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Taphonomy of bird (Aves) remains at Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, and implications for human-bird interactions during the Pleistocene

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Abstract

The significance of the role of birds in hominin evolution in Island Southeast Asia is not clear. Few avian vertebrate deposits have been recovered from archaeological or fossil sites in the region, and their association with either hominin or natural deposition in caves and rock shelters complicates their usefulness in hominin behavioural and palaeoecological reconstructions. In this paper, we assess the taphonomic history of the Pleistocene avian vertebrate remains recovered from Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, dated to between ca. 44.6 to 11.2 ka and in association with abundant lithic material. We use avian taxonomic composition, skeletal element abundance, and bone surface modification data to determine the agent of avian skeletal deposition. Our analyses indicate that the small grassland and woodland birds (quail, buttonquail, song birds), which dominate the assemblage, were deposited by avian predators (probably barn owls) throughout the sequence. Humans possibly hunted the small quantity of larger birds (imperial pigeon, duck). The bird remains suggest that grasslands, woodland savannahs, wetlands, and forest environments were present locally during the Pleistocene.

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Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the CSIRO Australian National Wildlife collections in Canberra.

Funding

The research was funded by ARC Laureate Project FL120100156.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Stuart Hawkins, Sue O’Connor & Julien Louys

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  1. Stuart Hawkins
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  2. Sue O’Connor
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Correspondence to Stuart Hawkins.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Avian Zooarchaeology: Prehistoric and Historical Insights

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Hawkins, S., O’Connor, S. & Louys, J. Taphonomy of bird (Aves) remains at Laili Cave, Timor-Leste, and implications for human-bird interactions during the Pleistocene. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 6325–6337 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-017-0568-4

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