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FIELDIANA
Anthropology

Published by Field Museum of Natural History

Volume 63, No. 3 June 11, 1974

The Fauna from the
Terminal Pleistocene of Palegawra Cave,

A Zarzian Occupation Site in Northeastern Iraq

Priscilla F. Turnbull

Research Associate
Field Museum of Natural History

and
Charles A. Reed

Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois at Chicago Circle

AND

Research Associate
Field Museum of Natural History

I. INTRODUCTION

Palegawra cave was one of many prehistoric archeological sites
excavated in northeastern Iraq by members of the Iraq-Jarmo
Project of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, during
1948, 1950-1951, and 1954-1955, under the direction of Dr.
Robert J. Braid wood, University of Chicago. The research of the
prehistoric cultures of the Pleistocene epoch was primarily under
the direction of Dr. Bruce Howe of the Peabody Museum, Harvard
University. During his periods of research in Iraq, Dr. Howe was
also Baghdad Professor of the American Schools of Oriental
Research. In this latter capacity, he first tested Palegawra in the
spring of 1951, and excavated it almost completely in the spring
of 1955. One of us (Reed) was a member of the Iraq-Jarmo
Project in 1954-1955; while not participating directly in the
excavation at Palegawra Cave, he visited the site during the period
of excavation, and has been in charge of the preparation and study
of the faunal remains since. The senior author (Turnbull) has been
responsible for the major laboratory study, particularly of the
mammalian bones, once these had been freed from their matrix.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 74-75777.

US ISSN 0071-4739

Publication 1183 81

82 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

The two authors, however, share joint and equal responsibility for
this published report.

The Iraq-Jarmo Project was supported primarily by the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago. Further funds came from a
variety of sources, but the environmental study in which Reed was
involved was supported in major part by a grant from the National
Science Foundation to the Department of Anthropology, Univer-
sity of Chicago. Further financial aid came from the American
Philosophical Society and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research. We are grateful to these sources for
support of the field research, and also acknowledge here with
thanks the co-operation received at all times from the Depsirtment
of Antiquities of the Government of Iraq.

Once the faunal collection had been received in Chicago, space
for storage and study was generously donated by the administra-
tive officials of Field Museum of Natural History, under the
directorship of E. Leland Webber. The skeletal remains have since
been catalogued by the Museum as part of the collections in
Vertebrate Paleontology, Department of Geology. We owe a debt
of gratitude to the late Dr. D. Dwight Davis, Curator of Anatomy
at Field Museum of Natural History until his untimely death in
1965, both for giving up valued space in his workroom and for
permission to use the Museum's important comparative collec-
tions of mammalian skeletons. We are also thankful to Dr. Joseph
Curtis Moore, until recently Curator of Mammalogy at the
Museum, for allowing us free access to the collections in his
charge. Dr. Karel Liem, successor to Dr. Davis, has also kindly
co-operated in numerous ways. Dr. Tibor Perenyi, staff artist at
the Museum, made the drawings of an ons^er's teeth and the dog's
mandible. Finally, we thank Dr. Douglas Lay, Department of Anat-
omy, University of North Carolina, for his critical reading of this
manuscript and for a number of helpful suggestions.

There are many more who have helped us: The Kurdish
workmen in the field, numerous colleagues from our own country
and those from abroad, libr2irians, typists, and our spouses. The
list would be almost endless, and it is with regret that we realize
we cannot mention them all.

II. PLACE, TIME, AND ENVIRONMENT

Palegawra is a small cave (Braidwood and Howe, 1960, pi. lOB)
in the Baranand Dagh, one of a series of Cretaceous anticlinal

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84 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

limestone ridges, part of the southwestern foothills of the Zagros
Mountains, in northeastern Iraq (pis. I, II). The cave mouth, some
3 m. across by 3 m. high, opens into an interior 5 m. deep by 6 m.
across. The deposits of artifacts and associated faunal remains
were nowhere more than 2.0 m. deep, and generally not more than
1.2 m. in depth. All parts of the cave are reached by daylight. The
cave faces south, overlooking the elongate, round-bottomed
Bazian Valley, which trends northwest to southeast. The valley is
approximately 25 km. long and 8 km. wide, with a small stream
draining toward the Tigris River by way of the Basira Chai and the
Tauq Chai (pi. II); at the present time, however, only the waters of
an occasional flood actually reach the Tigris.

Absolute elevation of the cave is 990 m. (= 3,250 ft.), which is
some 70 m. above the valley floor. A small side valley, rather
steep, goes down past the cave from the ridgetop above and
provides the easiest path of access.

More information of the general area, of the history of the
archaeological exploration of Palegawra Cave and other prehistoric
sites in the area, and of the human cultural succession of the late
Quaternary in northern Iraq can be found in Braidwood and Howe
(1960). Also in that volume, Wright considered the climatic
sequence of the late Quaternary for the whole area of the eastern
Mediterranean, and Reed and Braidwood attempted a reconstruc-
tion of the environment for the foothill region of northeastern
Iraq during the same period.

The human artifacts in the cave are of a microlithic type of
assemblage termed Zarzian (Garrod, 1930; Braidwood and Howe,
1960, pp. 57-59, 180). The Zarzian has hitherto lacked absolute
dating, but recently bone from Palegawra, chosen by ourselves,
was submitted by Dr. Robert J. Braidwood to Dr. Reiner Protsch
of the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Protsch
extracted the collagen from the bone and used this protein for
radiocarbon dating, as follows: C-14 Determination

Laboratory Number Level at Palegawra (Half-life = 5570)

UCLA1714D 80 -100 cm. 13,350±460 B. P.

UCLA1703A 120 cm. 14,400±760 B. P.

While only two dates are available, they are from undisturbed
layers in the middle parts of the deposits, and are in the expected
chronologic order. However, with the relatively large standard
deviation of each, these "dates" could well be closer together — or
possibly farther apart — in time than the near-millenium of
difference between 14,400 and 13,350. More precisely, we can say

85

86 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

that the middle 40 cm. of the cave deposits have a 68 per cent
(.68) chance of being between 15,160 and 12,890 B. P. and a 95.5
per cent (.955) chance of being between 15,920 and 12,430 B. P.
For convenience, we adopt the round figure of 14,000 B. P. for
these middle levels in the cave, realizing (as should the reader) this
represents only a sort of statistical optimum.

Zarzian artifacts and the associated faunal remains of the upper
80 cm. of the deposits at Palegawra are probably not extremely
later in age than are the deeper deposits; we suggest that quite
possibly the uppermost Zarzian at Palegawra is at least 12,000
years old. Since the Pleistocene is generally considered to have
been giving way to the Recent by 11,000 years ago, we can say
that the fauna we are discussing in this study is probably all from
the terminal Pleistocene. However, that fauna as found in the cave
is definitely not a random population sample for its time and
place, as the bones represented are, for the most part, of animals
collected by man; our sample has been through a "cultural filter,"
concerning which we shall have more to say later.

The paleo-environment of the late Quaternary of the Zagros
Mts. and adjacent foothills has been studied intensively by H. E.
Wright and colleagues working with him or on materials collected
by his group. The basic paleo-ecologic data come from analyses of
sediments at Lake Zeribar in west-central Iran, some 70 km.
east-north-east of Palegawra, correlated with radiocarbon deter-
minations and surveys of the modern pollen rain. These studies —
on pollen by van Zeist and Wright (1963), and by Wright et al.
(1967); on the chemistry of the sediments by Hutchinson and
Cowgill (1963); on the Cladocera by Megard (1967); and on the
paleo-botany by Wasylikowa (1967) — confirm and supplement
the earlier conclusions based on geologic studies of the area
(Wright, 1960, 1961a, b, 1964).

During the last glacial maximum, some 20,000 years ago, the
Zagros Mts. were subjected to intensive local glaciation, correlated
with extreme depression of the snow-line and absence of trees
(Wright, 1961a). By 18,000 B. P., however, the glaciers were
probably beginning to recede and presumably the altitudinally
controlled lifezones of the Zagros Mts. were beginning to move
upward. However, the evidence of the pollen from the cores at
Lake Zeribar and elsewhere in western Iran indicates the continua-
tion of a cold-dry period with a dominance of Artemisia-steppe
vegetation and a general absence of trees, not only for the
mountains but for their foothills as well. Beginning shortly before

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 87

12,000 B. P., the evidence of changes in both pollen and Cladocera
(as summarized by Wright, 1968) indicates the beginning of a slow
warming without any evidence of increase in precipitation; the
conditions of the present warm-dry climate may not have been
attained until 5,500 years ago.

Palegawra Cave is approximately 370 m. lower than Lake
Zeribar, so at present would have an average annual (or seasonal)
temperature 2.5 - 2.75° C higher than does the area of the lake
(Wright, 1961a, fig. 3, p. 156); we assume a similar temperature
differential for the past. We do not, unfortunately, feel that we are
capable of transforming such a temperature differential into direct
vegetational differences for 14,000 - 12,000 years ago, as based on
the Zeribar pollen profiles, but must be content with more general
conclusions.

