Taphonomic Analysis of the Mammalian Fauna from Sandia Cave, New Mexico, and the “Sandia Man” Controversy

2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Thompson ◽  
Nawa Sugiyama ◽  
Gary S. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Mammalian Fauna ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Faunal Assemblage ◽  
Unique Type ◽  
Large Mammal ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Human Modification ◽  
Mammal Assemblages ◽  
Taphonomic Analysis

Sandia Cave in New Mexico was excavated in the late 1930s by Frank Hibben, who described a unique type of chipped stone artifact-the “Sandia point”-in association with a faunal assemblage that included extinct Pleistocene species. The site was interpreted as a late Pleistocene Paleoindian hunting station, making it the earliest human occupation known in America at the time. Despite the pivotal role the faunal assemblage has played in interpretations of the site, there was never a confirmed behavioral association between the artifacts and the fossils. A subsequent series of controversies about the age of the site and the integrity of the stratigraphy has since pushed Sandia Cave into obscurity. Results from a recent taphonomic study of the large and small mammal assemblages from the original excavations are reported here. These show that the majority of the fauna were accumulated by nonhuman agents (carnivores, raptors, and rodents), but that a small proportion of large mammal fragments retain human modification. The three major points of controversy are discussed in light of these and other findings, and it is shown that Sandia Cave remains an important datapoint in archaeological, paleontological, and paleoecological studies of the region.

Context and Environment in Taphonomic Analysis: Examples from Alaska's Porcupine River Caves

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. James Dixon
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Faunal Assemblage ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
North Central ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Ovis Dalli ◽  
Taphonomic Analysis ◽  
Small Mammal Species

Field investigations of caves along Alaska's Porcupine River document three major mechanisms which modify bone in patterns similar to alterations produced by man: (1) carnivore fracture; (2) rodent gnawing; and (3) rock fall and rubble scarring. A late Wisconsin faunal assemblage composed of Equus sp., Rangifer tarandus, Ovis dalli, Bison sp., proboscidean, numerous small mammal species, birds, and fish is well documented. This faunal assemblage suggests a mosaic environment of grassland-tundra-forest in the immediate vicinity of these caves and implies that the late Wisconsin environment in north-central Alaska may have been characterized by a number of microenvironments and colder, dryer, steppe conditions. Taphonomic data which have historically been interpreted to support human occupation of eastern Beringia during the Pleistocene are critically examined and the context of these discoveries (not the specimens themselves) provides the test essential to document the antiquity of man in North America prior to 12,000 yr ago.

Radiocarbon Dating the Human Occupation at Sandia Cave, New Mexico

2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-314
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Thompson ◽  
C. Vance Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Human Modification ◽  
Burned Bone ◽  
Lines Of Evidence ◽  
Age Estimates ◽  
Bone Tool

AbstractSandia Cave generated much interest when in the 1940s extinct Pleistocene megafauna were reported in association with what appeared to be a pre-Folsom Paleoindian component. By the 1950s a series of controversies regarding the stratigraphy and dating began to push the site into obscurity. The human occupation at the site has never been directly dated beyond 2250 ± 50 BP, and nonartifactual associated bone will not provide reliable age estimates because of extensive bioturbation, poor provenience, and the fact that the majority of fossils were accumulated by carnivores and rodents, rather than humans. However, a small number of mineralized fragments display human modification, suggesting occasional human activity of some antiquity at the site. One bone tool, one burned bone, and four bones bearing butchery marks were subjected to direct Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating. Unfortunately, mineralized bones did not preserve sufficient collagen to be dated. Two unmineralized specimens (the burned bone and the bone tool) push the direct Chronometric ages for the human occupation at Sandia Cave back to 3447 ± 96 BP. An older Folsom occupation is suggested by associated dates on breccia, but all lines of evidence taken together provide no support for a pre-Folsom human occupation.

Ipswichian mammalian fauna from the Beeston Terrace at Boulton Moor, near Derby

1974 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 515-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. F. Jones ◽  
M. F. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Mammalian Fauna ◽  
Faunal Assemblage ◽  
Terrace Deposit

SummaryMammalian remains are reported from a Pleistocene terrace deposit in the lower Derwent Valley near Derby, which is a correlative of the Beeston Terrace of the nearby River Trent. The faunal assemblage is characteristic of the Ipswichian interglacial and compares favourably with previous finds at other Ipswichian sites in southern Britain. The discovery is significant as it provides the strongest evidence so far for a dating of the Beeston Terrace which is critical to the Pleistocene chronology of the region.

