TY - JOUR
T1 - Paleolithic hominin remains from Eshkaft-e Gavi (southern Zagros Mountains, Iran)
T2 - description, affinities, and evidence for butchery
AU - Scott, Jeremiah E.
AU - Marean, Curtis
N1 - Funding Information:
The analysis of the Zagros faunal collections was funded by NSF grant SBR-9727668 to CWM. We thank the following people for aiding us in various aspects of this study: Yoshiko Abe for producing the first drafts of the site plan and stratigraphy figures, and assisting with the analysis of the nonhuman faunal assemblage; Naomi Cleghorn for a draft of Fig. 1 ; Melinda Zeder and the Smithsonian Institution for lending the collection to CWM; Caroline Souday for graciously sharing her knowledge of molar shapes in the genus Homo ; Michael Rosenberg for providing helpful information about the site and reading this manuscript and checking our excavation details for accuracy; and Fereidoun Biglari for providing Eshkaft-e Gavi's geographic coordinates. We are grateful to Steve Leigh, the associate editor, Erik Trinkaus, and two anonymous reviewers for providing helpful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript.
PY - 2009/9
Y1 - 2009/9
N2 - Eshkaft-e Gavi is a cave located in the southern Zagros Mountains of Iran and is one of the few archaeological sites in the region to preserve both Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic occupations. Excavation of the site in the 1970s yielded an assemblage of lithic and faunal remains, including ten hominin specimens: a mandibular molar, four cranial fragments, a clavicular diaphysis, the proximal half of a metacarpal, a fragment of os coxa, the proximal diaphysis of a juvenile femur, and a patella. The bones derive from a minimum of four individuals, including two juveniles. Although many of these remains could be Epi-Paleolithic in age, one of the juvenile specimens-the mandibular molar-occurs at the base of the cave's Upper Paleolithic sequence. The remains are very fragmentary, but those that preserve diagnostic morphology indicate that they represent modern humans. The molar is taxonomically diagnostic, thus confirming the association of the Aurignacian-like Baradostian Industry with modern humans. Four of the specimens-a piece of frontal bone, the clavicle, the juvenile femur, and the patella-display clear evidence for intentional butchery in the form of stone-tool cutmarks. These cutmarked specimens, along with a fragment of parietal bone, are also burned. Although this evidence is consistent with cannibalism, the small sample makes it difficult to say whether or not the individuals represented by the hominin remains were butchered and cooked for consumption. Nevertheless, the cutmarked Eshkaft-e Gavi specimens add to a growing sample of hominin remains extending back into the Plio-Pleistocene that display evidence of intentional defleshing.
AB - Eshkaft-e Gavi is a cave located in the southern Zagros Mountains of Iran and is one of the few archaeological sites in the region to preserve both Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic occupations. Excavation of the site in the 1970s yielded an assemblage of lithic and faunal remains, including ten hominin specimens: a mandibular molar, four cranial fragments, a clavicular diaphysis, the proximal half of a metacarpal, a fragment of os coxa, the proximal diaphysis of a juvenile femur, and a patella. The bones derive from a minimum of four individuals, including two juveniles. Although many of these remains could be Epi-Paleolithic in age, one of the juvenile specimens-the mandibular molar-occurs at the base of the cave's Upper Paleolithic sequence. The remains are very fragmentary, but those that preserve diagnostic morphology indicate that they represent modern humans. The molar is taxonomically diagnostic, thus confirming the association of the Aurignacian-like Baradostian Industry with modern humans. Four of the specimens-a piece of frontal bone, the clavicle, the juvenile femur, and the patella-display clear evidence for intentional butchery in the form of stone-tool cutmarks. These cutmarked specimens, along with a fragment of parietal bone, are also burned. Although this evidence is consistent with cannibalism, the small sample makes it difficult to say whether or not the individuals represented by the hominin remains were butchered and cooked for consumption. Nevertheless, the cutmarked Eshkaft-e Gavi specimens add to a growing sample of hominin remains extending back into the Plio-Pleistocene that display evidence of intentional defleshing.
KW - Cannibalism
KW - Epi-Paleolithic
KW - Modern humans
KW - Upper Paleolithic
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.05.012
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.05.012
M3 - Article
C2 - 19660782
AN - SCOPUS:69549137950
VL - 57
SP - 248
EP - 259
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
SN - 0047-2484
IS - 3
ER -