Taphonomy of the Kraków Spadzista (Late Gravettian) mammoth killing and butchering site

Abstract

Kraków Spadzista (Poland) is an important Late Gravettian site that is unusual because of its direct evidence of mammoth hunting, its enormous amount of mammoth remains, and its separate zones of different human activities. Excavations have been conducted at the site from 1968 until the present day. Nearly 400 sq. m. of the site have been studied. Earlier analysis of the archaeological and osteological materials revealed that three distinct activity zones are present as parts of a single large site. These include a camp area where domestic activities were conducted, a workshop and animal processing area, and a large accumulation of mammoth remains. This article presents the results of zooarchaeological and taphonomic studies of all osteological material from all trenches excavated between 1968 and 2017. During the course of the fieldwork a total of ∼119,000 mammal remains were discovered, belonging to 16 species (including rodents and other mammals). Some osteological materials were studied for the first time and other materials were subjected to a second round of examination and analysis. The abundant remains of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) (MNI = 113) and Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) (MNI = 35) represent a significant majority of the total faunal remains. It is inferred that the mammoths were killed very near or within the area of accumulated bones and teeth, where they were dismembered and butchered. The hunters did not adhere to a strict age-based selection of mammoths for killing and may have opportunistically selected mammoths of varying ages as prey, along with a few individuals of other taxa. Mammoth ribs with embedded lithic fragments presumed to be from weapon points are direct evidence of killing rather than scavenging. The meat-removal and dismembering of carcasses of just killed animals is evidenced by cut marks on various mammoth bones and cut marks on a reindeer tibia. The presence of burned bones suggests the utilisation of mammoth long limb bones as fuel in hearths or cooking fires. Gravettian people did not remain at the site year-round and temporarily left after several weeks or months. After they had departed, the site was visited by animals attracted to scavengeable remains during the spring and summer. Although the mammoth bones likely had been stripped of most meat by Gravettian butchers, carnivores gnawed on remnant soft tissue and the nearly fresh bones. Additionally, the site was utilised by raptors, probably nesting Snowy owls which regurgitated pellets or casts containing remains of rodent prey, which became incorporated into the site sediments.