Precipitation in the Zagros Mts. genergdly increases with altitude
but also decreases with distance inland beyond the crest of the
mountains. Numerous factors controlling the precipitation, past
and present, in the Taurus-Zagros chain have been discussed by
Wright (1961a) and need not be repeated here except to
emphasize that Palegawra is on the south-facing side of the crest of
the mountains where the moisture-bearing storms from the
Mediterranean strike first and drop a major share of their contents.

The evidence of the pollen diagrams at Lake Zeribar definitely
indicates the first consistent post-glacial appearance there of oak
pollen by approximately 14,000 B.P. (van Zeist, 1967; Wright,
1968). Presence of pollen does not necessarily indicate presence of
oaks ne£irby, for pollen of Quercus may be wind-wafted as much
as 75 km. (Wright et al., 1967, p. 439), but the evidence is clear
that, after several thousand years of treelessness, some oaks were
beginning to grow near or on the southern and western foothills of
the Zagros by 14,000 B.P., at approximately the time when we
think the older layers of bone and human artifacts were being
deposited at Palegawra. However, the general environment at this
time, and presumably for much of the period of intermittent
occupancy at Padegawra, was that of a relatively dry sagebrush
(Artemisia) steppe, cold in winter but warm-to-hot in summer. By
12,000 B.P. pollen of pistachio is found in the record at Lake
Zeribar; since pistachio pollen is not wind-borne in such quantities
or for such distance as is that of oak, its presence — even as a
minor component of the total pollen — indicates the occurrence of
trees in the immediate vicinity.

88 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

Considering the lower elevation of Palegawra as compared with
that of Zeribar, we believe that such initial appearance of oak and
pistachio could have been occurring at Palegawra at the time of its
occupancy by Zarzian people (14,000-12,000 B.P.). While in
general the cold -dry Artemisia-steppe was probably still predomi-
nate in the area, to conform with the known data of the flora and
temperature as determined at Zeribar, yet some oak and pistachio,
certainly accompanied by willows and brush, would have been
invading the streamside areas in the region of Palegawra; possibly,
we think, some trees also occurred away from the stresims to
produce an open savannah. Indeed, the botanical remains as
identified from charcoal recovered at Palegawra are all of trees
which live in the area today: oak, tsimarisk, poplar, and a conifer
(juniper?) (Braidwood and Howe, 1960, p. 59). An environment
which would allow such trees to grow could be colder thsin that of
the present but not as severe as was that of Lake Zeribar, higher
and further inland, where the plants of a steppe environment
continued to predominate for 6,000 years thereafter.

The continuing presence of pollen of oak and of some pistachio
at Lake Zeribar of ca. 12,000 years ago agrees, we think, with our
interpretation of the Palegawra environment of the same and
somewhat earlier period, considering the distance (70 km.)
between the two sites, and the lower altitude and more westerly
(and hence warmer) location of Palegawra. For any one time, as
noted above, we postulate the region of Palegawra Cave would be
somewhat warmer than that of Lake Zeribar and with passing time
would precede that area in floral succession from steppe toward
savannah to woodland.

The archaeological evidence from northern and northeastern
Iraq has also been interpreted as suggesting environmental change
at this time, circa 14,000 B.P., since man possibly had been absent
from this foothill area for some 13,000 years prior to re-occupa-
tion by peoples with the Zarzian-type industry (vEirious authors in:
Braidwood and Howe, 1960). Perhaps, during the period of the
latest Pleistocene, coincident with the most intensive phase of the
Wiirm glaciation in Europe, the sagebrush-steppe of the Zagros
Mts. and their foothills were not inviting to men. Possibly the
culture of the people of the pre-Zarzian period was not capable of
coping with the cold-temperate environment of the foothill region,
although we must remember that in Europe both man and several
larger mammals did inhabit cold-steppes, and we see no reason to
believe that the onager {Equus hemionus), for instance, which lives

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 89

today in the cold-steppes of central Asia, would not have been
present in the Zagros foothills of the Late Pleistocene. Lack of
game would not, thus, have been a factor responsible for man's
absence from the area, and, indeed, apparently man did live and
hunt onEigers throughout this particular period in the higher, more
inland, and presumably colder environment of west-central Iran, as
indicated by the record at the rock-shelter of Warwasi near
Kermanshah (Tumbull, MS.).

By the time of the Zarzian occupation, ca. 14,000 years ago,
the floral and faunal evidence for Palegawra, as correlated in our
thinking with the pollen and Cladoceran profiles from Lake
Zeribar, indicate that the environment for the area of the cave was
somewhat cooler than at present; the winters were probably cold
but the summers could have had days warm to hot, as on the
Anatolian plateau today. The presence at Palegawra of the pika,
Ochotona cf. rufescens, also suggests a climate considerably colder
than that of today, but we must remember that at approximately
the same time these animals were living in Palestine, in the Dead
Sea drainage near 0 m. elevation (Haas, 1951). Furthermore, in
Iran £ind Pakistan at present, populations of this Ochotona live in
areas where the climate is not cold (Lay, pers. comm.), as well as
in parts of the high, dry Elburz Mts. (Lay, 1967, p. 151).

The presence in Palegawra of large numbers of the snail Helix
salomonica, plus the presence of this species and fewer individuals
of three other species of snails at Zarzi, had earlier suggested
(Reed and Braidwood, 1960, p. 109) an annual weather cycle that
might not be too dissimilar from that of the present in the same
region today. However, observation of living //c/ix salomonica and
other land snails in western Iran (Reed, 1962) shows that they
emerge from underground hiding to feed actively — and can thus
be collected by man — under conditions of cool (11-14° C) rain or
drizzle. Inasmuch as these circumstances might easily be present
several times each year whether a past climate was the same as that
of today or considerably colder, we cannot utilize the presence of
these snails for paleo-environmental conclusions until much more
is known in detail of the ecologic requirements £ind tolerances of
the several species involved.

We estimate the present rainfall at Palegawra to average 70-75
cm. annually (Wright, 1961a, fig. 1, table 1); that at the higher
altitude of Lake Zeribar is thought to average ca. 80 cm. (Megard,
1967). We have no evidence that the Palegawra rainfall of some
14,000-12,000 years ago would have been any heavier than that of

90 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

today, and possibly it was less. Under such circumstances we
visualize that possibly by 14,000 years ago but probably by
12,000 B.P. a mixed deciduous savannah of Quercus and Pistacia
would have been thinly scattered over the slopes of the ridges, but
would not have been as dense a forest as occurred later and as is
typical of the few remaining virgin forests of northern Iraq today
at altitudes between 1,600 and 1,900 m. Prune, almond, haw-
thorne, apple, maple, ash, and some other trees may have been
minor floral components, but if so we have no palynological
evidence for them. The valley bottoms and more open plains may
have been grassy with a few scattered oaks and some junipers at
their sides; a variety of chenopods and small shrubs, to correspond
to the pollen pattern found at Lake Zeribar, would also have been
present, with oak, pistachio, willow, and much brush undoubtedly
bordering the streams, which may well have had water throughout
the year.

The climatic pattern, undoubtedly, was then, as it is now, of the
classic Mediterranean type (Trewartha, 1961, pp. 223-247; Fisher,
1963, pp. 35-65). At present, precipitation comes largely in the
months of November to April, inclusive, dropping from storms
moving from west to east and each of several days duration.
Winter snowfall is not uncommon at the altitude of Palegawra in
northern Iraq today; probably it was more common when the
Zarzian people lived there, but the depth and duration of that
snow is not now ascertainable. In April and early May, if modern
conditions £ire any guide, violent thunderstorms would occur, with
lightning and sudden fierce winds, often followed by torrentied
rains of the cloudburst type. The late spring, summer, and early
autumn now are, and presumably were then, rainless with high
mid-day temperatures. The grass would die, the hills brown off
beneath and between the trees, and water sources would have
shrunk to a few springs and the permanent streams in the valley
bottoms.

This picture, we stress, is a hypothetical one, of the environ-
ment as we visualize it on the basis of our understanding of the
present evidence. It is an environment in which the animals whose
remains were found in Palegawra cave could and did live.

III. THE FAUNA

A. Procedure. The Palegawra fossil bones were found
imbedded in semi-cemented limey cave-earth. The travertine that

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 91

forms the cementing material precipitated from moisture in the
cave during wet periods; today, the cave during the rains of winter
and the eaily spring is uncomfortably damp and drips continually,
and travertine continues to form. The cave-earth in which the
bones were first buried is chiefly formed from limestone dust and
gravel with perhaps a little soil that may have been blown or
carried inside the shelter. In color the cave-earth is grey to buff or
brown, and weathers reddish; the travertine is white to buff, and
also weathers reddish. Many of the bones were completely
imbedded in the travertine, which of course is much harder than
the cave-earth, £ind which we dissolved in a mild solution of
hydrochloric acid to expose the surfaces of the bones. Other
specimens were prepared by scraping and chiseling the matrix
away, and in the course of these various preparatory operations
many rodents' teeth and jaws were found cemented to fragments
of large bones.

