An exploratory study of experimental cutmarks on mammalian bones and its implications for understanding tool selection and butchery skill in prehistory

Abstract

It has been known that early humans performed butchery on animals that were present at the time around them for meat consumption. Studies performed by archaeologists have not only confirmed this via excavations of faunal remains from parts around the world, but have also helped reconstruct, comprehend, conclude, and extrapolate information in comparison to modern-day humans. These experiments map out the entirety of the human evolutionary behaviour pertaining to the use of tools for cutting meat, and fossil specimens discovered from sites which bear cutmarks are a testimony to this. This thesis aims to perform experimental butchery on goat and buffalo meat using stone tools made via knapping of raw material. The results of this investigation will then be compared to cutmarks of archaeological specimens found from a Harappan site. The study will help understand the evolution of tool technologies, how butchery was done in the past, and to look for similarities and differences between the two sets of cutmarked bones. I, the experimentalist, will perform the butchery and aim to remove as much soft tissue as possible from the bones using the stone tools of various sizes and types, knapped by me and other such individuals. All of these activities will be recorded via photography and videography. The bones will be cleaned and prepared for microscopic analysis, along with the same being done for the fossil samples. The cutmarks on the bones will be compared to those on the fossils, and inferences will be drawn. There will be stark differences in the expertise of butchery, the location of the cutmark, and the tool type used. These results will be vital for future investigations, which can include ethnographic and actualistic aspects as well, and also for performing comparative studies of the expertise levels of butchery.