SERP. Departament d'Història i Arqueologia. Universitat de Barcelona. C/Montalegre 6-8, E-08001, Barcelona, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2020 May 15;10(1):8030. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-64716-8.
The study of human subsistence strategies in prehistoric hunter-gatherer communities is essential to understanding the evolution of human behaviour. An important topic of interest is the expansion of dietary breadth, resulting in the procurement of a larger number of small game species. However, to make accurate interpretations of human subsistence, the correct identification of the agents responsible for archaeofaunal assemblages is crucial, and actualistic studies that establish the taphonomic signature of the different predators are indispensable. Despite being one of the most ubiquitous carnivores in prehistoric archaeological sites, the role of wolves (Canis lupus) as agents responsible for small-prey accumulations has never been examined. The aims of this study are to analyse the taphonomic patterns left by wolves on rabbit remains and to put forward a series of criteria that can help distinguish assemblages produced by this carnivore from those accumulated by people or by other predators. Our results reveal that wolves ingest and consume the whole rabbit carcass, with the consequence that all rabbit remains accumulated by wolves come from the scats. The referential framework provided in this study will make it possible to discriminate wolves as agents of fossil rabbit accumulations.
研究史前狩猎采集社区人类生存策略对于理解人类行为的演变至关重要。一个备受关注的重要话题是饮食广度的扩大，导致更多的小型猎物被获取。然而，要准确解释人类的生存方式，正确识别负责考古动物群组合的代理至关重要，并且需要进行实际研究来确定不同捕食者的埋藏学特征。尽管狼（Canis lupus）是史前考古遗址中最普遍的肉食动物之一，但作为负责小型猎物积累的代理，它们的作用从未被研究过。本研究的目的是分析狼在兔遗骸上留下的埋藏学模式，并提出一系列标准，以帮助区分由这种肉食动物产生的组合与由人类或其他捕食者积累的组合。我们的研究结果表明，狼会吞食和消耗整只兔尸，因此所有由狼积累的兔遗骸都来自于它们的粪便。本研究提供的参考框架将使我们能够区分狼作为化石兔积累的代理。
