Faunal assemblage

Last updated

In archaeology and paleontology a faunal assemblage is a group of animal fossils found together in a given stratum [1] . In a non-deformed deposition, fossils are organized by stratum following the laws of uniformitarianism [2] and superposition [3] , which state that the natural phenomena observable today (such as death, decay, or post-mortem transport) also apply to the paleontological record and that the oldest stratum will be at the bottom of a paleontological deposit.

Contents

The principle of faunal succession is used in biostratigraphy to determine each biostratigraphic unit, or biozone. The biostratigraphic unit is a section of geological strata that is defined on the basis of its characteristic fossil taxa or faunal assemblage. Faunal assemblages are also analyzed in archaeological deposits, where they are influenced by cultural activities in addition to ecological processes and natural taphonomy.

Taphonomy

Taphonomy is translated from Greek as "laws of burial" (taphos + nomos). [4] From death to discovery, many processes can affect the burial and preservation of a faunal assemblage including decay, transport, bioturbation, biostratinomy (physical alterations due to sedimentation), [4] and diagenesis (the process by which organic material is converted to mineral). [5] Based on these preservation factors, skeletons and hard parts are most likely to be preserved in faunal assemblages. [6] Taphonomic processes can cause significant "information loss." [7]

Most often if an animal dies, thee flesh decays first, leaving its bones susceptible to taphonomic processes. [8] Preservation depends on mineral composition and preservation varies with bone density as well as sediment composition. For example, arid or highly saline conditions preserve bones better than wet acidic environments. [9] Other environments that are more likely to preserve faunal remains include sediment slumps in lakes, sink holes, [10] or caves. [11] In these cases, faunal assemblages may represent long-term accumulation rather than one-time events.

Life vs. Death Assemblages

Life and death assemblages are differentially defined in paleontology and archaeology.

Paleontology

A life assemblage is a faunal assemblage consisting of a single biological community preserved in the environment in which it lived. [12] Conversely, a death assemblage is composed of species that did not live in the place they were deposited and incorporated into the paleontological record. [12] A mixed assemblage contains both non-transported and transported fossils. [12]

Paleontological faunal remains at the La Brea Tar Pits which comprise a faunal assemblage. PSM V84 D343 Richness of deposit of the fossils in rancho la brea diggings.jpg
Paleontological faunal remains at the La Brea Tar Pits which comprise a faunal assemblage.

Time-averaging is the phenomenon in which geologic events appear to have happened at the same time based on pooling available fossil evidence. [13] Time-averaging occurs when faunal assemblages are mixed across chronological strata and varies across faunal assemblages. [14] For life assemblages in which a community was completely buried in-situ by a sudden event such as a storm or mudslide, time averaging does not affect interpretation. [14] However, most faunal assemblages are mixed or death assemblages which have been affected by taphonomic processes which influence paleontological analysis and interpretation. Although radiocarbon dating is expensive and not possible for specimens older than 50,000 years, when individual bones can be dated researchers can avoid the problems associated with time-averaging.

A frequently used faunal assemblage in paleontology and paleoclimatology is the use of foraminifera assemblages as a proxy of past climate and sea levels. [15] Foraminifera are marine microorganisms that are abundant in most parts of the world's ocean and are indicators of ocean temperature, salinity, upwelling intensity, primary productivity, and more. [16]

Hominid evolution can also be tracked alongside shifting faunal assemblages. For example, in East Africa, a distinctive group of animal species, mostly suids and elephantoids, is characteristic of the fossils preserved from 3.5 Ma to 4.5 Ma. [17] This faunal assemblage has been used effectively to chronologically correlate the East African early hominid sites.

Faunal assemblages are useful in determining the foraging patterns of hominids. One such assemblage at Lang Rongrien in Thailand indicated a hunter-gatherer group which was highly flexible when it came to finding food. They relied heavily on turtle and tortoise to supply the meat portion of their diet when hunting large game was unpredictable. This assemblage also suggested the paleoenvironment was drier and cooler than today because of a distinct lack of pig bones. [18]

Archaeology

Excavation of animal bones from one stratum in an archaeological site. Excavation of animal bones.jpg
Excavation of animal bones from one stratum in an archaeological site.

In archaeology a life assemblage is defined as the animal community which co-occured in time and space with the human population that created the archaeological deposit. [19] A death assemblage, on the other hand, is that which is used by people and preserved in an archaeological site.