The skeletal collections in the Division of Vertebrate Anatomy
of Field Museum of Natural History have been invaluable in
aiding us to identify these fragmentary bones. Many of these
recent skeletons were collected by Reed in Iraq in 1955 and in
Iran in 1960, and by the Field Museum's Street Expedition to Iran
in 1962.

Aside from the more recent introduction of some late proto-
historic and early historic materials into the upper 60 cm. of
deposit, no ascertainable stratification was app2irent in the cave
when it was being excavated. Accordingly, Dr. Howe removed the
deposits in levels of 20 cm. each, until the cave floor was reached
at 1.2-2.0 m. depth.

Each lot of bone, as removed, was labeled for depth and
position in the cave. Faunal lists were made by us for each level of
20 cm. as study proceeded on the materials. Among the many
analyses of this fauna that we have made was an attempt to
discern differences in percentages of faunal elements at various
levels throughout the entire depth. No significant trends can be
discovered and it is probably correct to consider the entire
sequence as a bio-cultural unit.

Abbreviations: In plates, figures, and tables the following
abbreviations are used :

FMNH 0000. Recent specimens catalogued in the collection of
the Division of Mammals, Depsirtment of Zoology, Field
Museum.

92 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

FMNH PM 0000. Fossil mammals catalogued in the collection
of the Division of Paleontology, Department of Geology,
Field Museum.

YPM 0000. Recent specimens in the osteological collection of
the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.

B. Mammalian Fauna.
Order Insectivora
Family Erinaceidae

Erinaceus europaeus (European hedgehog)

Hemiechinus auritus (long-eared hedgehog)
Order Chiroptera

Family Rhinolophidae

IRhinolophus (bat) ^

Order Lagomorpha
Family Ochotonidae

Ochotona cf. rufescens (pika)
Family Leporidae

Lepus cf. capensis (hare)
Order Rodentia
Family Cricetidae

Mesocricetus sp. (hamster)

Cricetulus cf. migratorius (grey hamster)

Aruicola cf. terrestris (water vole)

Microtus socialis (social vole)

Ellohius cf. fuscocapillus (mole vole)

Meriones cf. persicus (Persian jird)
Family Spalacidae

Spalax leucodon (lesser mole rat)
Order Carnivora
Family Canidae

Canis lupus; C. familiaris (wolf; dog)

Vulpes vulpes (fox)
Family Mustelidae

Martes cf. foina (marten)

Mustela cf . putorius (European polecat)

Meles meles (badger)
Family Felidae

Felis cf. chaus ("jungle," or booted cat)

Felis lynx (lynx)
Order Perissodactyla
Family Equidae

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 93

Equus hemionus (onager)
Order Artiodactyla
Family Suidae

Sus scrofa (wild pig)
Family Cervidae

Cervus elaphus (red deer)
Family Bovidae

Bos primigenius (wild cattle)

Capra hircus aegagrus (wild goat)

Ovis orientalis (wild sheep)

Gazella subgutturosa (gazelle)

Table 1. The column labeled "Number of Specimens" refers to
the counts of individual bones or bone fragments at all levels. In
computing "Minimum Numbers of Individuals" of each species
that could be represented by these thousands of bone fragments,
we proceeded as White (1954) had done before us: the one or two
most abundant kinds of bone were selected as a measure' for each
species— for example, second phalanges and left upper third molars
of the onager. The right and left upper third molars were counted
separately. The phalanges were arranged in sets of four, based at
first on similarity of size and later counted and divided by four (or
whatever number is typical for each species). The largest total of
these counts was then taken as the minimum number of animals
for each species that could have been present in Palegawra cave. In
the case of the equid left upper third molars, there are: one
unerupted tooth, three showing slight wear, five with moderate
we£ir, and five that are very worn — a total of 14, representing 14
individual oncers. There are 103 second phalanges (including one
very immature one) which, divided by four, gives a minimum of
26, plus one immature or a total of 27 individuals. As the latter
figure is the larger, we know that 27 represents the least number
of equids that could possibly have yielded the bones deposited in
the cave over all the period of accumulation. This estimate does
not include the number of animals that were killed and eaten
outside the cave, the bones of which were left for scavengers; it
does not include specimens eaten at the site whose bones perhaps

* Kehoe, 1967, independently employed methods similar to ours at the
Boarding School Site, Montana. Perkins (1964, and pers. comm.) has
devised more complex but more meaningful statistical procedures for
evaluating populations from counts of fragments of bone in archeological
sites. Until his results are tested and published, we will continue to use the
simpler concept of the MNI (minimum number of individuals).

94

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

TABLE 1. Total counts of species at Palegawra Cave

Genus and species
Equus hemionus (onager)

Meriones cf. persicus
(Persian jird)

Cervus elaphus (red deer)

Spalax leucodon (lesser
mole rat)

Ovis orientalis (wild sheep)

Capra hircus aegagrus
(wild goat)

Gazella subgutturosa
(gazelle)

Vulpes vulpes (red fox)

Lepus cf. capensis (hare)

Ochotona cf. rufescens
(pika)

Mesocricetus sp. (hamster)

Sus scrofa (wild pig)

Hemiechinus auritus
(long -eared hedgehog)

Bos primigenius (wild cattle)

Ellobius cf. fuscocapillus
(mole vole)

Arvicola cf. terrestris
(water vole)

Martes cf. foina (marten)

Canis lupus or C. familiaris
(wolf, dog)

Canis familiaris (dog)

Number of

identified

bones

Minimum
number of
individuals

Percentage

based on

minimum number

of individuals

1121

27

20.9

86

14

10.8

456

12

9.3

29

12

9.3

134

10

7.7

97

95
33
11

7

6
68

7

19

2
2

12
1

6.0

5.4
4.6
3.0

3.0
3.0
2.3

2.3
1.5

1.5

1.5
1.5

.7

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA

95

TABLE 1. Totjil counts of species at Palegawra Cave (Continued)

Genus and species
Felis lynx (lynx)

Felis cf. chaus

("jungle" or booted cat)

Cricetulus cf. migratorius
(grey hamster)

Mustela ci. putorius
(European polecat)

Erinaceus europaeus

Number of

identified

bones

(European hedgehog)

2

Meles meles (badger)

2

Micro tus cf. socialis
(social vole)

2

Chiroptera (bat)

1

{Ovis/Capra indet.)
(sheep/goat indet.)

390

TOTAL

Minimum
number of
individuals

Percentage

based on

minimum number

of individuals

.7

131

.7

.7
.7

.7

.7

100.0%

were then tidily thrown out of the shelter; it cannot express the
number of animals killed whose stripped flesh is all that was
"schlepped"* by one or more hunters from a considerable
distance.

Therefore, we cannot attach too much importance to computa-
tions of animal populations for situations such as that which
existed at Palegawra Cave. There were many variables operating,

' "Schlepping" is the useful term introduced by Perkins and Daly (1968)
to describe the assumed butchering and retrieval techniques of prehistoric
Near Eastern hunters after killing a large mammal. Presumably the animal was
skinned, with the bones of the feet and sometimes the mandibles retained in
the skin as handles. The meat would then be cut from the carcass and piled
on the skin, which would be carried or dragged to camp or village. Most of
the skeleton, therefore, was left in the field. The concept of "schlepping" has
in its favor both logic and the evidence that many skeletal parts are not found
at the home sites.

96

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

TABLE 2. Percentages based on game mammals

(See text, page 93 and Table 7, for explanation of how

minimum numbers were computed)

%of

Amount of*

Available

Minimum

total

meat/

meat

number of

game

individual

represented

Genus and species

individuals

mammals

(in kg.)

(in kg.)

Equus hemionus

27

28.4

150

4050

Cervus elaphus

12

12.6

100

1200

Ovis orientalis

10

10.5

35

350

Spalax leucodon

12

12.6

0.1

1.2

Capra hire us aegagrus

8

8.4

35

280

Gazella subgutturosa

7

7.4

20

140

Vulpes vulpes

6

6.3

3

18

Lepus cf. capensis

4

4.2

1.5

6

Sus scrofa

3

3.2

35

105

Bos primigenius

2

2.1

350

700

Martes cf. foina

2

2.1

0.5

1.0

Meles meles

1

1.1

5

5

Mustela cf. putorius

1

1.1

0.4

0.4

Total

95

100.0%

♦Calculations of meat/individual are based on one-half the live weights given
in Walker, 1964, adjusted in some instances to fit with Reed's experiences
with the animals as collected in the Zagros Mountains of Iraq and Iran.

and the human cultural filter was too complex to permit more
than approximations, as indeed is invariably the case. Computing
minimum numbers of animals represented by a collection of bones
is only £in estimate of the least, not the most, individuals that were
present during a long period of time. However, computing
amounts of edible meat (table 2) available from these animals
results in an understanding of which animals were most important
to the prehistoric inhabitants — i.e., which gave the most meat to
eat, provided the best sinew for bindings, had the warmest fur and

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 97

the best bone for tools. Beyond this, it is also important to know
as precisely as possible what species were living in the area at that
time. Hence all bone should be identified as far as possible, not
just the medium-large game animals.

