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Compression and digestion as agents of vertebral deformation in Sciaenidae, Merlucidae and Gadidae remains: an experimental study to interpret archaeological assemblages

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Abstract

Fish taphonomy from archaeological sites provides considerable useful information about human behaviours and environmental contexts as potential food remains or as natural occurrences. This article focuses on mechanical deformations of fish vertebrae and the potential information about predation, diachrony in the deposition of the remains, and time-averaging and reworking processes these provide. Experimental work using uniaxial compression on dry and water-soaked vertebrae from modern skeletons [Meagre (Argyrosomus regius, Asso 1801), European hake (Merluccius merluccius, L. 1758) and Pouting (Trisopterus luscus, L. 1758)] compared to modern digested fish vertebrae from a predator of extreme taphonomic modification (European otter, Lutra lutra) allowed us to assess key features to identify different processes and site formation agents. Our results are also compared with experimental assemblages modified by water and dry abiotic abrasion. These provide a baseline to understand the nature of the agents causing modifications to archaeological vertebrae from the Middle Holocene Argentinian sites of El Americano II and Barrio Las Dunas and the Magdalenian site of Santa Catalina (Basque Country, Spain). The experimental frame of reference allowed us to identify dry compression on Barrio Las Dunas and Santa Catalina assemblages and wet compression on El Americano II and Santa Catalina sites, improving our interpretation of the formation of those archaeological deposits and their fish assemblages. These data allow one to explore with a higher degree of confidence than has been hitherto possible how humans obtained, processed, and discarded fish in former times.

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Data Availability

The data underlying this study are within the paper. Also, experimental specimens are available at the Laboratory of Experimental Taphonomy, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain.

Code availability (software application or custom code)

Not applicable

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Funding

This work was supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [grants numbers HAR2014-55722-P, HAR2017-88325-P, granted to AMM and ER]. The experiments at the LET/LEA laboratory were covered by projects CGL-2016 79334-P (MINECO) and i-COOP2017B-20287 (CSIC) granted to YFJ and MINECO contract PTA2015-10834-I granted to M.D.Pesquero; RF work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica [grant number PICT 2016 0368] and the Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional del Sur [grant number PGI 22/I266]. The experiments were performed thanks to the Beca Externa Posdoctoral (CONICET) and Investiga Cultura, Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación Argentina, fellowships granted to RF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS)-CONICET, 12 de Octubre 1092, B8000CTX, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Romina Frontini

  2. Laboratorio de Arqueozoología (LAZ-UAM)-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Darwin, 2, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo & Arturo Morales-Muñiz

  3. Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (CNRS), 55 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France

    Christiane Denys & Émilie Guillaud

  4. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), José Gutierrez Abascal, 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo & María Dolores Pesquero-Fernández

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  1. Romina Frontini
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  2. Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo
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  3. Arturo Morales-Muñiz
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  4. Christiane Denys
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  5. Émilie Guillaud
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  6. Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo
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  7. María Dolores Pesquero-Fernández
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Contributions

Conceptualization; data curation; formal analysis; funding acquisition; investigation; methodology; writing-original draft; review; and editing: Romina Frontini, Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo, María Dolores Pesquero-Fernández

Resources; conceptualization; data curation; writing review, and editing: Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo, Arturo Morales-Muñiz, Christiane Denys; Émilie Guillaud

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Correspondence to Romina Frontini.

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All experiments were performed in accordance with the pertinent guidelines and regulations. The experiments were conducted following the approval and protocols implemented by the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid, Spain).

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Frontini, R., Roselló-Izquierdo, E., Morales-Muñiz, A. et al. Compression and digestion as agents of vertebral deformation in Sciaenidae, Merlucidae and Gadidae remains: an experimental study to interpret archaeological assemblages. J Archaeol Method Theory 29, 480–507 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-021-09527-5

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