If using the paleontological definition of a death assemblage, in archaeology, the faunal assemblage is inherently a death assemblage, since archaeologists assume that humans killed the animals found within the deposits. The taphonomic modifications made by cultural processes are split into two categories, the first being those which the archaeologist cannot control and the second being a direct consequence of an archaeologists' methods. Archaeological deposits are always affected by cultural processes and therefore represent human activities, rather than a complete ecological community. [19] These human activities may include subsistence hunting, agriculture, ritual use, and more.

An example of a taphonomic disadvantage in archaeological faunal assemblages is the effects of domestic dogs on the assemblages [20] . By scavenging or through direct feeding by their human counterparts, dogs and other canids can such severe damage to the bones that identification by archaeologists is impossible. This causes site interpretation problems.

See Also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zooarchaeology</span> Archaeological sub-discipline

Zooarchaeology merges the disciplines of zoology and archaeology, focusing on the analysis of animal remains within archaeological sites. This field, managed by specialists known as zooarchaeologists or faunal analysts, examines remnants such as bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, and proteins, such as DNA, to derive insights into historical human-animal interactions and environmental conditions. While bones and shells tend to be relatively more preserved in archaeological contexts, the survival of faunal remains is generally infrequent. The degradation or fragmentation of faunal remains presents challenges in the accurate analysis and interpretation of data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taphonomy</span> Study of decomposition and fossilization of organisms

Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term taphonomy was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientist Ivan Efremov to describe the study of the transition of remains, parts, or products of organisms from the biosphere to the lithosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bone bed</span> Geological stratum or deposit containing bones

A bone bed is any geological stratum or deposit that contains bones of whatever kind. Inevitably, such deposits are sedimentary in nature. Not a formal term, it tends to be used more to describe especially dense collections such as Lagerstätte. It is also applied to brecciated and stalagmitic deposits on the floor of caves, which frequently contain osseous remains.

The principle of faunal succession, also known as the law of faunal succession, is based on the observation that sedimentary rock strata contain fossilized flora and fauna, and that these fossils succeed each other vertically in a specific, reliable order that can be identified over wide horizontal distances. A fossilized Neanderthal bone will never be found in the same stratum as a fossilized Megalosaurus, for example, because neanderthals and megalosaurs lived during different geological periods, separated by millions of years. This allows for strata to be identified and dated by the fossils found within.

The archaeological record is the body of physical evidence about the past. It is one of the core concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record. Archaeological theory is used to interpret the archaeological record for a better understanding of human cultures. The archaeological record can consist of the earliest ancient findings as well as contemporary artifacts. Human activity has had a large impact on the archaeological record. Destructive human processes, such as agriculture and land development, may damage or destroy potential archaeological sites. Other threats to the archaeological record include natural phenomena and scavenging. Archaeology can be a destructive science for the finite resources of the archaeological record are lost to excavation. Therefore, archaeologists limit the amount of excavation that they do at each site and keep meticulous records of what is found. The archaeological record is the physical record of human prehistory and history, of why ancient civilizations prospered or failed and why those cultures changed and grew. It is the story of the human world.

Amino acid dating is a dating technique used to estimate the age of a specimen in paleobiology, molecular paleontology, archaeology, forensic science, taphonomy, sedimentary geology and other fields. This technique relates changes in amino acid molecules to the time elapsed since they were formed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azykh Cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in Azerbaijan

Azykh Cave, also referred to as Azokh Cave, is a six-cave complex in Azerbaijan, known as a habitation site of prehistoric humans. It is situated near the village of Azykh in the Khojavend District.

The Burgess Shale of British Columbia is famous for its exceptional preservation of mid-Cambrian organisms. Around 69 other sites have been discovered of a similar age, with soft tissues preserved in a similar, though not identical, fashion. Additional sites with a similar form of preservation are known from the Ediacaran and Ordovician periods.

<i>Eoandromeda</i> Species of Ediacaran animal

Eoandromeda is an Ediacaran organism consisting of eight radial spiral arms, and known from two taphonomic modes: the standard Ediacara type preservation in Australia, and as carbonaceous compressions from the Doushantuo formation of China, where it is abundant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayan Formation</span> Stratigraphic Unit in Idaho

The Wayan Formation is a geological formation in Idaho whose strata date back to the latest Early Cretaceous and the earliest Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur, other reptile, mammal, and micro and macro-floral remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The lack of extensive outcrops, limited geographic extent, and extreme structural deformation have limited paleontological explorations of the Wayan.

The Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site is a provincial heritage site in Brandfort in the Free State province of South Africa. The most notable find at this site is the Florisbad Skull, the partial skull of an early human species that was discovered in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gondolin Cave</span> South African cave system

Gondolin Cave is a fossiliferous dolomitic paleocave system in the Northwest Province, South Africa. The paleocave formed in the Eccles Formation dolomites. Gondolin is currently the only described hominin-bearing fossil site in the Northwest Province-portion of the designated Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cave is located on privately owned land and is not accessible to the public. As is the case with other South African Paleo-cave systems with Pliocene and/or Pleistocene fossil deposits, the system was mined for lime during the early 20th century. As a result, the system has been heavily disturbed and consists of only a small active cave, a series of in situ remnant cave deposits, and extensive dumpsites of ex situ calcified sediments produced during mining activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanatocoenosis</span>

Thanatocoenosis are all the embedded fossils at a single discovery site. This site may be referred to as a "death assemblage". Such groupings are composed of fossils of organisms which may not have been associated during life, often originating from different habitats. Examples include marine fossils having been brought together by a water current or animal bones having been deposited by a predator. A site containing thanatocoenosis elements can also lose clarity in its faunal history by more recent intruding factors such as burrowing microfauna or stratigraphic disturbances born from anthropogenic methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilda mega-bonebed</span> Fossil locality in Alberta, Canada

The Hilda mega-bonebed is a complex of fourteen probable Centrosaurus apertus bonebeds discovered near the town of Hilda in Alberta, Canada. It was first described in the scientific literature by David Eberth, Donald Brinkman, and Vaia Barkas in 2010 after more than ten years of research. The Hilda mega-bonebed is significant because the behavior of the preserved dinosaurs themselves was the dominant cause of its existence, rather than the stratum's geological history like most bonebeds. It is also Canada's largest bonebed.

Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser is a German archaeologist. She is a professor at the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz and Director of the Monrepos Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for human behavioural Evolution of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum at Monrepos Castle in Neuwied, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kay Behrensmeyer</span> American taphonomist and paleoecologist

Anna Katherine "Kay" Behrensmeyer is an American taphonomist and paleoecologist. She is a pioneer in the study of the fossil records of terrestrial ecosystems and engages in geological and paleontological field research into the ecological context of human evolution in East Africa. She is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). At the museum, she is co-director of the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program and an associate of the Human Origins Program.

The Washakie Formation is a geologic formation in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. It preserves many mammal, bird, reptile and other fossils dating back to the Lutetian stage of the Eocene within the Paleogene period. The sediments fall in the Bridgerian and Uintan stages of the NALMA classification.

The Obi-Rakhmat Grotto is a Middle Paleolithic prehistoric site that yielded Neanderthal fossils. It is a shallow karst cave near the junction of the Chatkal and Pskem Rivers at the southwestern end of the Talassky Alatau Range in the Tien Shan Mountains, 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeological site of Atapuerca</span> Archaeological site in northern Spain, rich in human fossils

The archaeological site of Atapuerca is located in the province of Burgos in the north of Spain and is notable for its evidence of early human occupation. Bone fragments from around 800,000 years ago, found in its Gran Dolina cavern, provide the oldest known evidence of hominid settlement in Western Europe and of hominid cannibalism anywhere in the world.

<i>The Hunters or the Hunted?</i> 1981 book by Charles Kimberlin Brain

The Hunters or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy is a 1981 book by Charles Kimberlin Brain regarding the taphonomy of cave deposits in Africa.

