Are there marrow cavities in Pleistocene elephant limb bones, and was marrow available to early humans? New CT scan results from the site of Castel di Guido (Italy)

QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

卷:215

Article

Boschian, Giovanni^1,2  Caramella, Davide³  Sacca, Daniela⁴  Barkai, Ran⁵ 

[1] Univ Pisa, Dipartimento Biol, Pisa, Italy

[2] Univ Johannesburg, Palaeores Inst, Johannesburg, South Africa

[3] Univ Pisa, Dipartimento Ric Traslaz & Nuove Tecnol Med & Chi, Pisa, Italy

[4] 34 Via G Dellomodarme, I-56121 Pisa, Italy

[5] Tel Aviv Univ, Dept Archaeol, Tel Aviv, Israel

关键词: Pleistocene;    Italy;    Palaeoloxodon antiquus;    Limb bones;    CT-Scan;    Marrow cavities;    Lower Palaeolithic;    Marrow consumption;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.010

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

CT-scan analyses were carried out on limb bones of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) from the Middle Pleistocene site of Castel di Guido (Italy), where bifaces made of elephant bone were found in association with lithics and a large number of intentionally modified bone remains of elephants and other taxa. CT-scans show that marrow cavities are present within the limb bones of this taxon. Though rather small compared to the size of the bones, these cavities suggest that bone raw material procurement may not have been the unique goal of intentional elephant bone fracturing, and the marrow may also have been extracted for consumption. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free