Approximately 4,000 bone fragments were brought back to
Field Museum from Palegawra Cave; of these 2,200 of large to
medium size were peirtially or wholly identified. At least another
500 from small mammals were also identified, at least to order.

In addition to computing percentg^es of occurrence (relative
numbers) by species and minimum possible number of individuals
for each of the larger game species, we also computed these data
for each collecting level (0-20 cm., 20-40 cm., etc.). While the
apparent total number of individuals would have been laigei, if
reported on this basis, the relative percentages of each species were
Eilmost identical to those computed for the entire population
throughout all the levels.

The complete faunal list is given above and in Table 1. The
following discussion treats in detail the most important elements,
but does not include every genus identified in the fauna.

Order Insectivora.

Family Erinaceidae

It is interesting to us that both the small long-eared hedgehog
(Hemiechinus) and the larger European hedgehog (Erinaceus)
occur in the cave fauna. Both genera live today in Iraq.

Order Chiroptera.

One partial humerus of a bat was found by Dr. E. Tchemov
among assorted bird bones sent to him for identification (see
below). This proximal end of a humerus compares closely with
that of Rhinolophus. Unfortunately, no jaws or teeth of bats have
been found.

Order Rodentia.

Two genera of rodents not reported by Hatt (1959) in his study
of the mammals of Iraq are represented in this fauna (in each
instance only lower jaws with teeth were identified): Arvicola cf.
terrestris (water vole), two rami; £ind Mesocricetus sp. (hamster),
seven rami. The dentitions of most of the specimens of hamsters
Eire too worn to be diagnostic; one specimen (PM 11589) with rt.
Mtt^ is not distinguishable from either M. auratus or M. brandti
(as based on the few specimens of these species available to us),
but has teeth larger than those of either auratus or brandti.

98 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

Palegawra is at present within the range of M. brandti (Hamar and
Schutowa, 1966), but specific assignment of these mandibles from
the late Pleistocene must await collection of additional unworn
specimens.

The presence of 29 bones of the lesser mole rat, Spalax
leucodon, representing at least a dozen individuals is noteworthy.
As pointed out below in section IV, "The Fauna and Human
Hunting," these burrowing rodents must have been purposely
hunted as food.

Order Lagomorpha.

Not mentioned by Hatt, 1959, but present at Psilegawra, is
Ochotona cf. rufescens (pika), represented by six mandibular rami.

Order Carnivora.
Family Mustelidae

One species hitherto unreported for Iraq, Mustela cf. putorius
(European polecat), is represented by a left mandible, with teeth.
Hatt (1959, p. 42) had mentioned M. nivalis, a weasel, as possibly
being present according to a verbal report. While M. nivalis has a
wide range in Eurasia and North Africa, and might be expected to
occur in Iraq, M. putorius has an equally wide range and its
presence in northern Iraq at any time during the last 14,000 years
is reasonable. Size, proportions, and the details of the cusps of the
teeth aire more as in M. putorius than as in M. nivalis. The most
characteristic difference is the broadness of the talonid of My in
this specimen and in other specimens of M. putorius at our
disposal. All M. nivalis that we have seen from Europe and Iran are
relatively narrower across the talonid of My.

The beech or stone marten, Martes foina, is presumably rare in
Iraq, considering the few specimens reported there (Hatt, 1959, p.
41), but its long occupancy of the northern part of the country
had already been attested by its presence in late Pleistocene,
Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) layers at Shanidar Cave (Reed and
Braidwood, 1960, p. 165). Our recovery of a single jaw of this
species indicates that this modern animal was £ilso a resident of
northern Iraq during the terminal part of the Pleistocene. The
specimen, PM11266, a right ramus with P^, retains a fragment of
Mr, roots of Pjrj , and alveolus of C, but has no Fj, a condition
observed in some other Martes in the collections of the Field
Museum. There is a strong cingulum all around the P4-. The
protoconid is somewhat worn and the metaconid is also, but

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 99

remains well separated from the protoconid. The metaconid,
furthermore, is centrally located on the crown, not offset toward
the buccal margin, as it is in most recent Maries. There is no
incipient heel developed and therefore the tooth has a symmetri-
cally oval outline. This condition is approached in a Recent
specimen of Maries foina from Iraq in Field Museum. Unfortu-
nately, the trigonid of the My is too broken to permit comparison
with the data of Kurten (1965) from Palestinian Maries. Although
M. foina is associated with a forest environment in many workers'
minds, collectors of the Field Museum Street Expeditions to Iran
and Afghanistan found it living in rocky areas that were complete-
ly devoid of trees and had very sparse shrubs.

Family Canidae

Though we generally think of the food animals as being of
medium to large size, it would seem reasonable to assume that
occasional, even accidental, catches of small animals would have
been welcome in the diet of these meat-eating people. In
particular, the number of foxes {Vulpes vulpes) from Palegawra
might have economic significance. Thirty-three bones, representing
a minimum of six individuals, comprise 4.5 per cent of the total
Palegawra bone (based on minimum number of individuals).
Comparison with Stampfli's figures for some other collections
from northern Iraq is as follows:

Site

No.

of bones

No. individuals

Per

cent

of total individ.

Jarmo

6

not given

2.2

Karim Shahir

9

2

10.5

Tell Matarrah

2

1

7.7

PALEGAWRA

33

6

4.5

At Karim Shahir and Tell Matarrah, fox was a larger component
than at Palegawra; at Jarmo it was considerably smaller. Consider-
ing its possible use as a food element, Reed recalls having heard
that fox is occasionally eaten today in Kurdistan. Reed himself has
tried roasted fox, but finds it has an unpleasant "skunky" taste.
However, others may relish this flavor of fox, as did Bedouins with
whom Reed worked in Upper Egypt. Also possible as an
explanation for the number of these animals at Palegawra is that
they may have inhabited the cave in winter and occasionally died
during occupcincy. Flannery, in Hole et al. (1969, p. 314), re-
ported red fox was the commonest small mammal eaten by the
prehistoric villagers at Deh Luran, Khuzistan, southwestern Iran.

100 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

As based on the size of the lower cheek-teeth, the foxes at
Palegawra 14,000-12,000 B.P. were larger than those living in the
same part of Iraq today (Tumbull, In press).

In the light of Lawrence's (1967, 1968) work on early domestic
dogs, our study of the only large canid jaw found at Palegawra was
particularly interesting. Miss Lawrence has kindly examined the
jaw and has indicated agreement with our identification of it as
dog, Canis familiaris. Independent identification of this specimen
as a jaw of a dog was made by Juliet Clutton-Brock at the British
Museum (Natural History).

Comparative materials at Field Museum included jaws of five
Recent wolves from the Zagros area of Iraq and Iran, one of a
Recent Kurdish dog, 14 prehistoric dogs from Jarmo, Iraq, and
two of Recent Australian dingos. We conclude that the specimen
from Palegawra shows several characters of domestication and
therefore we designate it Canis familiaris rather than C. lupus.
Measurements in millimeters appear below.

The specimen (pis. Ill, IV), FMNH PM 11265, is a left horizon-
tal ramus with P374, My:2> and alveoli of C-Pj ; it was dug from the E.
front qucirter of the cave at a depth of 50-60 cm. The estimated
age of ca. 12,000 or more years of this dog from Palegawra might
be thought to be extremely old, but is not so when considered
against the known periods of other early dogs. Dogs from Jaguar
Cave, Idaho, in North America, thought to have been derived
originally from Eurasian wolves, have been dated at 10,370 B.P. or
older (Lawrence, 1967, 1968). A dog has edso been reported from
probably Late Pleistocene deposits in Illinois (GEilbreath, 1938,
1947), and dogs of similar age ("Late Pleistocene") have also been
reported from Japan (Shikama and Okafuji, 1958). In western
Eurasia, dogs from ca. 9,000 B.P. £ire known from England
(Degerb^l, 1961) and southeastern Turkey (Lawrence, 1967).
Such a wide distribution of dogs during and/or immediately
following the latest Pleistocene indicates an antiquity for the
beginning domestication of Canis familiaris earlier than generally
thought; under these circumstances, a date of ca. 12,000 or older
for a dog in southwestern Asia is not surprising.

The major points which have led us to identify the jaw as dog
instead of wolf are :

1. The overall size of the jaw is small compared with modern
wolves of the Zagros area (pp. 104-105).

2. The root of the canine is pEirticularly shallow. In all wolves we
have seen, the alveolus for the canine descends into the jaw to end

Plate III. Canis cf. familiaris, FMNH PM 11265. Left mandibular
ramus. Palegawra cave. Lateral view showing ^j:^ ^1^2 Di'awn by Tibor
Perenyi. Nat. size.

