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TABLE 1. Bones taphonomically modified used for this study with the corresponding geographical area, predator involved and taxonomic group. Most of the rodents from European wildcat belongs to Muridae  (Piñeiro and Barja, 2011) and fossil remains mostly belongs to Arvicolidae  (Sesé and Villa, 2008; Williams et al., 2018). Taxonomic studies are not published for the remains of the captive barn owls and genet. As we are using postcranial remains, the identification to the level of species is difficult to obtain. * “Non-modified” bones were previously analysed to select those bones that had no signs of digestion.

Alteration Geographic
origin
Predator Taxonomic group
Non-modified* Spain Captive barn owls (Tyto alba) Rodentia
Weathered Tanzania Genet (Genetta genetta) Rodentia/Eulipotyphla
Digested Spain European wildcat (Felis silvestris) Rodentia
Weathered + digested Tanzania Genet (Genetta genetta) Rodentia/Eulipotyphla
Non-digested fossils France Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) Rodentia
Digested fossils France Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) Rodentia

 

 

 

TABLE 2. Mean values of surface loss (in %) calculated for all the bones included in each category of taphonomic modification, in modern and fossil bones, depending on the sediment in which they were abraded. Total mean was calculated for a better representation of the tendency showed by the data obtained. Values in bold correspond to skeletal elements broken during the experiment.

  Gravels Clay + silts
Non-modified 10.74% 1.30%
14.59% 0.34%
4.74% 2.74%
5.97% 0.50%
TOTAL MEAN
9.01%
TOTAL MEAN
1.22%
Digested 17.80% 1.88%
14.97% 4.53%
6.55% 4.98%
1.70% 1.53%
TOTAL MEAN
10.26%
TOTAL MEAN
3.23%
Weathered 28.92% 6.67%
17.24% 7.77%
17.56% 0.79%
10.59% 0.50%
TOTAL MEAN
18.57%
TOTAL MEAN
3.93%
Weathered + digested 26.19% 5.07%
16.57% 3.36%
32.93% 2.29%
31.18% 0.00%
TOTAL MEAN
26.72%
TOTAL MEAN
2.68%
Non-digested fossil 14.17% 2.49%
33.23% 3.33%
TOTAL MEAN
23.70%
TOTAL MEAN
2.91%
Digested fossil 18.18% 13.85%
35.42% 1.01%
TOTAL MEAN
26.80%
TOTAL MEAN
7.43%

 

 

 

TABLE 3. Results from the statistical test applied and the estimate coefficient for the response variable applying the Generalized Linear Model (GLM). The D2 indicates how much variability is explained by the initial taphonomic modification affecting the bone surface. Analyses were done with a 95% of confidence interval.

  D2 Degrees of
freedom
p-value Coefficient Standard error
Gravels 0.285 38 7.773e-5 0.288 0.074
Clay + silts 0.086 33 0.101 0.225 0.136