derived from Australian contexts

Food for thought: using game cameras to better understand the movement of bones by scavenging in archaeological faunal assemblages

This paper questions our understanding of the movement of bones by animal scavengers in the archaeological record. Since assumptions regarding the effects of animal scavenging shape final interpretations of skeletal element frequencies in archaeological faunal assemblages, they are important for our understanding and reconstruction of ancient human behaviour. The results of a 4-year actualistic kangaroo scavenging study from Australia are used to question our understanding of the movement of the bone by contrasting visual data captured by motion-activated digital game cameras with traditional taphonomic studies using skeletal element frequencies. Game cameras are commonly used by ecologists to capture the behaviour of living species but have not yet been used in experimental archaeology where visually documenting animal scavenging behaviour can be used to understand the movement of carcasses and individual bones. Results suggest that traditional zooarchaeological analyses may not be accurate indicators of hunted versus scavenged prey in archaeological faunal assemblages. Moreover, they most certainly fail to document the entire suite of animals scavenging a carcass. These implications are discussed with particular reference to the ability to definitively ascertain the role of humans in the megafaunal extinction debate in Australia

Measuring Complexity in Early Bronze Age Greece: The Pig as a Proxy Indicator of Socio-Economic Structures

The interpretative potential of faunal analysis has long been underestimated in Greek archaeology. In the absence of written texts, zooarchaeology can be used to address economic organization- a central component of social complexity. Archaeological excavation has revealed variation among Early Bronze Age settlements in Greece. This variability in settlement size, coupled with evidence for craft specialization and possible administrative centers, suggests the naissance of a socially complex society. This examination suggests an alternate approach to complexity in society; it employs faunal analysis to address whether evidence for social complexity exists in the raising of livestock. Social complexity in ancient societies has been studied by historians, classicists, archaeologists and anthropologists alike. Material remains such as written texts, pottery, personal ornament, architecture, and art have provided the main corpus of evidence examined. Yet the most basic necessity has traditionally been over-looked - food. Subsistence strategies are a central facet in the lives of every individual, poor or wealthy, and are influenced by economic and ecological constraints, and by social mechanisms. Food choices are also a reflection of these and other factors - especially in the social realm. Amazingly, animal bones, often the most prevalent body of material recovered at archaeological sites, have not figured prominently in studies of social complexity in the early Greek Bronze Age

Aboriginal settlement during the LGM at Brockman, Pilbara Region, Western Australia

This paper describes the results and implications of recent excavations on the Hamersley Iron Brockman 4 tenement, near Torn Price, Western Australia. Results concentrate on two rock shelters with Aboriginal occupation starting at least 32,000 years ago and extending throughout the Last Glacial period. Preliminary observations are proposed concerning the nature of Aboriginal foraging patterns as displayed in the flaked stone and faunal records for the Brockman region

Pig Frequency as a Proxy Measure of Inter Site Variability: A Case Study from Early Helladic Greece

In the absence of more traditional forms of archaeological evidence, the frequency of pigs in faunal assemblages may act as a proxy indicator of socio-economic complexity in ancient settlements. The frequency of pigs in four Early Helladic settlements in the Peloponnesee: Helike, Lerna, Tsoungiza and Tiryns were used to explore inter-site variation in faunal assemblages and the way in which these changes correlate to known site function. It is apparent that pigs act as a barometer of economic complexity in ancient settlements, and in doing so provide clues to other changes in the social complexity of Early Helladic Greece that is to become the hallmark of the later Mycenaean states

Animal bones in Australian archaeology: a field guide to common native and introduced species

Zooarchaeology has emerged as a powerful way of reconstructing the lives of past societies. Through the analysis of animal bones found on a site, zooarchaeologists can uncover important information on the economy, trade, industry, diet, and other fascinating facts about the people who lived there. 'Animal bones in Australian archaeology' is an introductory bone identification manual written for archaeologists working in Australia. This field guide includes 16 species commonly encountered in both Indigenous and historical sites. Using diagrams and flow charts, it walks the reader step-by-step through the bone identification process. Combining practical and academic knowledge, the manual also provides an introductory insight into zooarchaeological methodology and the importance of zooarchaeological research in understanding human behaviour through time