Taphonomic Analysis of the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition Faunal Assemblage from Santa Marta Cave, Chiapas

PaleoAmerica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Óscar R. Solís-Torres ◽  
Guillermo Acosta-Ochoa ◽  
Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales ◽  
Fabio Flores Granados
Keyword(s):  
Faunal Assemblage ◽  
Taphonomic Analysis

Was FLK North levels 1–2 a classic “living floor” of Oldowan hominins or a taphonomically complex palimpsest dominated by large carnivore feeding behavior?

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.T. Bunn ◽  
A.Z.P. Mabulla ◽  
M. Domínguez-Rodrigo ◽  
G.M. Ashley ◽  
R. Barba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Large Mammal ◽  
Abundant Evidence ◽  
Dynamic Location ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Taphonomic Analysis ◽  
Analytical Approaches ◽  
Working Hypotheses

AbstractFrom excavation at FLK North levels 1–2 in 1960–1962, Mary Leakey reported approximately 1200 Oldowan artifacts and 3300 large mammal fossils as a hominin “living floor”. Preliminary taphonomic analysis by Bunn seemed supportive, based on the presence of some cut-marked bones, the concentration of several dozen bovid individuals, and the relative abundance of limbs and mandibles over other axial elements. Recent taphonomic analysis of Leakey's entire fossil assemblage by Domínguez-Rodrigo and Barba, however, documents a minor hominin role at the site, contrasted to the dominant role of carnivores. Felids brought prey animals; hyenas scavenged from abandoned felid meals. At different times, hominins butchered several bovids and discarded artifacts at this dynamic location. Since 2006, renewed excavations at FLK North and other sites by the Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project (TOPPP) have expanded artifact and fossil samples and implemented new analytical approaches to clarify taphonomic histories of the Olduvai paleolandscape. At FLK North, > 1000 new large mammal fossils from levels 1 to 2 show minimal butchery evidence amid abundant evidence of carnivore gnawing/fracture, rodent gnawing, and sediment abrasion. To help guide future excavation and analyses, we have developed several alternative working hypotheses of site formation.

Late Pleistocene Human Friction Skin Prints from Pendejo Cave, New Mexico

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Chrisman ◽  
Richard S. MacNeish ◽  
Jamshed Mavalwala ◽  
Howard Savage
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
New World ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Human Origin ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Human Construction ◽  
Botanical Remains

In the excavation of Pendejo Cave (FB 9366) near Orogrande, New Mexico, 16 friction skin imprints were found in five stratified zones on clay nodules, baked at over 120°C. After careful analysis, expert dermatoglyphologists determined that these imprints had positive primate characteristics. The imprints are probably of human origin, since no other primates are known to have existed in prehistoric New Mexico. Eight of the imprints occurred in three well-dated zones falling in the late Pleistocene. These zones have direct radiocarbon dates between 12,000 and 37,000 B.P. In addition to their association with radiocarbon determinations, the prints come from three of 24 stratified zones, intensively studied by geologists and pedologists, that are dated in sequence by 34 other radiocarbon determinations acquired from four different laboratories. The imprints are associated with a column of over 35,000 paleontological specimens and more than 15,000 botanical remains. These specimens indicate Pleistocene changes and supply evidence of human transportation and modification of various materials. The prints are also associated with artifacts, ecofacts, features of human construction, and human remains. The imprint specimens therefore provide evidence of Pleistocene human occupation in the New World.

scholarly journals Paleoindian occupation of the White Mountains, New Hampshire

2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Boisvert
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Environmental Reconstruction ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Lake Region ◽  
Major River ◽  
River Drainages ◽  
Broad Outline

Abstract The earliest human occupation of the White Mountains region occurred approximately 11 000 14 C years ago. A suite of stylistically and technologically distinctive chipped stone tools have been found that correlate with similar artifacts and assemblages known across North America and identified as Paleoindian. This culture endured in the White Mountains for at least a millennium and coincided, at least in part, with the Younger Dryas climatic episode. Seven Paleoindian sites and their artifact assemblages are described. These sites appear to correlate with major river drainages and to articulate with widely separated Paleoindian sites outside the region. Key to the interpretation of these sites is the identification of the sources of the lithics used by the Paleoindians for their tools. Local rhyolite was acquired for use in two localities, Berlin and Jefferson, NH and chert from the Munsungun Lake region of northern Maine was imported. The movement of these lithics into and out of the White Mountains provides a perspective on inter-regional movement and contacts. The persistence and extent of the Paleoindian occupation of the White Mountains is a testimony to the highly successful adaptation to a harsh and variable climate, however the mechanisms of the subsistence and settlement patterns are poorly known. A broad outline of directions for future research is offered, with an emphasis on chronology and environmental reconstruction.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document