The Rule Rather Than the Exception! Multi-Predator Actualistic Accumulations From Cau del Duc (Lleida, Spain) and Their Implications for the Interpretation of the Archaeopaleontological Record

Bibliographic Data

ID4725802
AuthorsJ Mignino (0000-0002-9404-0155, Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Museo de Antropología Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba, IDACOR, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Córdoba Argentina, corresponding author), A Rufà (0000-0003-1278-4220, ICArEHB—Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour Universidade do Algarve Faro Portugal), Goizane Alonso (0000-0003-1026-1565, Universidad de Burgos (UBU) Burgos Spain), M Arilla (0000-0001-5994-678X, Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES‐CERCA) Tarragona Spain), R Blasco (0000-0001-9804-739X, Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES‐CERCA) Tarragona Spain)
Year2025
Volume35
Issue1
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.3383
OpenAlexW4406408783
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited72

Numerous zooarchaeological cases have reported the presence of more than one type of predator as causal agents in the formation of the bone record in karstic contexts. However, modern analogs capable of supporting these interpretations from actualistic cases are practically nonexistent. In this paper, we present the analysis of a leporid assemblage accumulated in a cave where the action of different non-human predators converged. The exhaustive taphonomic analyses suggest that these remains were accumulated by more than one type of predator as the majority product of non-ingested remains. In comparison with other studies carried out at the same site, we could affirm that the genesis of this assemblage is due to the predatory action of nocturnal birds of prey and carnivorous mammals that carried their prey to this cave. We discuss these results and provide information to enrich archaeological and paleontological studies in contexts with combined taphonomic problems

Archaeological record · Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Biology · Cave · Fauna · Faunal assemblage · Geography · Paleoecology · Predation · Predator · Taphonomy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology

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