References

  1. ↑ Raup, David M.; Stanley, Steven M. (1978). Principles of paleontology (2. ed.). San Francisco: Freeman. ISBN   978-0-7167-0022-7.
  2. ↑ Romano, Marco (2015). "Reviewing the term uniformitarianism in modern Earth sciences". Earth-Science Reviews. 148: 65–76. Bibcode:2015ESRv..148...65R. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.05.010. ISSN   0012-8252.
  3. ↑ Donovan, Stephen K. (2021). "Chapter 6: The Law of Superposition". Hands-on palaeontology: a practical manual. Edinburgh, Scotland ; London: Dunedin. ISBN   978-1-78046-097-0. OCLC   1119471437.
  4. 1 2 Martin, Ronald E. (1999). Taphonomy: a process approach. Cambridge paleobiology series. Cambridge: Cambridge university press. ISBN   978-0-521-59171-3.
  5. ↑ Briggs, Derek E. G.; Crowther, Peter R., eds. (2007). Palaeobiology II. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. ISBN   978-0-632-05149-6.
  6. ↑ Raup, David M.; Stanley, Steven M. (1978). Principles of paleontology (2. ed.). San Francisco: Freeman. ISBN   978-0-7167-0022-7.
  7. ↑ Behrensmeyer, Anna K.; Kidwell, Susan M. (1985). "Taphonomy's Contributions to Paleobiology". Paleobiology. 11 (1): 105–119. Bibcode:1985Pbio...11..105.. doi:10.1017/S009483730001143X. ISSN   0094-8373. JSTOR   2400427.
  8. ↑ Madgwick, Richard; Mulville, Jacqui (2015-01-01). "Reconstructing depositional histories through bone taphonomy: extending the potential of faunal data". Journal of Archaeological Science. 53: 255–263. Bibcode:2015JArSc..53..255M. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2014.10.015. ISSN   0305-4403.
  9. ↑ Dirrigl, Frank Joseph; Jung, Hanna; Otken, Robert; Parsons, Jason (2020-02-20). "Bone chemical composition changes in bird bones from laboratory exposure to saline lake conditions". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 12 (3): 76. Bibcode:2020ArAnS..12...76D. doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01019-z. ISSN   1866-9565.
  10. ↑ Ferguson, David K; Knobloch, Erwin (June 1998). "A fresh look at the rich assemblage from the Pliocene sink-hole of Willershausen, Germany". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 101 (1–4): 271–286. Bibcode:1998RPaPa.101..271F. doi:10.1016/s0034-6667(97)00078-x. ISSN   0034-6667.
  11. ↑ Jass, Christopher N.; George, Christian O. (April 2010). "An assessment of the contribution of fossil cave deposits to the Quaternary paleontological record". Quaternary International. 217 (1–2): 105–116. Bibcode:2010QuInt.217..105J. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2009.11.008. ISSN   1040-6182.
  12. 1 2 3 Raup, David M.; Stanley, Steven M. (1978). Principles of paleontology (2. ed.). San Francisco: Freeman. ISBN   978-0-7167-0022-7.
  13. ↑ Kowalewski, Michał (1996). "Time-Averaging, Overcompleteness, and the Geological Record". The Journal of Geology. 104 (3): 317–326. Bibcode:1996JG....104..317K. doi:10.1086/629827. ISSN   0022-1376.
  14. 1 2 Briggs, Derek E. G.; Crowther, Peter R., eds. (2007). Palaeobiology II. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. ISBN   978-0-632-05149-6.
  15. ↑ Cosentino, C.; Molisso, F.; Scopelliti, G.; Caruso, A.; Insinga, D.D.; Lubritto, C.; Pepe, F.; Sacchi, M. (May 2017). "Benthic foraminifera as indicators of relative sea-level fluctuations: Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction of a Holocene marine succession (Calabria, south-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea)". Quaternary International. 439: 79–101. Bibcode:2017QuInt.439...79C. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.10.012. ISSN   1040-6182.
  16. ↑ Saraswat, R. (2015). "Non-destructive foraminiferal paleoclimatic proxies: A brief insight". Proc. Indian Natl. Sci. Acad. 81 (2). doi:10.16943/ptinsa/2015/v81i2/48094.
  17. ↑ Kullmer, Ottmar; Sandrock, Oliver; Viola, Thomas Bence; Hujer, Wolfgang; Said, Hasen; Seidler, Horst (2008). "Suids, Elephantoids, Paleochronology, and Paleoecology of the Pliocene Hominid Site Galili, Somali Region, Ethiopia". PALAIOS. 23 (7/8): 452–464. Bibcode:2008Palai..23..452K. doi:10.2110/palo.2007.p07-028r. ISSN   0883-1351. JSTOR   27670529.
  18. ↑ Mudar, Karen; Anderson, Douglas (2007). "New Evidence for Southeast Asian Pleistocene Foraging Economies: Faunal Remains from the Early Levels of Lang Rongrien Rockshelter, Krabi, Thailand". Asian Perspectives. 46 (2): 298–334. doi:10.1353/asi.2007.0013. hdl: 10125/17269 . JSTOR   42928720.
  19. 1 2 Reitz, Elizabeth Jean; Wing, Elizabeth S. (2008). Zooarchaeology. Cambridge manuals in archaeology (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-85726-0.
  20. ↑ Yravedra, José; Maté-González, Miguel Ángel; Courtenay, Lloyd A.; González-Aguilera, Diego; Fernández, Maximiliano Fernández (2019-11-08). "The use of canid tooth marks on bone for the identification of livestock predation". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 16301. Bibcode:2019NatSR...916301Y. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52807-0. ISSN   2045-2322. PMID   31705057.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.