Plate IV. Canis cf. familiaris, FMNH PM 11265. Dorsal view showing
1*3:4 Mjzi and alveoli of C, P1T2, Drawn by Tibor Perenyi. Nat. size.

101

102 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

approximately under the anterior root of Pj. The alveolus for the
Palegawra canid also reaches the anterior root of Pj, but because
the diastema of C-Pr is so short, the canine root and its alveolus
are also short. Each alveolus was measured with a flexible wire
inserted into the cavities and held against the posterior surface and
along the length of the dorsal surface. Recent Zagros wolf no.
FMNH 88468 - 3.0 cm.; wolf no. FMNH 88469 - 2.5 cm.;
Palegawra CEinid FMNH PM 11265 — 1.5 cm., the maximum being
estimated by continuing the surface of the broken alveolus to the
assumed true level of the jaw bone. The canine roots of the same
recent wolves were also measured: 88468 — 2.9 cm.; 88469 — 2.0
cm. From these data we conclude that the canid from Palegawra
possessed a short canine root compared with that in wolves.

3. The diastema between Cr and Pr is shorter than in any
specimen of wolf we have seen. Reed has noted that a neolithic
dog from Suberde, Anatolia, collected by Dexter Perkins, Jr.,
showed a similar condition but had a much larger carnassial.
Although the bone around the top of the canine alveolus of the
Palegawra dog is broken, very little is missing and projection of the
true surface proves the closeness of C and Py. The coefficients of
variation, V, shown in the chart below, are extremely high for this
character in our sample of Zagros wolves and Jarmo dogs,
indicating that the linear distance between Cr and Pr is highly
variable, perhaps due to mixed sex, age of the available specimens,
or other reasons. However, as the graphics in the log-difference
ratio diagram' show, in Figure 10, none of the other groups is as
short in this dimension C-Pr as is the Palegawra canid. The
suggestion is that this character was very responsive to effects of
early domestication, a possibility also noted by Lawrence (1967).

4. The alveoli for Ptt4 are very close together and the entire
premolar series is relatively short. As the Vs for this character in
the other samples are low, indicating the character is not highly
variable in wolves and Jarmo dogs, we can cite this difference with
confidence as being significant.

Other characters that may be important are : . ,

5. The P4 overlaps Mr rather more than in most wolves, to the
extent of the entire posterior cuspule. There is individual variation
among wolves in this character, but usually the overlap is less.

6. Wolf, rather than jackal, ancestry of this specimen seems
indicated by: the overall size; the single posterior cuspule on Pj;

' For complete explanation of log-difference ratio diagrams, see Simpson,
1941, p. 23; and Simpson et al., 1960, p. 359.

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 103

the incipient hypoconulid on My; and on the My the protoconid is
larger than the metaconid.

The measurements on pp. 104-105 indicate that the Pale-
gawra canid is generally most similar in size to the Recent
Kurdish dog (c5) or to the smaller (9) of the two available
Australian dingos. All the wolves are larger. The Palegawra canid
most resembles the dingo in: the alveolar distances C-Py and C-My;
the lengths of Pj, P4 , My, My and crown length Pj-My; and width
of Py. It resembles the specimen of Kurdish dog most closely in
the widths of P4 and My. In alveolar length Pt^ it is closest to the
dogs from Jarmo. Thus, of the 12 characters measured by us, the
Palegawra dog most resembles in size the Australian dingo in nine,
the Kurdish in two, and the Jarmo dogs in one.

In our measurements, the ranges of the Recent wolves are
greater than the ranges of the Jarmo dogs except in widths of Py,
P4 , and My, in which the largest specimen of Jarmo dog is larger
than the largest Recent wolf. Discussion of the Jarmo dogs will be
found in another paper by Lawrence and Reed (In press).

On the ratio diagram of log differences. Figure 10, using nine
me£ins, the PEilegawra canid is closest to the dingo in five char-
acters, closest to Jarmo dog in one (alveolar length Py:4 ), closest
to Kurdish dog in one (width P4 ), and about equally close to the
Kurdish dog and the dingo in two (length and width My). If the
Jarmo dogs and modern Kurdish dog both represent many millenia
of generally settled domesticity, and the Australian dingo a far less
domestic situation — i.e., less closely tied to man, a more nomadic
life — we can suggest reasons for the similarity between our early
Palegawra dog and the dingo. The free-ranging life of the
Australian dingo associating with the nomadic aboriginals is more
closely parallel to the similarly loose association we imagine for
dogs with the Zarzian hunters than is the more restricted village
life led by the dogs of Jarmo and the modem Kurdish dogs.

The mandible discussed above is undoubtedly that of a dog, but
the possibility remained that it could have been intrusive from a
higher, and thus more recent, level. The physical characters of the
bone, as tested by eye and hand, were the same as those of the
other fossils at the site. However, considering the suggested
antiquity of the specimen, comparative chemical tests were
thought advisable. Dr. Theya Molleson of the British Museum
(Natural History) offered to arrange for the tests; the government
laboratory to which she submitted the samples of bone drilled

Comparison of Palegawra Canid with Certain Others

CO

rH
rH

1^

i

a

C
u

0)
CO

0

0

c
a>
0

0 c
1i «

CO u

S 0

0 a
Cm i-s

0

-a

3

C
0)

u
0

Pi

a
.3

1

1

<

S 0

Post. edge. alv. C—

1

5

7

1

2

N

post, edge alv. P-7

10.5-

14.8

7.9- 12.3

7.1-9.6

OR

6.6

12.8 ±

1.6
12.4

0.7

10.2 ± 0.6

1.6
16.2

12.5

8.35

M

s

V

Post. edge alv. C—

1

5

1

1

2

N

post, edge alv. My

86.6-

97.9

78.5-81.2

OR

74.1

92.7 ±
3.9
4.2

1.7

82.4

84.3

79.85

M

s

V

Alv. length P, .4 , incl. 1

5

7

1

2

N

44.8-

50.6

39.7- 44.3

45.1-45.6

OR

39.5

48.4 ±
2.2
4.6

1.0

42.1 ± 0.6
1.5
3.5

42.9

45.4

M

s

V

Crown length Pj

1

5

7

1

2

N

12.1 -

15.9

11.1 - 11.9

9.9-10.5

OR

10.4

13.8 ±

1.5
10.6

0.7

11.5 ± 0.1
0.3
2.7

11.2

10.2

M

s

V

Crown breadth P^^

1

5

7

1

2

N

6.1 -

6.8

5.8- 7.0

5.2-5.4

OR

5.6

6.4 ±

0.3

5.1

0.1

6.2 ± 0.2

0.5

8.4

5.1

5.3

M

s

V

Crown length P;^

1

5

14

1

2

N

13.4-

16.1

11.8- 14.4

12.6-13.2

OR

12.8

15.1 ±
1.1
6.9

0.5

13.2 ± 0.1
0.4
2.9

12.2

12.9

M

s

V

Crown breadth P^-

1

5

14

1

2

N

6.8-

8.1

6.2- 8.6

6.8-6.9

OR

6.1

7.5 ±

0.5

6.3

0.2

7.1 ± 0.2
0.7
10.3

5.8

6.85

M

s

V

104

Comparison of Palegawra Canid with Certain Others

Continued

PL,

C
9)
U

«3

o

i

o cr
■a «

CO u

to

0

3

g
••3

u

■*^
CO

3
<

!>

to

s 1

S o"

0 a

c

0)

u

Crown length M^ 1

5
24.3-

28.6

10

22.6- 25.6

1

2
21.8-22.2

N

or

21.9

26.6 ±
1.7
6.4

0.8

24.3 ± 0.3
1.0
4.1

22.1

22.0

M

s

V

Crown breadth M^ 1

5

13

1

2

N

at protoconid

9.7 -

- 11.0

8.2- 10.4

8.5-9.5

OR

8.7

10.6 ±
0.6
5.2

0.3

9.7 ± 0.2

0.7

6.9

8.3

9.0

M

s

V

Crown length Mj 1

5
11.0-

11.9

8
10.1- 11.1

1

2
9.4-10.2

N
OR

9.5

11. 5±
0.4
3.1

0.2

10.6 ± 0.1
0.4
3.5

9.9

9.8

M

s

V

Max. crown breadth 1

5

7

1

2

N

Mt

7.8-

8.8

7.1 - 8.9

7.4-7.6

OR

6.8

8.2 ±

0.4

4.4

0.2

8.2 ± 0.2

0.6

7.5

7.0

7.5

M

s
V

Crown length Py - My 1

5
58.3-

69.3

—

1

1

N
OR

55.8

65.4

56.1

55.8

M

N = number of specimens in sample

OR = observed range

M = mean ± standard error

s = standard deviation

V = coefficient of variation

Measurements in millimeters

105

106 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

from the dog's jaw and from four other fossils taken from differ-
ent layers at Palegawra was able to analyse the nitrogen, fluorine,
and phosphate content of the five samples. These results are:

Sample
no.

Depth of fossil

bone at Palegawra

(in cm.)

