The faunal bones from Toromoja I and Gwi Pan West : a case study and critical review of interpretive methods / Trudy Van Houten.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Van Houten, Trudy.

Contributor:

Mann, Alan E., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Anthropology.

Anthropology--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Anthropology.

Anthropology--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xii, 333 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

1992.

Summary:

Toromoja I and Gwi Pan West are two mid-Holocene sites located in the Makgadikgadi Pans region of northern central Botswana. The 1980 excavations at these sites yielded good sedimentological, geomorphological, and paleobotanical data as well as microlithic Later Stone Age tools, ostrich eggshell beads, silicified reeds, and faunal bones, but no Middle Stone Age tools or extinct faunal species were recovered. Eleven mammalian genera and four reptilian genera are represented in the faunal sample from Toromoja I and Gwi Pan West. The faunal species identified represent a very plausible natural association of animal species, and an association which is consistent with the geological and paleobotanical data recovered from these sites. This association of faunal species also represents a very plausible larder for Later Stone Age (LSA) people living along the ancient lakeshore, but no direct evidence linking the faunal bones with LSA subsistence practices could be established. No diagnostic marks, such as stone tool cutmarks, toothmarks, trampling marks or polish could be discerned in the faunal samples. Many ethnoarchaeological and taphonomic studies have attempted to identify characteristic patterns of skeletal element representation, but the results of these studies are often unreliable, difficult to apply, or both. Several studies have attempted to relate patterns of skeletal element representation in faunal assemblages to bone density, but with only qualified success. The present study is the first attempt to use computed tomography CT imaging to systematically measure regional bone density, and to apply CT bone density measurements in the interpretation of faunal assemblages. The 583 density measurements obtained in the present study are used to define five CT density categories for a complete caprine skeleton and for a set of bovine long bones. When the CT density values are substituted Lyman's (1982, 1984) density measurements in Klein's 1989 reanalysis of the bovid faunal samples from Klasies River Mouth, the statistical trends noted by Klein emerge more clearly and consistently.

Notes:

Supervisor: Alan E. Mann.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Anthropology) -- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1992.

Includes bibliography.

OCLC:

81680253