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Differential Carnivore Damage as a Potential Indicator of Resource Availability and Foraging Efficiency

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Abstract

Carnivore damage is typically documented in faunal assemblages to understand if attrition of elements or element portions has occurred. Thus, the amount of carnivore damage often is used to simply reflect how “complete” the assemblage is. However, gnawing is a means for carnivores to extract within bone nutrients. Thus, according to the marginal value theorem, the amount of time a carnivore gnaws on an element should be related to the availability of higher-ranked resources or foraging efficiency. In resource-rich environments, less damage is expected than in less productive ones. This expectation was tested by examining the degree of carnivore damage on fur seal remains from three archaeological sites in New Zealand that vary in availability of high-ranked resources. The analysis indicates that the extent and intensity of carnivore damage can relate to resource availability and thus may be a useful measure in prey choice studies. This research also has implications for the hominid scavenging-hunting debate where the degree of carnivore damage has been used to determine primary (hunting) versus secondary (scavenging) access to carcasses.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to the Departments of Anthropology at the University of Auckland and University of Otago, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for access to the collections. Steve Wolverton, Lee Lyman, and Jon Dombrosky provided helpful comments on the manuscript. An anonymous reviewer provided helpful comments on the paleoanthropological research. This research was funded by a National Science Foundation Grant (No. 0408963).

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  1. Department of Geography, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle, Box 305279, Denton, TX, 76203-5017, USA

    Lisa Nagaoka

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Nagaoka, L. Differential Carnivore Damage as a Potential Indicator of Resource Availability and Foraging Efficiency. J Archaeol Method Theory 22, 828–856 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-014-9207-x

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