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It is very nice to see how many people are interested in small vertebrate taphonomy! I am doing my PhD on carnivore -mainly fox- taphonomy in Puna rockshelters, over the Andes in NW Argentina. The results I have obtained so far on modern cases are somewhat different from Sue's. Basically, I've been finding no large vertebrate remains in fox scatological assemblages (and no small vertebrate remains in transported assemblages). Besides, scatological bones are not very badly damaged by digestive acids, being extreme fragmentation the most outstanding property of these assemblages. (I've sent a paper on this to Archaeofauna [Spain], and could send you a copy.) Of course the arid Puna and South American foxes differ from what you have in Britain, but comparing what canids do under different circumstances can be very interesting. Mark, I am very interested in your research, and would very grateful if you could send me some information. Mariana > Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 12:22:58 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time) > Priority: NORMAL > Subject: Re: owl pellets in an archaeological context <fwd> > From: Susan Mary Stallibrass <[log in to unmask]> > To: Jacqui Mulville <[log in to unmask]> > Cc: Mark Ward <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] > Reply-to: Susan Mary Stallibrass <[log in to unmask]> > Phil Piper is doing MPhil/DPhil research at York > (Archaeology Dept) on the taphonomy of small vertebrates > from rural and urban sites. This involves a study of > current taphonomic pathways (including two- and four-footed > predators). Do you know each other? Seems to be topic of > the year. My own work on fox scats found bits of larger > bones (eg frags of rabbit, sheep and bird bones) or > occasional whole small bones (phalanges etc) of birds or > isolated teeth of small mammals, but very few small > vertebrate bones. Either that's a sampling bias (ie if > there are dead sheep around, foxes may target them in > preference to nimble little brown furry squeaky things etc) > or the small vertebrate bones don't survive the digestive > tract too well (teeth being an exception). I'll be very > interested in Mark's results from the fox survey. > There are some pictures in: > Stallibrass, S. 1990. Canid damage to animal bones: two > current lines of research. pp 151-165 in Robinson, David E. > (ed.) Experimentation and reconstruction in environmental > archaeology. Symposia of the Association for Environmental > Archaeology No. 9, Roskilde, Denmark, 1988. Oxford: Oxbow > Books. ISBN 0 946897 23 9. > > > Sue Stalli > > On Fri, 12 May 2000 09:44:10 +0100 Jacqui Mulville > <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > mark have posted your message direct to zooarch. Here you > > all a futher strand in the rich tapestry of owl pellets etc. > > jacqui > > > > --- Begin Forwarded Message --- > > > > Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 18:34:19 +0100 > > From: Mark Ward <[log in to unmask]> > > Subject: Re: owl pellets in an archaeological context <fwd> > > Sender: Mark Ward <[log in to unmask]> > > To: Jacqui Mulville > > <[log in to unmask]> > > Reply-To: Mark Ward <[log in to unmask]> > > Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> > > > > > > Dear Jacqui, > > I am currently working on material excavated from outside two caves in the > > Peak District where the majority of the material is from micro-fauna. I have > > not compared them to raptor digested material yet (this is where Jim > > Williams comes in) but I am working on the assumption that some of this > > material is derived from both Badger and Fox dwellings currently inside the > > caves. Smaller mustelids may also have played a role in this accumulation. > > At the moment I am processing Badger faeces collected a few weeks ago and I > > also have some from February. I plan to collect some either in July or > > August when the smaller rodents are more numerous. > > Hopefully, I will be receiving material from the National Fox Survey at > > Bristol. > > Would any of this data be useful to you? > > Regards > > Mark > > > > > > ---------------------- > > Jacqui Mulville, > > EH Regional Science Advisor (E. Mids) > > Oxford University Museum, > > Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW > > Tel: 01865-272996 Fax: 01865-272970 > > > > > > --------------------- > [log in to unmask] > > Dr. Sue Stallibrass > Archaeological Science Advisor for the north-west region of English Heritage > School of Archaeology, Classics & Oriental Studies (SACOS) > University of Liverpool > Hartley Building > LIVERPOOL L69 3GS > > direct telephone: +44 (0)151 794 5046 departmental FAX: +44 (0)151 794 5057 > > e-mail: [log in to unmask] OR [log in to unmask] > > Mariana Mondini NOTICE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS & NEW ZIP CODE: [log in to unmask] Seccion Arqueologia, ICA, FFyL Universidad de Buenos Aires 25 de mayo 217 (piso 3) (C1002 ABE) Buenos Aires Argentina Fax (indicate "Arqueologia"): (54-11) 4343 2733 Tel. (home): (54-11) 4864 1168 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%