Bovids (Zooarchaeology)

Vertebrae are rarely found intact in archaeological assemblages and are often very fragmented. These specimens are usually included under the unidentifiable category. However, it has been found that the thoracic vertebrae could well be indicative of certain species. In most mammal species the anatomy of the thoracic vertebrae is relatively similar, with the exception of the presence of either a large caudal notch (incisura vertebralis caudalis) or a lateral foramen (foramen vertebrale laterale). The conversion of the caudal notch into a single lateral foramen is only found in certain Equidae and some Bovidae, as well as in Suiodea where the foramen is often doubled. Amongst the small bovids from southern Africa, the presence of a lateral foramen in the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae is only distinctive in adult common duikers (Sylvicapra grimmia) and red duikers (Cephalophus natalensis), of which the latter is very much smaller. The thoracic and lumbar vertebrae of all the small Bovidae species were compared to the vertebrae of 25 specimens of the common duiker from various ages, sex, and locations throughout southern Africa, and the presence of a vertebral lateral foramen was only present in the common duiker and red duiker. In all the other small antelope species, only a caudal notch is present in both the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. It is thus evident that fragments of thoracic and lumber vertebrae that are of a comparable size to a Bovid I size class, with a vertebral lateral foramen present, could only belong to an adult common duiker or the smaller red duiker.

Aim

I provide the first comprehensive study on body size evolution of extinct and living insular bovids, exploring the causal biotic and abiotic selective factors for observed patterns.

Location

Islands worldwide.

Methods

I assembled data on the geographic characteristics of 13 focal islands (area, isolation, latitude, net primary productivity) and on the ecological and morphological characteristics of 32 insular bovid taxa (number of predators and competitors, richness of large mammals, body mass of mainland relatives). I used linear regressions and machine learning methods (regression trees and random forest analyses) to examine the hypothesized contextual importance of these factors in explaining variation in the body size of island bovids. I also calculated evolutionary rates of body size divergence of focal taxa in order to assess whether this phenomenon is influenced by time in isolation.

Results

The results of regression, regression tree and random forest analyses were in agreement with predictions based on a hypothesis of ecological release (more pronounced body size divergence on islands with the fewest competitors and predators). Only limited support for a resource limitation hypothesis (more pronounced body size divergence for the larger taxa on smaller islands) was found.

Main conclusions

The majority of insular bovids, as large mammals, do follow the main prediction of the island rule, exhibiting body size reduction, and predator diversity is the main factor influencing body size evolution of these taxa. Results obtained highlighted the crucial role of time in isolation, with body size reduction becoming more pronounced for bovids with longer residence times on the islands.

In the last few decades, some progress has been made towards a synthesis of the data on the presence of early hominins in Europe and their dispersals across the continent in the Early and Middle Pleistocene. The sites that have been documented present various datasets, including hominin fossils, large and small mammal remains, and archeological artifacts. In this paper, the main focus is on sites where clear evidence exists of the processing of large mammals by hominins, in the form of cut marks, percussion marks, and others. In this regard, the taxonomic diversity of the mammals is considered alongside the type of hominin activity. All these sites serve as background for the recent discovery of the earliest (MIS 11 or 9), and indeed the only Polish, example of Middle Pleistocene human butchering activity (at the Bełchat ow site). The study revealed that the filleting of meat, as found in Bełchat ow, was also the means of meat processing employed on the oldest site of those with evidence of butchery, which is located in fact in the transition zone of Europe and Asia. This means that processing, even in its simplest forms, could have been a strong influence on adoption of meat eating among members of the Homo genus, as has been discussed recently. This emphasizes the significance of human choice, and seems to have occurred regardless of the geographical setting of human activity. This paper also presents a paleogeographic synthesis of butchering for the European Early and Middle Pleistocene and summarizes our current understanding of food processing by hominins, by scrutinizing the data on large mammals affected by such processes.

In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary analysis of the fossil bovids present at X Cave on Bolt's Farm in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa. The X Cave faunal sample derives from ex situ deposits and includes a relatively large component of postcranial specimens. From the bovid taxa represented the deposit seems to be younger than 2.5 Ma, although the taxa identified do not represent a confined time period. The sample represents a palaeoenvironment consisting of grassland and woodland, as well as stable water sources and rocky elements. The bovid specimens were most likely collected by carnivores, although it may be possible that other agents also contributed.

