Evaluation of African mammalian carnivore taphonomic signature on vertebrate faunal remains from coprogenic samples
Résumé
In archaeological sites, large, medium and small vertebrate remains could have been accumulated either by humans, by non-human predators or both. It is now assumed that neo-taphonomic referentials are essential to help to characterize the accumulators at the origin of fossil assemblages. However, such reference data are lacking for many areas and for several predators. In addition, most of the existing studies focused on bone fragmentation and tooth marks on large bones of herbivores hunted by large carnivores. Feces containing digested small bones and bone fragments are yet rarely considered, especially for small canids or large felids. However, such small elements, included or not in coprolites, are commonly found in sieve residues from archaeological excavations. In addition, several predators may hunt and consume a large range of prey, including herbivores, lagomorphs, rodents, amphibians, fishes, squamates, birds and insects, but these taxa are rarely considered together for taxonomic and taphonomic studies. This paper presents new data on large and small faunal remains collected from several canids (jackal, fox) and genet scats from Morocco, fox scats from Tunisia, and leopard scats from Namibia. The aim of this study is to bring new insights for the settlement of neo-taphonomic referentials for northwestern and southwestern African carnivores, and to provide diagnostic signatures of prey selection and digestion, which will facilitate the identification of predators responsible for faunal fossil accumulations in African sites.
