Carcass acquisition and consumption by carnivores and hominins in Middle Pleistocene sites of Casablanca (Morocco)

• Main Authors: Daujeard, Camille, Geraads, Denis, Gallotti, Rosalia, Mohib, Abderrahim, Raynal, Jean-Paul
• Other Authors: Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris (CR2P), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National des Sciences de l'Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP), Department of Human Evolution Leipzig, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft-Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: préhistoire; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01842812

International audience Study of faunal series resulting from recent excavations in two caves in North Atlantic Morocco (Grotte à Hominidés - GH - and Grotte des Rhinocéros - GDR - at Thomas I and Oulad Hamida 1 quarries, Casablanca) has yielded new evidence concerning the gathering and processing of ungulates carcasses during the Middle Pleistocene in this part of North Africa. Preliminary taphonomic analysis of the macrofauna indicates that the carcasses were mainly introduced in the caves by carnivores. Additionally, marks generated by porcupines also occur. Dimensions and morphologies of tooth-marks and coprolites suggest that carnivores of different sizes (mainly middle-sized canids, hyenids and felids), as well as porcupines, used the cave. Cut-marks on the bones are absent at GH and scarce at GDR, despite their association with lithic artefacts and human fossils. This raises the question of the relationship between hominins and other competitors in these caves. The recurring question is to determine the modalities of niche partitioning by the various predators and/or carrion-eaters as well as the mode of introduction of artefacts and human remains.