Las Zanjillas (Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid) es un yacimiento Calcolítico precampaniforme ubicado en el valle medio del Tajo, caracterizado por más de 500 estructuras que incluyen silos y cubetas. Este estudio se centra en el análisis zooarqueológico y tafonómico de muestras óseas encontradas en este sitio. A diferencia de otras acumulaciones faunísticas en sitios precampaniformes de la región, aquí no se observan depósitos de individuos completos de animales; en cambio, se identifican acumulaciones de fauna de contextos domésticos, mayormente compuestas por restos de vacas y caprinos. Los análisis tafonómicos revelan la presencia de marcas de cortes en todos los taxones, indicando un aprovechamiento cárnico de los animales. No obstante, los patrones de mortalidad identificados en las distintas especies domésticas señalan un predominio de individuos adultos, lo que podría sugerir usos alternativos de las cabañas ganaderas más allá de su función exclusivamente cárnica. Este aspecto, sumado a las cronologías proporcionadas por el sitio, plantea un interesante punto de discusión que abordaremos en este trabajo.
Historically wolves and humans have had a conflictive relationship which has driven the wolf to extinction in some areas across Northern America and Europe. The last decades have seen a rise of multiple government programs to protect wolf populations. Nevertheless, these programs have been controversial in rural areas, product of the predation of livestock by carnivores. As a response to such issues, governments have presented large scale economic plans to compensate the respected owners. The current issue lies in the lack of reliable techniques that can be used to detect the predator responsible for livestock predation. This has led to complications when obtaining subsidies, creating conflict between landowners and government officials. The objectives of this study therefore are to provide a new alternative approach to differentiating between tooth marks of different predators responsible for livestock predation. Here we present the use of geometric morphometrics and Machine Learning algorithms to discern between different carnivores through in depth analysis of the tooth marks they leave on bone. These results present high classification rates with up to 100% accuracy in some cases, successfully differentiating between wolves, dogs and fox tooth marks.
Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was funded by the Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte: Orce Research Project "Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos pliopleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza: zona arqueologica de la Cuenca de Orce (Granada, Espana), 2017-2020 (Ref. BC.03.032/17)". We also received support from the PALARQ Foundation with the convocatory of Analitics 2019: "Identificando Carnivoros a partir de analisis Tafonomicos de ultima generacion aplicando Fotogrametria y Morfometria Geometrica de las Marcas de Diente. Aplicacion a Yacimientos del Pleistoceno Inferior Iberico: FN3, Venta Micena 3 y 4 (Granada), Ponton de la Oliva (Patones, Madrid)". Lloyd Austin Courtenay is also funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities with an FPI Predoctoral Grant (Ref. PRE2019-089411) associated to project RTI2018-099850-B-I00 and the University of Salamanca. The Institut Catala de Paleoecologia Humana I Evolucio Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the "Maria de Maeztu" program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M). ; Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic assemblages, and bones with anthropogenic surface modifications have demonstrated that early human communities inhabited the European subcontinent prior to the Jaramillo Subchron (1.07–0.98 Ma). While most studies have focused primarily on early European lithic technologies and raw material management, relatively little is known about food procurement strategies. While there is some evidence showing access to meat and other animal-based food resources, their mode of acquisition and associated butchery processes are still poorly understood. This paper presents a taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of the Fuente Nueva-3 (FN3) (Guadix-Baza, Spain) faunal assemblage, providing a more in-depth understanding of early hominin subsistence strategies in Europe. The present results show that hominins had access to the meat and marrow of a wide range of animal taxa, including elephants, hippopotami, and small- and medium-sized animals. At the same time, evidence of carnivore activity at the site suggests that these communities likely faced some degree of competition from large predators when acquiring and processing carcasses. ; CRUE-CSIC agreement ; Springer Nature ; Junta de Andalucia BC.03.032/17 ; PALARQ Foundation ; Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities ; National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia PRE2019-089411 RTI2018-099850-B-I00 ; University of Salamanca ; Spanish Government CEX2019-000945-M
