The owl that never left! Taphonomy of Earlier Stone Age small mammal assemblages from Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa)

Abstract

Wonderwerk Cave, in South Africa, is an exceptional site that has yielded a large collection of small mammal fossils in a stratigraphic sequence reaching back ca. 2 million years. Taphonomic studies undertaken to date, show that Tytonidae (likely Tyto alba) was the dominant predator during the Earlier Stone Age. They produced masses of pellets that formed a dense carpet-like surface that covered the cave floor at intervals throughout the sequence. This paper compares the taphonomic signatures of five different Earlier Stone Age small mammal assemblages from Wonderwerk Cave, including assemblages not studied before, as well as a modern pellet assemblage collected from inside the cave. These samples were examined using taphonomic signatures, bone density and spatial distribution which confirm that the main predator in all periods of cave occupation were members of the Family Tytonidae, most likely Barn owls. The Wonderwerk small mammals have enabled us to clarify site formation processes and confirm that there was no transport or mixing of fossils, neither spatially (re-sedimentation) nor chronologically (reworking). This has confirmed the integrity of the stratigraphic sequence in the cave, reinforcing interpretations of palaeoecology, and elucidating intensity of occupation by hominins versus predators, and the behaviour of the predators vis a vis their prey.