Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:58:24.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taphonomic analysis of late Pleistocene mastodon occurrences: evidence of butchery by North American Paleo-Indians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Daniel C. Fisher
Daniel C. Fisher*
Affiliation:
Museum of Paleontology and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Taphonomic analysis of several late Pleistocene mastodon (Mammut americanum) skeletons excavated in southern Michigan provides compelling evidence of mastodon butchery by Paleo-Indians. The occurrence of butchery and details of butchering technique are inferred primarily from patterns of bone modification. An important aspect of butchering practice was production and use of tools fashioned from bones of the animal being butchered. Evidence for butchery and bone tool use includes matching marks on the conarticular surfaces of disarticulated pairs of bones; cutmarks on bones; green bone fracturing; use wear, secondary flaking, and impact features on bone fragments; and burned bone. Interpretation of these features is facilitated by information on patterns of bone distribution and disarticulation preserved in a primary depositional context. Preliminary comparisons among nine sites indicate that putative butchering sites differ consistently and in a variety of ways from sites that appear to record no human involvement. Although based on a small sample of sites, the apparent frequency of butchered individuals relative to those that were not butchered is unexpectedly high. These findings provide new evidence of a well-developed “bone technology” employed by the late Pleistocene human inhabitants of eastern North America. In addition, these data offer circumstantial support for the hypothesis that human hunting was an important factor in the late Pleistocene extinction of mastodons.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , Summer 1984 , pp. 338 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Anderson, A. D. 1962. The Cooperton mammoth: a preliminary report. Plains Anthropol. 7:110–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1981. Bones. Ancient Men and Modern Myths. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Bonfield, W. and Li, C. H. 1966. Deformation and fracture of bone. J. Appl. Physics. 37:869–875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnichsen, R. 1979. Pleistocene Bone Technology in the Beringian Refugium. Mercury Series, Paper 89. Archaeol. Surv. Canada; Ottawa.Google Scholar
Bonnichsen, R. 1982. Bone technology as a taphonomic factor: an introductory statement. Can. J. Anthropol. 2:137–144.Google Scholar
Bryan, A. L., Casamiquela, R. M., Cruxent, J. M., Gruhn, R., and Ochsenius, C. 1978. An El Jobo mastodon kill at Taima-Taima, Venezuela. Science. 200:1275–1277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunn, H. T. 1981. Archaeological evidence for meat-eating by Plio-Pleistocene hominids from Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge. Nature. 291:574–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cinq-Mars, J. 1979. Bluefish Cave I: a late Pleistocene eastern Beringian cave deposit in the northern Yukon. Can. J. Archaeol., no. 3, 1–32.Google Scholar
Coe, M. 1978. The decomposition of elephant carcasses in the Tsavo (East) National Park, Kenya. J. Arid Environ. 1:71–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas-Hamilton, I. and Douglas-Hamilton, O. 1975. Among the Elephants. Viking; New York.Google Scholar
Farrand, W. R. 1977. Revision of the Two Rivers (“Valders”) drift border and the age of fluted points in Michigan. Anthropol. Pap., Mus. Anthropol., Univ. Mich. 61:74–84.Google Scholar
Farrand, W. R. and Eschman, D. F. 1974. Glaciation of the southern peninsula of Michigan: a review. Mich. Acad. 7:31–56.Google Scholar
Fisher, D. C. 1981. Evidence of mastodon butchering in southeastern Michigan. Geol. Soc. Am., Abst. Prog. 13:452.Google Scholar
Fisher, D. C. 1984. Mastodon butchery by North American Paleo-Indians. Nature. 308:271–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, D. C. and Koch, P. L. 1983. Seasonal mortality of late Pleistocene mastodons: evidence for the impact of human hunting. Geol. Soc. Am., Abst. Prog. 15:573.Google Scholar
Fitting, J. E. 1966. Part 1: The Holcombe site. The Paleo-Indian occupation of the Holcombe beach. Anthropol. Pap., Mus. Anthropol., Univ. Mich. 27:1–81.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C. 1978. Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Graham, R. W., Haynes, C. V., Johnson, D. L., and Kay, M. 1981. Kimmswick: a Clovis-mastodon association in eastern Missouri. Science. 213:1115–1117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gustafson, C. E., Gilbow, D., and Daugherty, R. D. 1979. The Manis mastodon site: early man on the Olympic Peninsula. Can. J. Archaeol., no. 3, 157–164.Google Scholar
Hannus, L. A. 1983. Of mammoths, men and ice: making it on the margins. Geol. Soc. Am., Abst. Prog. 15:590.Google Scholar
Harington, C. R., Bonnichsen, R., and Morlan, R. E. 1975. Bones say man lived in Yukon 27,000 years ago. Can. Geogr. J. 91:42–48.Google Scholar