Fluorine

%

Phosphate

%

F X 100
P2O5

Nitrogen

%

AS 244

Mandible of Canis

50-60

0.05

18.6

0.27

0.11

AS 245

Bone 1

0-20

0.08

21.8

0.36

0.53

AS 246

Bone 2

40-50

0.09

24.4

0.37

0.23

AS 247

Bone 3

40-50

0.09

23.4

0.38

0.47

AS 248

Bone 4

120

0.08

27.3

0.29

0.18

As fluorine accumulates (non-reversibly) in teeth and bone after
burial, organic nitrogen is simultaneously leached out (Oakley and
Hoskins, 1950; Oakley, 1963). Dr. Molleson informs us that differ-
ences in nitrogen content of less than 1 per cent are meaningless as
between themselves, but the overgQl consistency in our samples is
meaningful. Because porous bone is often contaminated with silt,
the phosphate content of the sample is also determined and the
fluorine value of each specimen is then expressed as the ratio of
the percentage of fluorine to percentage of phosphate. This
achieves less misleading figures for the fluorine content of variably
contaminated bones which may then be compared one with an-
other. The Palegawra bones are all low in fluorine content. This is
not surprising in cave-deposited bone, which, as at Palegawra, are
not subjected to typical ground-water but are wetted almost en-
tirely by drip-water from the cave-roof after a rain. The slightly
lower fluorine content in the dog, wrote Molleson (1974, pers.
comm.) is inconclusive in view of the low nitrogen. The fluorine/
phosphate percentage ratio varies only by 0.11. The chemical re-
sults thus leave no doubt that the mandible of the dog is not
appreciably different in age than are the other bones.

The post-cranial bones of Canis consist of one ulna, one
calcaneum, two astragali, five metapodials, and two phalanges. It is
not possible for us to determine whether or not these bones
belonged to wolf or domestic dog. One of the astragali is charred.

One coprolite, containing innumerable fragments of bone, was
found at the level of the dog's jaw (see above). This coprolite
apparently was the only one found in the cave. The absence of
numerous such remains and the lack of bones of Hyaena would
make unlikely the possibility that this scat is from a hyena.
Equally possible sources are dog or wolf. The coprolite appears to
be rather too large for a jackal.

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 107

Order Perissodactyla
Family Equidae

Equus hemionus (the onager, hemione, or half-ass) forms the
largest bulk of the bones in the cave, clearly indicating that the
occupants of Palegawra were hunters and eaters of onager meat.
Several jaws with parti£il dentitions are preserved in this collection,
but loose teeth are far more numerous, and isolated equid teeth
are often difficult to identify as to their exact position in the jaw.
Modern specimens used for comparison with the cave fossils
consisted of six skulls and jaws of the Mongolian onager, Equus
hemionus hemionus; one skull, jaw, and partial skeleton of a
Syrian onager, E. hemionus hemippus; one complete skeleton and
one partial skeleton of E. hemionus onager from Iran; and one
complete skeleton plus another skull of domestic E. asinus from
Iraq. In addition, skulls of numerous modem true horses — E.
caballus — were avadlable for comparison.

The Palegawran equids are referred to E. hemionus for several
reasons. In the lower cheek teeth (omitting Py and My), the
medial groove between the metaconid-metastylid in Pj-My is not
U-shaped as in caballine horses {E. caballus and E. przewalskii)
but approaches the sharp angularity (V-shape) of the zebras and
African asses (pis. V, VII), as noted by Boule, (1899), Hopwood
(1936), and McGrew (1944). Groves and Mazdk (1967, p. 325)
indicated that a V-shaped metaconid-metastylid valley is charac-
teristic of horse and a U-shaped valley characteristic of asses.
Actually the reverse is true as indicated here.^ A summary of
individual examinations of all Pj, P4, My and My of equids from
Palegawra shows that while some degree of variation exists, the
general characterization holds true.

Number of teeth: 174 (all Pj through My of lower cheek
series)

No. with strong V-shaped metaconid-metastylid valleys: 147

No. with shallow V-shaped valleys: 4

No. with tendency toward rounding of valley bottom: 3

No. with definitely more U-shape than V-shape: 2

No. with double-folded valley: 2

' In September, 1968, one of us (Turnbull) spent several days at the British
Museum (Nat. Hist.) in London examining the collection of onagers on which
Groves and Mazdk had worked. Our conclusions based upon our Chicago
materials were entirely confirmed, and we therefore believe that Groves and
Maz^ inadvertently reversed their terminology in their published report.

f n-

Plate V. a, b. Upper and lower dentitions of FMNH 97880, Equus
hemionus onager. Recent, Iran, c, d. Upper and lower dentitions of YPM
1637, Equus hemionus hemippus. Recent, Syria. Measures show inches and
millimeters.

108

ja

c

as

ai

3

3

109

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110

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA

111

Plate Vin. E. hemionus, Palegawra, PM 12721, L.dP^:^ and unerupted
M-. X 1.2. Drawn by Tibor Perenyi.

No. too broken or unworn to determine shape: 6
No. of deciduous premolars, all of which have V-shape
valleys: 10
As to the depth of the protoconid-hypoconid valley, we are
more in £igreement with the statement of Groves and Mazak that it
does not penetrate as deeply in asses as in horses, or, we add, as in
zebras. The following figures refer to the 190 lower teeth (all
cheek teeth including the Py and Mj) in the Palegawra collection:
Sheillow protoconid-hypoconid valleys: 8
Medium protoconid-hypoconid valleys; these do not com-
pletely reach the top of the valley between metaconid and
metastylid: 152
Deep valleys that nearly reach the metaconid-metastylid

valley: 21
Broken: 9
The borders of the metaconid and metastylid are flattened as in
caballines, not round as in the zebra. In all of these features we
have just described, the Palegawran equid compares very well with
specimens of the Persian and Mongolian hemiones in Field
Museum as well £is with those in the British Museum. In addition,
the entaflexid of the Palegawran equid is long, as it is also in the
Asian onager and in horses, not short as in zebra. No hypostylid is
present on dPj, which is also a valid character McGrew (1944)
found to be present in zebra but absent in horses and African
asses. The parastylid is variable.

Scatter diagrams and computations of coefficients of variability
(V) were prepared to allow comparisons with other equids and to
determine if more than one species was likely to be represented.

112

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

Plate IX. E. hemionus, Palegawra. a, PM 10026, Rt. P--M- to show
method of measuring last molar, b, PM 12764, Rt. Mj, c, PM 10030, first
phalanx, anterior view, d, PM 12614, second phalanx, antero -proximal view,
e, PM 12608, distal end of metapodial, anterior view. Broken arrow line
shows how anterior-posterior distance was measured on metapodials.

The manner of measurement for each bone is shown on its
illustration (pi. IX).

Figures 1-5 present the data of a series of measurements on the
teeth and on foot bones. In Figure 1, 24 right and left M^ 's are
plotted and compared with similar teeth of Recent onagers and a
domestic ass.

Figure 2 shows the variation for 21 Mjs. As in Figure 1, we
include measurements of homologous teeth in E. hemionus

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA

113

2.00..

i I. SO..

N« 34

2.00

2.20

Le ngt h

Legend for figs. 1_ 5

• Pa'egawra
O FM NH 97880
O FM N H 92903
■ YPM 1637
i^ YPM 5098
A FMNH 5 7251

Fig. 1. Equus hemionus, Palegawra: scatter diagram of 24 right and left
M-. For comparison the following specimens have been added (legend shown
oaFigure 1): YPM 1637, E. hemionus hemippus, Recent, Syria; right and left
M-. FMNH 92903, E. asinus (domestic). Recent, Iraq; right and left M-
FMNH 97880, E. hemionus onager. Recent, Iran; right and left M-. In
Figures 3-5 YPM 5098, E. hemionus onager. Recent, Persia; FMNH 57251, E.
asinus. Recent, Iraq. Width of M- is maximum right-left, perp)endicular to
length. Length measured on enamel band from anterior external ectoloph to
posterior external ectoloph. All measurements in centimeters.

hemionus (Mongolia), E. hemionus hemippus (Syria), E. hemionus
onager (Iran), and domestic E. asinus (Iraq). We recognize that one
specimen of each of the compared species is of no significance if it
fits into the pattern, but it might be significant if it fell far outside
the pattern's limits.

Figure 3 illustrates variation in 26 first (most proximal)
phalanges undifferentiated as to front and rear. The phalanges of
E. hemionus hemippus (Syria) obviously are smaller, fore and
hind, than are the undifferentiated ones from Palegawra. In the
case of the Recent onagers from Iran, the anterior phalanges
compare well with the group of undifferentiated Palegawran
phalanges, but the posterior ones are relatively shorter. The first

•

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-

.

•

1.40-

-

•

•
•

.

-

.

•

.

