The behavioral meaning of cut marks at the FLK Zinj level: the carnivore-hominid-carnivore hypothesis falsified (II)

Several authors envision Plio-Pleistocene hominids as scavengers of animal carcass resources (Binford, 1981; Shipman, 1983, 1986; Blumenschine, 1991; Blumenschine and Madrigal, 1993; Blumenschine et al., 1994; Selvaggio, 1994; Capaldo, 1995), a view that runs counter to traditional interpretations of hominids as efficient hunters or, at the very least, primary consumers of fully fleshed carcasses. Scavenging arguments are based partly on the observation that felids tend to abandon their prey with large quantities of intact marrow. Passively scavenging hominids would therefore have been forced to focus on withinbone nutrients. Such a scenario would have created tooth marks resulting from felid defleshing and percussion marks from hominid marrow extraction. Regarding cut marks, supporters of scavenging models suggest that these marks reflect the removal of the marginal flesh scraps that commonly survive initial carnivore consumption. However, this interpretation of cut marks remains either unsupported by experimental or observational studies (Blumenschine, 1991) or incorrectly modeled (see, for example, the critique of Selvaggio [1994] in Domínguez-Rodrigo [1997a]).