Haury, E. W., Antevs, E., and Lance, J. F. 1953. Artifacts with mammoth remains, Naco, Arizona. Am. Antiq. 19:1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr. 1969. The earliest Americans. Science. 166:709–715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haynes, G. 1980. Evidence of carnivore gnawing on Pleistocene and Recent mammalian bones. Paleobiology. 6:341–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, G. 1983. A guide for differentiating mammalian carnivore taxa responsible for gnaw damage to herbivore limb bones. Paleobiology. 9:164–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, A. 1976. On carnivore and weathering damage to bone. Curr. Anthropol. 17:335–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, A. 1979. Disarticulation and scattering of mammal skeletons. Paleobiology. 5:261–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huckell, B. B. 1979. Of chipped stone tools, elephants, and the Clovis hunters. Plains Anthropol. 24:177–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin-Williams, C. 1967. Associations of Early Man with horse, camel, and mastodon at Hueyatlaco, Valsequillo (Puebla, Mexico). Pp. 337–347. In: Martin, P. S. and Wright, H. E. Jr., eds. Pleistocene Extinctions: The Search for a Cause. Yale Univ. Press; New Haven.Google Scholar
Jelinek, A. J. 1967. Man's role in the extinction of Pleistocene faunas. Pp. 193–200. In: Martin, P. S. and Wright, H. E. Jr., eds. Pleistocene Extinctions: The Search for a Cause. Yale Univ. Press; New Haven.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. 1982. Paleo-Indian bone expediency tools: Lubbock Lake and Bonfire Shelter. Can. J. Anthropol. 2:145–157.Google Scholar
Koch, A. C. 1860. Mastodon remains, in the state of Missouri, together with evidence of the existence of man contemporaneously with the mastodon. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis. 1:61–64.Google Scholar
Martin, P. S. 1967. Prehistoric overkill. Pp. 75–120. In: Martin, P. S. and Wright, H. E. Jr., eds. Pleistocene Extinctions: The Search for a Cause. Yale Univ. Press; New Haven.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J. and Mead, J. I. 1983. The timing of late Pleistocene mammalian extinctions in North America. Quat. Res. 19:130–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehl, M. G., Marshall, R. A., Martin, J. A., and Williams, J. H. 1966. The Grundel mastodon. Missouri Geol. Surv. Wat. Res., Rep. Invest., no. 35, 5–28.Google Scholar
Miller, S. J. and Dort, W. Jr. 1978. Early man at Owl Cave: current investigations at the Wasden Site, eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho. Pp. 129–139. In: Bryan, A. L., ed. Early Man in America from a Circum-Pacific Perspective. Dept. Anthropol., Occ. Paper no. 1. Univ. Alberta; Edmonton.Google Scholar
Morlan, R. E. 1979. A stratigraphic framework for Pleistocene artifacts from Old Crow River, northern Yukon Territory. Pp. 125–145. In: Humphrey, R. L. and Stanford, D., eds. Pre-Llano Cultures of the Americas: Paradoxes and Possibilities. Anthropol. Soc.; Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Morlan, R. E. 1980. Taphonomy and Archaeology in the Upper Pleistocene of the Northern Yukon Territory: A Glimpse of the Peopling of the New World. Mercury Series, Paper 94. Archaeol. Surv. Can.; Ottawa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosimann, J. E. and Martin, P. S. 1975. Simulating overkill by Paleoindians. Am. Sci. 63:304–313.Google Scholar
Palmer, H. A. and Stoltman, J. B. 1976. The Boaz mastodon: a possible association of man and mastodon in Wisconsin. Mid.-Cont. J. Archaeol. 1:163–177.Google Scholar
Potts, R. and Shipman, P. 1981. Cutmarks made by stone tools on bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Nature. 291:577–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rancier, J., Haynes, G., and Stanford, D. 1982. 1981 investigations of Lamb Spring. Southwest. Lore. 48:1–17.Google Scholar
Sanford, J. T. 1935. The Richmond mastodon. Proc. Rochester Acad. Sci. 7:137–156.Google Scholar
Saunders, J. J. 1980. A model for man-mammoth relationships in late Pleistocene North America. Can. J. Anthropol. 1:87–98.Google Scholar
Shipman, P. 1981. Applications of scanning electron microscopy to taphonomic problems. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 376:357–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shipman, P., Fisher, D. C., and Rose, J. J. 1984. Mastodon butchery: microscopic evidence of carcass processing and bone tool use. Paleobiology. 10:358–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanford, D. 1979. The Selby and Dutton sites: evidence for a possible pre-Clovis occupation of the High Plains. Pp. 101–123. In: Humphrey, R. L. and Stanford, D., eds. Pre-Llano Cultures of the Americas: Paradoxes and Possibilities. Anthropol. Soc.; Washington, D. C.Google Scholar
Stanford, D., Bonnichsen, R., and Morlan, R. E. 1981. The Ginsberg experiment: modern and prehistoric evidence of a bone-flaking technology. Science. 212:438–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, E. S. 1952. The Orleton Farms mastodon. Ohio J. Sci. 52:1–5.Google Scholar
Warnica, J. M. 1966. New discoveries at the Clovis site. Am. Antiq. 31:345–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheat, J. B. 1972. The Olsen-Chubbuck site: a Paleo-Indian bison kill. Mem. Soc. Am. Archaeol. 26:1–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheat, J. B. 1982. Bone technology at Jurgens, Olsen-Chubbuck and Little Box Elder. Can. J. Anthropol. 2:169–177.Google Scholar
Williams, S. 1957. The Island 35 mastodon: its bearing on the age of Archaic cultures in the East. Am. Antiq. 22:359–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittry, W. L. 1965. The Institute digs a mastodon. Cranbrook Inst. Sci., News Letter. 35:14–19.Google Scholar