Sample name: Porc-Epic Cave

Reference: Z. Assefa. 2006. Faunal remains from Porc-Epic: Paleoecological and zooarchaeological investigations from a Middle Stone Age site in southeastern Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 51(1):50-75 [ER 3725]

Lithology: breccia

Taphonomic context: cave,human accumulation

Archaeology: stone tools

Habitat comments: "The MSA assemblage came from a layer of calcareous breccia, which in some parts of the cave measures up to 1.5-m thick. The upper horizon of the breccia layer was cemented by lateral seepage. A major dripstone subsequently sealed the MSA-bearing breccia layer".
"Thousands of artifacts from the 1974 excavation documented diverse types of retouched and utilized stone tools, with high proportions of points and scrapers. These tools persist throughout the MSA sequence, indicating an absence of major changes in the techniques of stone tool production during the course of the MSA occupation".
"Considering its location high on a steep slope, Porc-Epic Cave cannot have been strategically suitable as a kill site or an ambush spot. More feasibly, the remains probably accumulated at the site through selected transport of nutritionally high-ranking elements to a residential base, which Porc-Epic Cave must have represented".

Life forms: carnivores,primates,rodents,ungulates,other large mammals,other small mammals

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 172 specimens

Sampled by: J. D. Clark, K. D. Williamson

Years: 1974 -

Sampling comments: "In 1974, a team led by J. D. Clark carried out a 1 × 6 m test excavation with the purpose of clarifying the sedimentary history of the cave and conducting a pilot study on the archaeological remains. In the following years, K. D. Williamson pursued an exhaustive excavation of the cave in an area of more than 50 m2, producing a large sample of artifacts and faunal remains".
"There is no documentation that discusses the specific or general procedures of excavation that Williamson undertook at Porc-Epic. However, the excavation was likely dug in arbitrary 10-cm levels, with each grid square divided into four quadrants (50 cm × 50 cm). From a total of 1590 bone-bearing quadrants, more than 57,000 fragments of large mammal bone were recovered from the MSA levels".
"The excavators retained all concretions that contain bones, irrespective of size". Unfortunately, "due to the highly fragmented nature of the faunal assemblage, taxonomic identification could be based only on dental remains. At Porc-Epic, the representation of dental remains is remarkably low compared to postcranial bones and consists primarily of isolated and fragmented specimens".

Sample number: 3958

Contributor: Benjamin Carter

Enterer: Benjamin Carter

Created: 2022-08-06 12:24:23

Modified: 2022-08-06 02:27:53