Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa

Autores
Backwell, Lucinda Ruth; Steininger, Christine; Neveling, Johann; Abdala, Nestor Fernando; Pereira, Lucy; Mayer, Elver; Rossouw, Lloyd; de la Peña, Paloma; Brink, James
Año de publicación
2017
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
A fossilised large mammal bonebed was discovered eroding out of a gully in the Free State of South Africa. The bonebed is ~1.5 m below the modern land surface, and extends over an area 35 × 13 m. Surface scatters of stone tools occur in a 1 km radius of the site, and a large fire place associated with spirally fractured burnt bone is preserved to one side. The purpose of this research was to excavate and taphonomically analyse the faunal sample to elicit the cause of death, and radiocarbon date it to establish when it happened. The bonebed is represented by black wildebeest, including juvenile and adult individuals. Faunal remains are randomly oriented and many are complete. Weathering stage 1 on most of the bones together with the articulation pattern suggest that the carcasses were exposed for more than a year and less than three before being buried by hillslope sediment. Two-thirds of those fractured record a spiral breakage pattern. There are a few trample marks on bones and evidence of some termite activity. No stone tools were found in the section of bonebed we excavated, and there is no evidence of manmade or carnivore damage on the fauna. Calcrete nodules in the underlying deposits and phytoliths representative of desertification throughout the sedimentary sequence suggest that the animals died under drought conditions between 3840 ± 40 and 3500 ± 40 cal BP, and that human activity at the site was marginal.
Fil: Backwell, Lucinda Ruth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales; Argentina. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Steininger, Christine. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Neveling, Johann. Council For Geosciences; Sudáfrica
Fil: Abdala, Nestor Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; Argentina. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Pereira, Lucy. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Mayer, Elver. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Brasil
Fil: Rossouw, Lloyd. National Museum; Sudáfrica
Fil: de la Peña, Paloma. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Brink, James. National Museum; Sudáfrica. University of the Free State; Sudáfrica
Materia
Bonebed
Drought
Taphonomy
Wildebeest
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/57611
Acceder
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oai_identifier_str oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/57611
network_acronym_str CONICETDig
repository_id_str 3498
network_name_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
spelling Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South AfricaBackwell, Lucinda RuthSteininger, ChristineNeveling, JohannAbdala, Nestor FernandoPereira, LucyMayer, ElverRossouw, Lloydde la Peña, PalomaBrink, JamesBonebedDroughtTaphonomyWildebeesthttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1A fossilised large mammal bonebed was discovered eroding out of a gully in the Free State of South Africa. The bonebed is ~1.5 m below the modern land surface, and extends over an area 35 × 13 m. Surface scatters of stone tools occur in a 1 km radius of the site, and a large fire place associated with spirally fractured burnt bone is preserved to one side. The purpose of this research was to excavate and taphonomically analyse the faunal sample to elicit the cause of death, and radiocarbon date it to establish when it happened. The bonebed is represented by black wildebeest, including juvenile and adult individuals. Faunal remains are randomly oriented and many are complete. Weathering stage 1 on most of the bones together with the articulation pattern suggest that the carcasses were exposed for more than a year and less than three before being buried by hillslope sediment. Two-thirds of those fractured record a spiral breakage pattern. There are a few trample marks on bones and evidence of some termite activity. No stone tools were found in the section of bonebed we excavated, and there is no evidence of manmade or carnivore damage on the fauna. Calcrete nodules in the underlying deposits and phytoliths representative of desertification throughout the sedimentary sequence suggest that the animals died under drought conditions between 3840 ± 40 and 3500 ± 40 cal BP, and that human activity at the site was marginal.Fil: Backwell, Lucinda Ruth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales; Argentina. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Steininger, Christine. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Neveling, Johann. Council For Geosciences; SudáfricaFil: Abdala, Nestor Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; Argentina. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Pereira, Lucy. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Mayer, Elver. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Rossouw, Lloyd. National Museum; SudáfricaFil: de la Peña, Paloma. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Brink, James. National Museum; Sudáfrica. University of the Free State; SudáfricaPergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2017-12-11info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/57611Backwell, Lucinda Ruth; Steininger, Christine; Neveling, Johann; Abdala, Nestor Fernando; Pereira, Lucy; et al.; Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa; Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd; Quaternary International; 11-12-20171040-6182CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.11.055info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618217312636info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-10-15T14:43:25Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/57611instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-10-15 14:43:25.663CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
title Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
spellingShingle Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
Backwell, Lucinda Ruth
Bonebed
Drought
Taphonomy
Wildebeest
title_short Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
title_full Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
title_fullStr Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
title_sort Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Backwell, Lucinda Ruth
Steininger, Christine
Neveling, Johann
Abdala, Nestor Fernando
Pereira, Lucy
Mayer, Elver
Rossouw, Lloyd
de la Peña, Paloma
Brink, James
author Backwell, Lucinda Ruth
author_facet Backwell, Lucinda Ruth
Steininger, Christine
Neveling, Johann
Abdala, Nestor Fernando
Pereira, Lucy
Mayer, Elver
Rossouw, Lloyd
de la Peña, Paloma
Brink, James
author_role author
author2 Steininger, Christine
Neveling, Johann
Abdala, Nestor Fernando
Pereira, Lucy
Mayer, Elver
Rossouw, Lloyd
de la Peña, Paloma
Brink, James
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Bonebed
Drought
Taphonomy
Wildebeest
topic Bonebed
Drought
Taphonomy
Wildebeest
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv A fossilised large mammal bonebed was discovered eroding out of a gully in the Free State of South Africa. The bonebed is ~1.5 m below the modern land surface, and extends over an area 35 × 13 m. Surface scatters of stone tools occur in a 1 km radius of the site, and a large fire place associated with spirally fractured burnt bone is preserved to one side. The purpose of this research was to excavate and taphonomically analyse the faunal sample to elicit the cause of death, and radiocarbon date it to establish when it happened. The bonebed is represented by black wildebeest, including juvenile and adult individuals. Faunal remains are randomly oriented and many are complete. Weathering stage 1 on most of the bones together with the articulation pattern suggest that the carcasses were exposed for more than a year and less than three before being buried by hillslope sediment. Two-thirds of those fractured record a spiral breakage pattern. There are a few trample marks on bones and evidence of some termite activity. No stone tools were found in the section of bonebed we excavated, and there is no evidence of manmade or carnivore damage on the fauna. Calcrete nodules in the underlying deposits and phytoliths representative of desertification throughout the sedimentary sequence suggest that the animals died under drought conditions between 3840 ± 40 and 3500 ± 40 cal BP, and that human activity at the site was marginal.
Fil: Backwell, Lucinda Ruth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales; Argentina. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Steininger, Christine. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Neveling, Johann. Council For Geosciences; Sudáfrica
Fil: Abdala, Nestor Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; Argentina. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Pereira, Lucy. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Mayer, Elver. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Brasil
Fil: Rossouw, Lloyd. National Museum; Sudáfrica
Fil: de la Peña, Paloma. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica
Fil: Brink, James. National Museum; Sudáfrica. University of the Free State; Sudáfrica
description A fossilised large mammal bonebed was discovered eroding out of a gully in the Free State of South Africa. The bonebed is ~1.5 m below the modern land surface, and extends over an area 35 × 13 m. Surface scatters of stone tools occur in a 1 km radius of the site, and a large fire place associated with spirally fractured burnt bone is preserved to one side. The purpose of this research was to excavate and taphonomically analyse the faunal sample to elicit the cause of death, and radiocarbon date it to establish when it happened. The bonebed is represented by black wildebeest, including juvenile and adult individuals. Faunal remains are randomly oriented and many are complete. Weathering stage 1 on most of the bones together with the articulation pattern suggest that the carcasses were exposed for more than a year and less than three before being buried by hillslope sediment. Two-thirds of those fractured record a spiral breakage pattern. There are a few trample marks on bones and evidence of some termite activity. No stone tools were found in the section of bonebed we excavated, and there is no evidence of manmade or carnivore damage on the fauna. Calcrete nodules in the underlying deposits and phytoliths representative of desertification throughout the sedimentary sequence suggest that the animals died under drought conditions between 3840 ± 40 and 3500 ± 40 cal BP, and that human activity at the site was marginal.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017-12-11
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/57611
Backwell, Lucinda Ruth; Steininger, Christine; Neveling, Johann; Abdala, Nestor Fernando; Pereira, Lucy; et al.; Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa; Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd; Quaternary International; 11-12-2017
1040-6182
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/57611
identifier_str_mv Backwell, Lucinda Ruth; Steininger, Christine; Neveling, Johann; Abdala, Nestor Fernando; Pereira, Lucy; et al.; Holocene large mammal mass death assemblage from South Africa; Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd; Quaternary International; 11-12-2017
1040-6182
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.11.055
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618217312636
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
_version_ 1846082939818868736
score 13.22299

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