On Hunting and Meat-eating by Middle Stone Age Hominins at Loiyangalani Site in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Abstract

A detailed study of the vertebrate faunal assemblage from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at the Loiyangalani open-air site is presented. The study considered skeletal part representation, mortality profile, bone surface modifications, and fragmentation patterns to provide insights into MSA hominin foraging strategies. Multivariate taphonomic analyses implicate hominins as the key agents responsible for the modification and accumulation of the faunal assemblage. The prevalence of butchery marks (cut marks and hammerstone percussion marks) on the small- and large-sized animals, particularly on high-meat and marrow-bearing bones, suggests that hominins frequently butchered fleshed carcasses procured through active hunting. The “hot zone” areas of the long bones and the axial bones are more cut-marked than tooth-marked. The proportions of cut marks, percussion marks, and carnivore tooth marks on long bone midshaft fragments indicate that hominins enjoyed primary (early) access to the fully fleshed carcasses, and carnivores had secondary (late) access to the defleshed and demarrowed bone fragments. The evidence supports that effective hunting and meat-eating were integral adaptive elements of MSA hominin behavior at the site.