assessing evidence for human megafaunal hunting at lynford (uk)

Assessing evidence for human megafaunal hunting at Lynford

(UK).

Geoff M Smith

Institute of Archaeology, UCL

The World of Mammoths: Vth International Conference on Mammoths and their Relatives

Lynford- Site Location

Stratigraphy and Dating

• Chalk overlain by series of palaeochannels

• Lynford palaeochannel- Oxbow lake– Occasional inputs of higher energy flow

• Areas of bank collapse and sediment gravity flows

• MIS 3- Devensian Cold Stage

Palaeochannel: Bank collapse

Stratigraphy and Dating

• Chalk overlain by series of palaeochannels

• Lynford palaeochannel- Oxbow lake– Occasional inputs of higher energy flow

• Areas of bank collapse and sediment gravity flows

• MIS 4/3- Devensian Cold Stage

Palaeoenvironmental evidence

• Plant macrofossils and pollen

• Fish

• Frogs

• Beetles

• Temperature estimates– Summer= 13°C– Winter= -10°C

Vertebrate Assemblage

%NISP = 66.9% (2341)

%NISP = 0.2% (7)

%NISP = 0%NISP = 1.3% (46)

%NISP = 0.1% (4)

%NISP = 2.9% (101)

Faunal Long Axis Orientation

Bank Collapse

Bone weathering

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

1 2 3 4 5 6

Mammoth: Skeletal Rep.

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

cran

ial

inde

t cra

nial

frag

tusk

man

dibl

e w

teet

h

man

dibl

e w

/o te

eth

max

illa w

teet

h

max

illa w

/o te

eth

uppe

r m

olar

low

er m

olar

low

er to

oth

mol

ar

styl

ohyo

id

atla

s

axis

caud

al v

erte

bra

thor

acic

ver

tebr

a

lum

bar

vert

ebra

vert

ebra rib

ster

num

scap

ula

hum

erus

radi

us

ulna

pelv

is

fem

ur

tibia

cuni

form

mag

num

2nd

phal

anx

3rd

phal

anx

inde

t lon

g bo

ne fr

ag

inde

t fra

g

Carnivore Modifications 1

Carnivore Modifications 2

Carnivore Modification 3

Human Modifications

• No evidence for direct exploitation of mammoth remains.

Mammoth hunters?

• Schreve (2006)– Absence of long bones – No cut marks- not necessarily evidence of absence– High incidence of healed lesions and truama

• BUT Smith (2008):– Long bones not absent- highly fragmented– carnivore and hominin modifications– Pathologies could be have natural cause

Lynford- A ‘Natural Freezer?’

• Focal point• Accumulation of material

– Mammoth not single homogenous assemblage– Mammoth age structure

• Predator Scavengers– Scavenging though some evidence for primary

access– Antler- summer?

• Hominins• Migration?• Natural freezer

Human-Proboscidian Intearactions

• Such interactions still the source of fascination and interest.

• No definitive evidence from Middle Pal– Lynford- seasonal-scavenging?– La Cotte de St Brelade

• evidence for social structured subsistence behaviour?

• It is possible that Neanderthals hunted such megafauna- no evidence at Lynford.

?