The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is one of the smallest vultures in the Old World. Today, this vulture is seasonal in Europe, spending winter in North Africa and returning to Europe in spring; however, some permanent populations reside in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balear...

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Autores: Lloveras, Lluís, Nadal, Jordi, Moreno García, Marta, Thomas, Richard, Anglada, Jaume, Baucells, Jordi, Martorell, Carles, Vilasís, David
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/152066
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/152066
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Taphonomy
Neophron percnopterus
Accumulator agents
Anatomical representation
Breakage
Beak marks
Digested bones
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spelling The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern IberiaLloveras, LluísNadal, JordiMoreno García, MartaThomas, RichardAnglada, JaumeBaucells, JordiMartorell, CarlesVilasís, DavidTaphonomyNeophron percnopterusAccumulator agentsAnatomical representationBreakageBeak marksDigested bonesThe Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is one of the smallest vultures in the Old World. Today, this vulture is seasonal in Europe, spending winter in North Africa and returning to Europe in spring; however, some permanent populations reside in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. These birds feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds and reptiles. The remains of Egyptian Vultures have been found on archaeological sites dated to the Pleistocene and Holocene, raising the possibility that they may have been active bone accumulating agents in caves and shelters, a practice evidenced by contemporary observation. Taphonomic studies on prey remains consumed by this vulture are very scarce and its role as an agent responsible for bone accumulations on archaeological sites is not fully understood. In this paper, we analyse bone remains recovered from three well known Egyptian Vulture nests situated in cliff rock shelters from Osona and Ripollès regions (Northeast Spain) with the aim of characterising their accumulations. Specifically, we detail taxonomic and anatomical representation, bone breakage, beak marks and digestion damage. Results show that very diverse taxonomic groups can be accumulated in Egyptian Vulture nest assemblages. The anatomical representation pattern varies greatly depending on the size of prey. Skeletal remains show a low degree of fragmentation and digestion, whilst the proportion of beak marked bones is high. Comparisons with other agents of bone accumulation (birds of prey and terrestrial mammalian carnivores) reveal that the taphonomic signature of Egyptian Vultures differs from most predators.Ll. Lloveras was funded by a postdoctoral grant (BP-A 00334 2011) from the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca Del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Financial support from research projects HAR2011-26193 from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) and SGR2009-1145 from the Generalitat de Catalunya are gratefully acknowledged.Peer reviewedElsevierMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)Generalitat de CatalunyaMoreno García, Marta [0000-0002-6735-9355]Lloveras, Lluís [0000-0001-6949-8298]Nadal, Jordi [0000-0003-1305-617X]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]201720172014info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/152066reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Ingléshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.01.018Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1520662026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
title The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
spellingShingle The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
Lloveras, Lluís
Taphonomy
Neophron percnopterus
Accumulator agents
Anatomical representation
Breakage
Beak marks
Digested bones
title_short The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
title_full The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
title_fullStr The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
title_full_unstemmed The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
title_sort The role of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as a bone accumulator in cliff rock shelters: an analysis of modern bone nest assemblages from North-eastern Iberia
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Lloveras, Lluís
Nadal, Jordi
Moreno García, Marta
Thomas, Richard
Anglada, Jaume
Baucells, Jordi
Martorell, Carles
Vilasís, David
author Lloveras, Lluís
author_facet Lloveras, Lluís
Nadal, Jordi
Moreno García, Marta
Thomas, Richard
Anglada, Jaume
Baucells, Jordi
Martorell, Carles
Vilasís, David
author_role author
author2 Nadal, Jordi
Moreno García, Marta
Thomas, Richard
Anglada, Jaume
Baucells, Jordi
Martorell, Carles
Vilasís, David
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
Generalitat de Catalunya
Moreno García, Marta [0000-0002-6735-9355]
Lloveras, Lluís [0000-0001-6949-8298]
Nadal, Jordi [0000-0003-1305-617X]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Taphonomy
Neophron percnopterus
Accumulator agents
Anatomical representation
Breakage
Beak marks
Digested bones
topic Taphonomy
Neophron percnopterus
Accumulator agents
Anatomical representation
Breakage
Beak marks
Digested bones
description The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is one of the smallest vultures in the Old World. Today, this vulture is seasonal in Europe, spending winter in North Africa and returning to Europe in spring; however, some permanent populations reside in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. These birds feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds and reptiles. The remains of Egyptian Vultures have been found on archaeological sites dated to the Pleistocene and Holocene, raising the possibility that they may have been active bone accumulating agents in caves and shelters, a practice evidenced by contemporary observation. Taphonomic studies on prey remains consumed by this vulture are very scarce and its role as an agent responsible for bone accumulations on archaeological sites is not fully understood. In this paper, we analyse bone remains recovered from three well known Egyptian Vulture nests situated in cliff rock shelters from Osona and Ripollès regions (Northeast Spain) with the aim of characterising their accumulations. Specifically, we detail taxonomic and anatomical representation, bone breakage, beak marks and digestion damage. Results show that very diverse taxonomic groups can be accumulated in Egyptian Vulture nest assemblages. The anatomical representation pattern varies greatly depending on the size of prey. Skeletal remains show a low degree of fragmentation and digestion, whilst the proportion of beak marked bones is high. Comparisons with other agents of bone accumulation (birds of prey and terrestrial mammalian carnivores) reveal that the taphonomic signature of Egyptian Vultures differs from most predators.
publishDate 2014
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2014
2017
2017
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Postprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/152066
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/152066
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.01.018
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,811543

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