Week 4 Part 3

Question 1

Taphonomy is…

Answer 1

The study of the transformation of buried remains

Question 2

Why is taphonomy significant? What does it allow us to do?

Answer 2

Allows us to distinguish cultural and human processes in terms of the transformation of remains
-> reconstructs a chronology

Question 3

How do we determine a home base?

Answer 3

• Clusters of depositions represent locations hominins continually returned to

Question 4

What can taphonomy tell us about hominin diet? What is it indicated by? 2 points, 1 point

Answer 4

1. Paranthropus: hard and gritty flora
2. Australopithecus / Early Homo: Much more omnivorous

As indicated by:
Cut marks and fracture patterns hominin butchery

Question 5

What are the pros and cons for meat consumption? 5 points

Answer 5

Pros:

• Meat= concentrated source of calories
• Contains much less toxic chemicals than plants
• Meat more quickly digested

Cons:

• Hunting and scavenging riskier
• Meat spoils quickly - parasite risk

Question 6

However, a cluster of bones doesn’t necessarily mean hominin butchery. Why? 2 points

Answer 6

• Dumping by scavengers or predators

- Natural events: floods, tides

Question 7

What was the carnivore- hominin - carnivore model? Why is it wrong?

Answer 7

• Dictates that during this time, predators would kill the prey, then hominins arrive, then scavengers

Wrong because…
- Cut marks suggest that hominins were regularly primary predators

Question 8

3 Key points?

Answer 8

• Aspects of behavioural modernity have their roots in the early hominins
• Incorporating stratigraphic analysis, taphonomy, and zooarchaeological datasets have extended the time frames for significant shifts