The usefulness of a taphonomic approach for studies of Pleistocene mammals

The potential usefulness of taphonomical research for studies of Pleistocene mammal remains is detailed. The required taphonomical research involves two stages. The first one is the biostratinomical stage, which concerns the time between the death of the organism and its burial; for this time-span, the spatial distribution of the remnants is analysed, as well as the weathering marks, the activity of predators (i.e. gnawing and digestion), the influence of temperature, intentional human activity, rodent marks (i.e. gnawing), and trampling. in the second one is the diagenetic stage, which deals with the time-span from the burial of the remnants to their discovery; for this time-span, the influence of physical and chemical processes (including diagenetic alterations of the deposit, the influence of water, and plant-root marks) are considered. The application of taphonomical analysis provides the possibility of reconstructing the environmental conditions under which the skeleton or bone complex was preserved, as well as the depositional history of the bones (postconsumption remnants, flood remains, accumulation of bones by predators). This opens new possibilities for the study of Pleistocene bones in Poland

Evidence for the impact of the 8.2-kyBP climate event on Near Eastern early farmers.

The 8.2-thousand years B.P. event is evident in multiple proxy records across the globe, showing generally dry and cold conditions for ca. 160 years. Environmental changes around the event are mainly detected using geochemical or palynological analyses of ice cores, lacustrine, marine, and other sediments often distant from human settlements. The Late Neolithic excavated area of the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük East [Team Poznań (TP) area] was occupied for four centuries in the ninth and eighth millennia B.P., thus encompassing the 8.2-thousand years B.P. climatic event. A Bayesian analysis of 56 radiocarbon dates yielded a high-resolution chronological model comprising six building phases, with dates ranging from before 8325-8205 to 7925-7815 calibrated years (cal) B.P. Here, we correlate an onsite paleoclimate record constructed from δ2H values of lipid biomarkers preserved in pottery vessels recovered from these buildings with changes in architectural, archaeozoological, and consumption records from well-documented archaeological contexts. The overall sequence shows major changes in husbandry and consumption practices at ca. 8.2 thousand years B.P., synchronous with variations in the δ2H values of the animal fat residues. Changes in paleoclimate and archaeological records seem connected with the patterns of atmospheric precipitation during the occupation of the TP area predicted by climate modeling. Our multiproxy approach uses records derived directly from documented archaeological contexts. Through this, we provide compelling evidence for the specific impacts of the 8.2-thousand years B.P. climatic event on the economic and domestic activities of pioneer Neolithic farmers, influencing decisions relating to settlement planning and food procurement strategies

Diversity of muskox Ovibos moschatus (Zimmerman, 1780) (Bovidae, Mammalia) in time and space based on cranial morphometry

Muskox Ovibos moschatus is a Pleistocene relic, which has survived only in North America and Greenland. During the Pleistocene, it was widely distributed in Eurasia and North America. To evaluate its morphological variability through time and space, we conducted an extensive morphometric study of 217 Praeovibos and Ovibos skull remains. The analyses showed that the skulls grew progressively wider from Praeovibos sp. to the Pleistocene O. moschatus, while from the Pleistocene to the recent O. moschatus, the facial regions of the skull turned narrower and shorter. We also noticed significant geographic differences between the various Pleistocene Ovibos crania. Siberian skulls were usually larger than those from Western and Central Europe. Eastern Europeanmuskoxen also exceeded in size those from the other regions of Europe. The large size of Late Pleistocene muskoxen from regions located in more continental climatic regimes was probably associated with the presence of more suitable food resources in steppe-tundra settings. Consistently, radiocarbon-dated records of this species are more numerous in colder periods, when the steppe-tundra was widely spread, and less abundant in warmer periods

Data sharing reveals complexity in the westward spread of domestic animals across Neolithic Turkey

This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set 'package' comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1)

The usefulness of a taphonomic approach for studies of Pleistocene mammals

The potential usefulness of taphonomical research for studies of Pleistocene mammal remains is detailed. The required taphonomical research involves two stages. The first one is the biostratinomical stage, which concerns the time between the death of the organism and its burial; for this time-span, the spatial distribution of the remnants is analysed, as well as the weathering marks, the activity of predators (i.e. gnawing and digestion), the influence of temperature, intentional human activity, rodent marks (i.e. gnawing), and trampling. in the second one is the diagenetic stage, which deals with the time-span from the burial of the remnants to their discovery; for this time-span, the influence of physical and chemical processes (including diagenetic alterations of the deposit, the influence of water, and plant-root marks) are considered. The application of taphonomical analysis provides the possibility of reconstructing the environmental conditions under which the skeleton or bone complex was preserved, as well as the depositional history of the bones (postconsumption remnants, flood remains, accumulation of bones by predators). This opens new possibilities for the study of Pleistocene bones in Poland

Relative frequencies of OC (<i>Ovis aries/orientalis</i>+<i>Capra hircus/aegagrus</i>), <i>Bos taurus/primigenius</i>, and <i>Sus scrofa</i> in Neolithic assemblages (see Table S2 for data).

<p>Sites labeled and colored after <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0099845#pone-0099845-g001" target="_blank">Fig. 1</a>. X's represent mean values for each region.</p