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•

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■

■

•

■

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-

•
•

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3

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—i

•

1 1 1

\ — ; — h—

— 1

H H

1—

N-ai

1 1

2.00

2.20

2.40 2.60

Length

2.80

3.00

3.20

Fig. 2. Equus hemionus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of 21 right and left
Mj. Legend as for Figure 1. Length measured parallel to the lingual edge.
Width measured perpendicular to length. Additional Recent specimens shown
for comparison. All measurements in centimeters.

3.80

.

3.60

.

°

9

•

•

•

3.4 0

•

o

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^

,,

•

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■

^

u

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Phalanx 1

3.00

•

N = 26

A

•

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.

i

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1

1

1 1

"~

1

1 1

I

I

1 1

1 1

1 1

1

6.80

M Idllr

7.00

length

Fig. 3. Equus hemionus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of 26 first phalanges.
Comparison of Recent measurements are FMNH 57251, E. asinus, right fore
(hind too small to plot here); YPM 1637, E. hemionus hemippus, rignt fore,
left hind; YPM 5098, E. hemionus onager, right and left fore, hind. Legend as
for Figure 1. Length measured at midline on anterior surface. Distal width
measured at condyle (PI. IXc). All measurements in centimeters.

114

TURNBULL & REED : P ALEG AWR A CAVE FAUNA 115

_l 3.30 -.

Phal a n X II
N = 9 6

Fig. 4. Equus hemionus, Palegawra; scatter diagrams of 96 second
phalanges (NOTE: two specimens from Palegawra mentioned in the text were
too large to be shown in this figure.) Recent specimens plotted for
comparison are: YPM 1637, E. hemionus hemippus, right fore, left hind;
YPM 5098, E. hemionus onager, right and left fore and hind. Width
measurement is at proximal end. Lengtn measurement at midline on anterior
(dorsal) surface (PI. IXd). Legend as for Figure 1. All measurements in
centimeters.

phalanges of domestic E. asinus were too small to appear within
the limits of the chart. Perhaps these results indicate that Persian
onagers of 12,000 years B.P. and earlier were somewhat Icirger
than Recent forms.

In Figure 4, 98 second phalanges of fossil E. hemionus were
measured. We chose the distal width of first phalanges, but the
proximal width of second phalanges because many of the foot
bones are broken and the greatest number of specimens were
available with these particular portions intact. In Figure 4,
domestic E. asinus again was too small to show. The second
phalanges of E. hemionus hemippus are short, but lie within the
lower range of the group of Palegawran specimens. E. hemionus

116

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

onager lies well within the range. Two of the bones from
Palegawra are much larger thEin the others and do not show in the
figure; both were collected well down in the section, making it
unlikely that they are recent domestic horses. The degree of
difference in size between these two bones and the smallest of the
other 96 specimens is less than the difference in size in the second
phalanges of the largest and smallest specimens of domestic E.
caballus present in Field Museum. We would be inclined to
consider that two species of equids are represented at Palegawra if
there was a more equal division of the sizes into two groups.
Perhaps these two largest phalanges represent extreme size
variability between sexes in the population; possibly — Eilthough
we doubt this — they were deposited in the cave and belonged to
an equine population other than the local one. Again we recognize
the limitations of our methods on unnatursil accumulations of
bones.

Figure 5 shows measurements of the distal ends of 37
metapodial (cannon) bones, with domestic E. asinus smaller in
both dimensions, E. hemionus hemippus much narrower in width,
and E. hemionus onager about equal to the mean of the specimens
from Palegawra.

• tapodi m II
N. 17

Fig. 5. Equus hemionus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of 37 distal ends of
metapodials. Compared Recent specimens are: YPM 1637, E. hemionus
hemippus, right fore and left hind; YPM 5098, E. hemionus onager, right fore
and hind; FMNH 57251, E. asinus, right fore and hind. Legend as for Figure
1. The distal antero-posterior dimension was measured at midline. Width
measured distally (PI. IXe). All measurements in centimeters.

TURNBULL & REED : PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 1 1 7

As our sample of equid remains is large, we were able to check
our observed conclusion regarding the presence of one species of
equid statistically. We are indebted to Dr. Ernest L. Lundelius, Jr.,
University of Texas, for his generosity in giving us the use of a
series of equivalent measurements he made on a modern collection
of Mongolian E. hemionus hemionus in the American Museum of
Natural History, New York.

Right M^ s were measured from the enamel band at the
antero -external tip of the ectoloph to the tip of the enamel band
at the postero-external corner of the ectoloph. Only teeth showing
enough wear to prove complete eruption were used. The formula
for standard error was first applied, after which the coefficient of
variability was computed (Simpson et al., 1960, pp. 87, 91). For
the right M-s, N = 11, V = 7.97, corrected for small sample size
(Haldane, 1955).

For the left M-s, similar data are: N = 13, V = 8.13, corrected.

The rather high coefficients of variability indicate a group of
mixed sex and varying ages of animals from young adults to very
old (Simpson et al., 1960, p. 91). Next, for comparison, we made
similar calculations using Lundelius' measurements (made in the
same manner) of 15 right M-s of the Mongolian onagers. In this
sample, N = 15, V = 6.4, corrected. The lower coefficient of
variability of this sample is probably due to the indisputable
contemporaneity of the sample in time, and the similar ages of the
specimens, as shown by the fact that all teeth were fully erupted
but none extremely worn.

Finally, we calculated the coefficient of variability for the
widths of 37 distal ends of metapodia in the collection from
Palegawra. These represented fore and hind as well as right and left
bones. N = 37, and V = 7.4.

All of these results further indicate to us that the Palegawra
equids show a degree of variability compatable with what should
be expected in a single population. The coefficients of variability
were computed for the broken metapodial ends specifically,
because we wondered if the scatter diagram might indicate that
more than one species was present. In the case of the first phalanx,
only 26 specimens were available as opposed to 37 distal ends of
metapodials, which circumstance is another explanation of the
choice we made. Finally, in the case of the second phalanges, with
only two of the very large specimens' but 96 others that seemed to
form a compact group, we felt extreme individual variation or
possibly intrusion of foreign elements (see above) better explained

' The measurements for these (in mm.) are: length 4.37 x prox. width 5.51;
length 4.39 x prox. width 5.44.

118 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

the facts than would an assumption of the presence of two species
on so little evidence.

Although Azzarolli (1966) considered the equid populations
onager, hemionus, and hemippus to be full species on the basis of
skull characters, we cannot distinguish our late Pleistocene form
from the modem Iranian onager or the Mongolian hemionus on
the basis of cheek teeth. The Syrian hemippus is also very similar
except for the smaller size. We continue, therefore, to regard these
populations as subspecies of Equus hemionus.

While we agree with Groves and Mazak (1967) in considering
African and Asiatic asses to be closely related, we do not care to
remove these from the genus Equus. Instead, we would conserva-
tively retEiin the genus Equus to include true horses, zebras, and
the African and Asiatic asses, the latter two groups under the
subgenus Asinus. The Asiatic hemiones, including our Pgdegawran
forms, are thus designated Equus (Asinus) hemionus. The sub-
specific names hemippus, onager, kulan, khur, luteus, kiang, and
hemionus are used for modem forms in which size, pelage, etc.,
reflect living conditions and isolation. We do not propose to assign
a subspecific designation to our late Pleistocene fossils, as the
diagnostic characters of pelts and skulls are lacking.

We emphasize our belief that only one taxon —Equus (Asinus)
hemionus — of equids is represented by the remains of equids at
Palegawra Cave, because of the often-held assumption that true
wild horses, Equus caballus, were present in southwestern Asia
during the late Quaternary. The presence of such horses in late
prehistoric context has indeed been reported for areas as widely
separated as Palestine (Josien, 1955), Baluchistan (Guha and
Chatterjee, 1946), and Egypt (Gaillard, 1934)/ but we hold to
the belief until convinced otherwise that true horses did not occur
in the late Quaternary of the more southern parts of southwestern
Asia until introduced from the north as domestic animals early in
the second millenium B.C.

Many of the lower jaws and their contained cheek teeth, as well
as many of the separated cheek teeth of the oneigers, are sheared
off horizontally below the gum line, but above the base of the
roots. Some of these teeth are freshly broken by the semi-quarry-
ing procedures of the excavators, but most of the broken surfaces
£ire old and obviously produced prior to deposition. There is no

'Reed and TurnbuU (1969) have shown, indeed, that this Egyptian
Pleistocene "horse" was actually a wild ass, Equus asinus.