The Blydefontein Rock Shelter is a Later Stone Age archaeological site in the eastern Karoo of South Africa. No remains of domesticated animals have been reported although a dung layer, interpreted as deriving from sheep, dates to approximately one thousand years ago. The published morphological analyses of the site’s fauna include many wild taxa, but also report that the majority of the bones in the assemblage were too fragmentary to identify. A recent re-examination of the assemblage identified ten specimens as examples of sheep or goats. In this paper we report on ancient DNA research on the eight specimens we were sent to study, six of which have preserved DNA. Of these, five are examples of wild animals, all of which had been previously identified as present at the site. One specimen was confirmed as a sheep, and it likely comes from a layer that dates to a period well after the initial introduction of domesticates. Direct dating of the specimen is not possible as the entire sample was consumed by the genetic testing. This study highlights the importance of ancient DNA as confirmation of taxon identification when the results of morphological identification challenge the broader culture history.

ABSTRACT This paper aims to make our database of skeletal variables of bovids (from the collections of the Zoological Institut of the University of Hamburg) available to other researchers. These collections are little known yet outstanding because of (i) the almost complete representation of African bovid genera and species, (ii) the quality of the material (nearly exclusively wild-shot specimens), (iii) the completeness of the morphological and field data associated with the skeletons, and (iv) the state of conservation of the material. The excellence of these bovid collections essentially results from the exhaustive fieldwork in Africa by Prof. H. OBOUSSIER, who selectively hunted specimens for her work on brain morphology and phylogeny, making the OBOUSSIER collection unique in the world. Of special importance are the individual body mass data of wild-shot bovids, which are generally not recorded in conventional collections because of the difficulties intrinsic to measuring body masses of large animals in the field. In consequence, allometric equations developed to predict body masses (as usually applied to fossils) are regularly based on measurements taken in collections and on body masses from literature. The equations thus obtained always have an error associated with the different origin of the skeletal and body mass data. Here we present for the first time equations obtained from skeletal material with associated individual body masses. These new allometric functions have a high predictive power (reduced associated error). Moreover, homogeneity of the residuals, an error seldom assessed, reveals that many traditional variables have heterogeneous residuals, and thus lack a linear relationship.

In this first detailed analysis of gaur Bos gaurus life-history traits, data were collected from a 20-month field study in South India and from captive gaur populations. Mean age of females at first parturition was 3 years; females remained fertile beyond the age of 15 years. Adult females were three times more abundant than adult males in the wild; survival of females was greater than males beyond three years of age. Life span of both sexes has not exceeded 24 years in captivity. Gaur life-history traits are similar to those of ...

This dissertation presents the main results of the study of faunal remains collected in Castro da Columbeira (Bombarral). The main goal of the study was to recognize animal resource exploitation strategies in the site, based on the species represented and how they would be managed as food and non-food resources, including secondary products.  This data was also analyzed at a regional scale.
In Castro da Columbeira a significant variety of animals species was identified, where domestic animals are better represented than the wildlife. Caprids and swine emerge as the domestic species most prevalent, while cattle appears significantly less represented.
At a local scale the results of this research revealed that the inhabitants of Castro da Columbeira practiced an agro-pastoral economy complemented with hunting activity.
At a regional scale this study gives strength to the predominance of domestic species, especially caprids and swine, as the main exploitation strategy of animal resources in the settlements of Estremadura. However, the hunting activity would have had more impact on the exploration strategy in Castro da Columbeira than in the settlements located in Lower Estremadura. It was also observed  that the exploration strategy of animal resources practiced by human communities was possibly different between the settlements of the Lower Estremadura and the settlements of the Upper and Middle Estremadura.

Key words: Portuguese Estremadura, Zooarchaeology, Chalcolithic, Castro da Columbeira, Agro-Pastoral Economy.

The Shungura Formation in southwestern Ethiopia preserves a long and relatively continuous record of eastern African mammalian and hominin evolution. This study reconstructs habitat preferences of the Shungura Formation bovids from ca. 3.4–1.9 Ma (million years ago), based on the ecomorphology of fossil bovid astragali. Habitat predictions are made using a Discriminant Function Analysis informed by functional analysis of the astragalus that controls for body size and phylogenetic signal. The high abundance of astragali in the Shungura record allows for habitat reconstructions on sub-unit timescales, rather than aggregating samples at the level of geological member.

During much of the time period examined, the lower Omo Valley was dominated by relatively mesic habitats in close proximity to the ancestral Omo River. Previous research has suggested that environmental change at ∼2.85 Ma caused significant habitat change at Shungura, but the astragalar data do not support major habitat change at this time. However, there are significant fluctuations in inferred habitats, with more open habitats indicated in sub-units C-08 and C-09 (∼2.56 Ma), and in unit F-01 (just after 2.36 Ma). The cause of sub-unit fluctuations in habitat signal is difficult to determine, but local factors, including spatial habitat heterogeneity around the river channel and in its floodplain, may play a contributing role. In the light of faunal evidence from elsewhere in the greater Omo-Turkana Basin, hominins in the area likely had access to a variety of heterogeneous habitats.

