The culmination of more than a decade of fieldwork and related study, this unique book uses analyses of perimortem taphonomy in Ice Age Siberia to propose a new hypothesis for the peopling of the New World. The authors present evidence based on examinations of more than 9000 pieces of human and carnivore bone from 30 late Pleistocene archaeological and palaeontological sites, including cave and open locations, which span more than 2000 miles from the Ob River in the West to the Sea of Japan in the East. The observed bone damage signatures suggest that the conventional prehistory of Siberia needs revision and, in particular, that cave hyenas had a significant influence on the lives of Ice Age Siberians. The findings are supported by more than 250 photographs, which illustrate the bone damage described and provide a valuable insight into the context and landscape of the fieldwork for those unfamiliar with Siberia.
Author(s): Christy G. Turner II, Nicolai D. Ovodov,Olga V. Pavlova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 504
Contents
Acknowledgments page viii
Note on photograph identifications xi
1 What is perimortem taphonomy, and why study it in Siberia? 1
Introduction 1
An imaginary tale of winter death 11
2 Bone damage and its meaning 26
Taphonomy: the man 26
A few historical accounts of perimortem taphonomy 28
Definitions of 26 perimortem taphonomic variables 33
Piece selection 49
Grand total 49
Summary 49
3 The 30 Siberian archaeological and paleontological sites, distributed
from the Ob River to the Sea of Japan 52
1 Afontova Gora 54
2 Boisman II 60
3 Bolshoi Yakor I 69
4 Borabashevskaya 77
5 Denisova Cave 79
6 Dvuglaska Cave 90
7 Gosudarev Log I 101
8 Kamenka 104
9 Kaminnaya Cave 120
10 Kara-Bom 133
11 Kirkalinskaya Cave 140
12 Krasny Yar 143
13 Kurla I 160
14 Malaya Seeya 164
15 Mal’ta
16 Maly Yaloman Cave 184
17 Mokhovo Mine 1 191
18 Nizhneudinskaya Cave 194
19 Okladnikov Cave 199
20 Proskuryakova Cave 221
21 Razboinich’ya Cave 229
22 Sarala Cave 257
23 Shestakovo 261
24 Straschnaya Cave 269
25 Ust-Kan Cave 279
26 Ust-Kova 303
27 Varvarina Gora 312
28 Volchiya Griva 328
29 Yelenev Cave 332
30 Zhemchuzhnaya Cave 347
4 Discussion: analyses, comparisons, inferences, and hypotheses 349
Summary of our descriptive perimortem taphonomic findings 349
Analytical findings 351
What is an archaeological site? 354
Some other comparisons 356
Damage signatures 363
Site disturbance 366
Review of studies of modern carnivores with emphasis on hyenas 367
Modern hyenas 370
Siberian humans and hyenas 372
Modern attitudes about hyenas 374
Human predation by carnivores 377
Other attacks on humans 378
Did late Pleistocene Siberian hyenas hunt humans? 381
Did humans eat hyenas? 382
Hyenas and archaeological stratigraphy 382
Who were the late Pleistocene humans of Siberia? 383
Siberian Mousterians replaced? 385
Why are there so few late Pleistocene human skeletal remains in Siberia? 386
Extinction of megafauna 390
Northern limit of cave hyena distribution 391
A hyena barrier to Beringia? 395
5 Conclusions for seven questions 404
Another tale of winter death
Appendices 409
1 Tables 409
2 Scientific names for Siberian Pleistocene species identified in one or more
of the 30 faunal assemblages 453
3 Listvenka 455
References 460
Index
