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Zooarchaeology through the lens of collagen fingerprinting at Denisova Cave
Brown, Samantha Wang, Naihui Oertle, Annette Kozlikin, Maxim B. Shunkov, Michael V. Derevianko, Anatoly P. Comeskey, Daniel Jope-Street, Blair Harvey, Virginia L. Chowdhury, Manasij Pal
Brown, Samantha
Wang, Naihui
Oertle, Annette
Kozlikin, Maxim B.
Shunkov, Michael V.
Derevianko, Anatoly P.
Comeskey, Daniel
Jope-Street, Blair
Harvey, Virginia L.
Chowdhury, Manasij Pal
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Publication Date
2021-07-29
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Abstract
Denisova Cave, a Pleistocene site in the Altai Mountains of Russian Siberia, has yielded significant fossil and lithic evidence for the Pleistocene in Northern Asia. Abundant animal and human bones have been discovered at the site, however, these tend to be highly fragmented, necessitating new approaches to identifying important hominin and faunal fossils. Here we report the results for 8253 bone fragments using ZooMS. Through the integration of this new ZooMS-based data with the previously published macroscopically-identified fauna we aim to create a holistic picture of the zooarchaeological record of the site. We identify trends associated with climate variability throughout the Middle and Upper Pleistocene as well as patterns explaining the process of bone fragmentation. Where morphological analysis of bones from the site have identified a high proportion of carnivore bones (30.2%), we find that these account for only 7.6% of the ZooMS assemblage, with large mammals between 3 and 5 more abundant overall. Our analysis suggests a cyclical pattern in fragmentation of bones which sees initial fragmentation by hominins using percussive tools and secondary carnivore action, such as gnawing and digestion, likely furthering the initial human-induced fragmentation.
Citation
Brown, S., Wang, N., Oertle, A., Kozlikin, M. B., Shunkov, M. V., Derevianko, A. P., Comeskey, D., Jope-Street, B., Harvey, V. L., Chowdhury, M. P., Buckley, M., Higham, T., & Douka, K. (2021). Zooarchaeology through the lens of collagen fingerprinting at Denisova Cave. Scientific reports, 11, 15457. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94731-2
Publisher
Nature Research
Journal
Scientific Reports
Research Unit
DOI
10.1038/s41598-021-94731-2
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PubMed Central ID
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Article
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© The Author(s) 2021
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ISSN
EISSN
2045-2322