Taphonomy of a fish accumulation by the European Otter (Lutra lutra) in central France

• Autores: Emilie Guillaud, Philippe Béarez, Christiane Denys, Stéphane Raimond
• Localización: Journal of taphonomy, ISSN 1696-0815, Vol. 12, Nº. 1, 2014, págs. 69-83
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Fish remains are abundant and easily recognizable in many archaeological sites. But, the origin of such assemblages is generally poorly known. However, the ability to create small fish bone accumulations is restricted to a small number of predators (including raptors, carnivores, and humans). In order to recognize the agents responsible for these concentrations in archaeological sites, we have investigated the taphonomy of the fish remains from otter spraints to determine the potential role of otters in the formation of fossil assemblages. Currently, few data are available to characterize the accumulation of otter remains in natural or archaeological sites. We analyzed a collection of 29 otter spraints from Bugeat (Corrèze) in central France. We identified the remains of nine fish species including, brown trout ((Salmo trutta, Salmonidae), perch (Perca fluviatilis, Percidae), pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus, Centrarchidae), and several Cyprinidae, rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus), minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), bullhead (Cottus gobio) and the indeterminate pair chub/dace (Squalius cephalus/Leuciscus leuciscus). The species and the body parts present, along with the reconstruction of the fish weight and observations of any modifications, such as deformation, rounding and polishing, give us insight into otter prey categories and their transformation after digestion. Among the ca. 200 bones constituting the whole fish skeleton, only between 6 and 39 bones survived according the different species. Cyprinids display a high moderate digestion grade and seems to be the taxon most affected by digestion (64.67%). Based on surface modifications, such as breakage and digestion traces, as well as bone element representation, we produced a set of criteria as a new tool to be applied to the fossil record.