Nel Nord Italia, Grotta di Fumane (VR) e Grotta di San Bernardino (VI) forniscono importanti dati per l'interpretazione delle dinamiche di sfruttamento dei grandi bovini pleistocenici, Bos primigenius e Bison priscus in un  arco cronologico compreso tra 50 – 25 Ky BP.
Lo studio archeozoologico è stato condotto sui resti di bovini rinvenuti nelle unità: A8, A9, A5, A5+A6, A6 (Musteriano Levallois); A3 e A4 (Uluzziano); A2, A2R, A1, D6, D3+D6 e D3 (Aurignaziano); D1c, D1d, D1e e D1f (Gravettiano e tana di iena) di Grotta di Fumane e IV e II (Musteriano) di Grotta di San Bernardino. Attraverso lo studio delle superfici ossee si è tentato di ricostruire le strategie le modalità e le pratiche di macellazione adottate dai diversi gruppi di cacciatori paleolitici. Le analisi tafonomiche indicano l'uomo quale principale agente responsabile dell'accumulo dei resti dei due grandi bovini e lo pongono a confronto con i predatori carnivori che hanno in alternanza all’uomo frequentato più o meno intensamente le due cavità.

This paper introduces some of the invaluable aspects of, and new perspectives arising in, the field of zooarchaeology. Studying archaeological animal remains provides clear evidence of past human diet, but the contributions zooarchaeology can make to archaeological research have a much broader scope. Zooarchaeological research provides an interesting insight into the study of past environments, animal domestication, biostratigraphy, the social side of food, animal remains as clothing or even as building materials and art manifestations, amongst others. Zooarchaeology is subdivided here into environmental or physical zooarchaeology, which mainly deals with climate, seasonality and dating of a site, and social zooarchaeology, which deals with hunting techniques, animal management, social hierarchy and symbolism. This array of possibilities is illustrated through examples drawn from diverse periods and places. Some of the issues concerning zooarchaeology are analysed in more depth through the site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain). This case study provides a practical application of zooarchaeological perspectives in the study of human evolution.

The field of zooarchaeology is therefore not limited to the study of past dietary habits. Rather the study of animal remains allows a deeper understanding of complex human-animal interactions and a greater comprehension of archaeological societies and cultures.

"On a hill of the Bradanic Trough, 1 km north of Spinazzola and in the vicinity of the Murge area, few bovid fossil tracks were found. The tracks were observed on two blocks of hardened reddish sand (ca 40x30x2 cm), coming from a nearby outcrop, about 4 m in height. The outcrop is referred to the upper part (continental) of the Bradanic Trough cycle (sensu Pieri et al., 1996) and are Pleistocene in age.
The tracks consist of 3 artiodactyls footprints, about 10 cm in diameter, fairly well preserved and could be tentatively attributed to Bos sp. Their morphology was investigated by means of 3D laser scanner.
They are the first bovid tracks so far described for the region. There are skeletal records of Bos primigenius Bojanus, 1827 from the Pleistocene of Apulia and Basilicata (Caloi & Palombo, 1979; Crezzini, 2007; Pandolfi et al, 2011). An almost complete skeleton of this extinct bovid was also found on a fluvial terrace, probably belonging to the Riss-Wurm interglacial stage (Caldara, 1991), some tens of km away from the Spinazzola outcrop. Based on these records, Bos primigenius could be tentatively assumed as the tracemaker of the Spinazzola footprints.

Bibliography

Caldara M. (1991). Segnalazione di Bos primigenius Bojanus nei depositi terrazzati di Lamalunga (Bassa Valle dell'Ofanto). Il Quaternario, 4(1b): 249-254.
Caloi L. & Palombo M.R. (1979). La fauna quaternaria di Venosa: Bovidi. Bollettino del Servizio Geologico d’Italia, 100: 101-140.
Crezzini J. (2007). Studio sulla distribuzione delle tracce antropiche sui resti di ungulati del Gravettiano antico di Grotta Paglicci (Rignano Garganico, FG): il trattamento delle frazioni distali degli arti di Bos primigenius. Annali dell’Università degli Studi di Ferrara. Museologia Scientifica e Naturalistica, vol. spec. 2007: 11 pp.
Pandolfi L., Petronio C. & Salari L. (2011). Bos primigenius Bojanus, 1827 from the Early Late Pleistocene deposit of Avetrana (Southern Italy) and the variation in size of the species in Southern Europe: preliminary report. Journal of Geological Research, vol. 2011, 11 pp.
Pieri P., Sabato L., Tropeano M. (1996). Significato geodinamico dei caratteri deposizionali e strutturali della Fossa Bradanica nel Pleistocene. Memorie della Società Geologica Italiana, 51: 501-515.
"