TURNBULL & REED : P ALEG AWR A CAVE FAUNA 119

evidence from scratches or striations that such teeth or jaws were
used as scrapers, a use known for jaws in earlier Pleistocene
cultures (Kitching, 1963, pi. 31); in the Palegawra specimens the
crowns of the teeth £ire not abraded or worn down in any artificial
way nor does the bone show signs of hand-held polish. Neither the
loose teeth nor any bony edges of the broken jaws bear any signs
of use, and they are not pierced or scratched. That the teeth were
actually used to grind or scrape is, of course, possible, but no
evidence for such can be determined from study of these jaws. As
pointed out below, nearly £ill of the bones are broken in a fashion
"unnatural" to the paleontological eye as a result of the
butchering and/or post-butchering practices of the cave dwellers.
To what use, if any, the sheared horse jaws were put remains
unknown to us at this time. Possibly the thinner ventral jaw
fragments — the parts removed— were the desired elements, but no
bone artifacts definitely referable to equid lower jaws were found
in the cave; indeed, the removed ventral portions of these
horizontad mandibular rami are missing entirely. As mandibles
possess little marrow and no useful sinew, we are at a loss to
imderstand why these are broken in this fashion.^ Whatever the
reason for the mutilation of the onagers' mandibles, the mutilated
(and occasionally intact) lower jaw was CEirried into the cave more
frequently than were most other parts of the skeleton, except feet,
as is proved by actual counts of representative lower cheek-teeth,
right and left, as contrasted with the numbers of individual
post-cranial bones, again excepting foot bones. (See also table 4.)
Some maxillaries are present, also sheared off and with the
cheek teeth often broken horizontailly near their roots, but these
upper jaws are not as numerous as are the lower. Other parts of
onagers' skulls seem to be quite rare; admittedly, if fragmented,
some parts are difficult to recognize, but the supraoccipitail
portions should remain intact and are always identifiable.

Order Artiodactyla
Family Suidae

Sus scrofa, wild pig, occurs throughout the cave strata as a
small component of the total bone. Probably more than the three

* In February, 1973. Tumbull, then in East Africa, learned from Dr. Mary
Leakey that modem African hunters break open lower jaws for the nutriment
contained in the spongy bone inside. We have not yet had opportunity to
investigate marrow content in lower jars of equids or other game animals, but
if a significant amount of edible material is available in this way, our problem
of the broken hemione mandibles is at least partially answered.

120 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

individuals we list as the minimum possible number are present.
The bones appear to fall into a lai^e group, a medium-size group,
and a small, immature group. Measurements on upper and lower
whole or nearly whole teeth are given below: all measurements are
in millimeters; lengths were measured at the midlines, and widths
are maximum for each tooth.

Upper teeth
PM 10182. Rt. maxilla with Mi-ii, both broken laterally:
L. Mi 17.4

L. M^- 23.2

PM 11795.

Rt. maxilla with dP^-^ M^ :

dPi L. 14.2 W. 9.2

dP^ L. 15.5 W. 12.2

M^ L. 17.8 W. 15.4

PM 11913,

, Rt. maxilla with dP 5-^^:

dP^^ L. 11.7 W. 5.8

dP^ L. 13.7 W. 9.2

Lower teeth

PM 10610. Left Mj-, moderately worn:

L. 19.7 W. 13.4
PM 12503. Left Mj, unerupted, talonid broken posteriorly:

L. as preserved 29.6

W. attrigonid 19.7

The relatively small number of bones of pigs at Palegawra,
in contrast to the numerous remains of one^ers, red deer,
sheep, and goats, indicates to us that pigs were rare in the area
during the period of the latest Pleistocene. The other possibility,
that they were a common component of the fauna but little
hunted, does not seem logical considering that the Zarzians were
competent hunters of big game.

Family Bovidae

The remains of large bovids are rare; while, in general, in the
past such bones have been attributed to Bos, there is the possibil-
ity of confusion wdth Bison, for whose presence in Iraq there is
cultural evidence (Hatt, 1959, p. 67). In addition, a few bones
from Jarmo have been tentatively identified as Bison (Stampfli, In
press). The fragmentary bones of the larger bovids at Palegawra are
all big relative to those of living cattle. In the case of one fragment
of lower jaw, Jesse Robertson, Florida State Museum (pers. comm.)
stated that the shape of the coronoid process and relative size of
the mental foramen indicate that this specimen at least more
closely resembles Bos than Bison. In fact, the overall size of

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 121

this bone is much larger than that from living Bos or Bison, and is
as large as that of the North American Bison latifrons, a size
attained also by some specimens of Bos primigenius. Due to the
small sample and the lack of any truly diagnostic pieces of bone,
we cannot assign the larger bovids from Palegawra with certainty
to either Bos or Bison. The general absence of definitely diag-
nostic remains of Bison from any late Quaternary collections in
southwestern Asia inclines us to the tentative conclusion that our
few bones of "cattle" do indeed represent a sample from a
population of Bos primigenius.

Wild Ovis orientalis and Capra hircus aegagrus from the area of
northern Iraq can be distinguished from each other osteologically
if an adequate sample of bone is present. Despite careful
observations and critical study there remained a significantly large
group of bone fragments lacking any diagnostic features other
than gross size and these we have had to include as a sheep/goat
category.

The detailed descriptions and illustrations of differences
between wild sheep and goats given in Boessneck et al., 1964,
proved valuable to us, and provided many additions to our own
observations made on the lai^e collection of modem wild sheep
and goats in Field Museum. Boessneck et al. based their criteria on
many forms from various areas. Some of the criteria they listed
proved valid for us, others did not. Limitations are often the result
of badly broken bone. Many of the most obvious differences —
i.e., proportions of length/width in metapodials — could not be
used at all because no complete metapodials were preserved.

The lack of any homcores of Ovis, and the presence of only one
homcore of Capra together with a few skull fragments, probably
indicate that the skulls were left behind when the partial carcasses
were brought back to the cave. Perhc^s the brains were consumed
on the spot eis a welcome picnic lunch for the hungry hunters.
Possibly some of the indeterminate bone fragments belong to
skulls of Ovis or Capra, but if any abundance of horn cores or
other parts of skulls had in fact been brought to the shelter these
hard parts would undoubtedly have been preserved. As with the
lack of equid skulls, this near-absence of homcores of sheep and
goats seems to prove the skulls never were brought to the cave.
However, at least 46 fragments of lower jaws are present. The
butchering technique therefore must have involved shattering the
cranium and separating tiie lower jaws from the rest of the skull.

122 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

It is interesting to note that bones of the forequarters of the
sheep and goats Eire two to five times more numerous than are
bones of the hindquarters:

Scapulae 15 Pelves 3

Humeri 27 Femora 12

Radii-ulnae 38 Tibiae 20

The situation among the bones of onagers is much more equal:

Scapulae 15 Pelves 12

Humeri 11 Femora 25

Radii-ulnae 23 Tibiae-fibulae 20

Our study of the ages of the sheep and goats indicates that these
animals were not domesticated (see table 5). Many more slight-to-
moderately worn (74 per cent) cheek teeth than unerupted (16
per cent) or extremely worn (10.0 per cent) cheek teeth tell us the
hunters were killing adults and were not slaughtering an excess of
young animals or feeble old ones particulcirly.

Remains of Gazella subgutturosa form 8.5 per cent of the total
identified bone of game EinimEils, estimated to represent at least
seven individuals. The fact that about as many remains of gazelle
as goat are present may be taken as another indication that all
caprines present at Palegawra were wild. It would be expected that
domestic animals, if present, would make up a Icirger proportion of
the preserved bone than hunted ones.

Wild gazelle of southwestern Asia may be distinguished from
sheep/goat by the smaller, more slender, and more delicate shape
of teeth, jaws, and post-cranial bones. The phalanges are consider-
ably smaller and cannot be mistaken as belonging to immature
sheep /goat. Two very commonly preserved elements — preserved
because of the compact nature of these bones — are the Eistragalus
and calcaneum, which are similar in all small bovids and are also
easUy confused with the same bones of the small cervid, Capreolus
(roe deer). Although not actually represented at Pgilegawra,
Capreolus is one animal we expected to find and were aware might
well be present in this fauna.

Family Cervidae

We refer all of the remains of deer to Cervus elaphus. All of
these bones are larger than are those of Dama mesopotamica and
no size difference exists to indicate separation into either sexual or
specific groups. Figures 6-9 are scatter diagrams of measurements
of Mjs, distal metapodials, and first and second phalanges of the
population as present at Palegawra. The sample of Mjs is small (7)

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 123

.'"^mm

- ''^^

Plate X. Cervus elaphus, Palegawra. a.L.Mj, PM 10164. b, PM 10675,
L.P374, Mttt. c. PM 10755, distal end of Rt. metacarpal, anterior view, d, as
for c, medial view, e, PM 11088, proximal end of first phalanx, f, PM 11100,
proximal end of second phalanx. AH show method of measuring bones.

and three of these are unworn teeth, but the samples of foot bones
are larger. Relatively little antler is present. One suggestion might
be that cervid antlers and bovid horn were utilized for tools; if
true, the tool-making and tool-use were accomplished away from
the cave. We suggest as an alternative that this lack of antlers and
horncores in the cave is indicative of a butchering practice of the
Zarzian people, already mentioned for their treatment of onagers,
of removing the lower jaw (and occasionally the upper ones also)
and leaving the remainder of the head in the field.

There is another factor to be considered; red deer, especially in
mineral-impoverished country, will eat shed antlers almost as soon

124

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

4 5..

40 ..

3 5 __

30

Metapodials

N = 1 2

5 0

55

60

Width

Fig. 6. Cervus elaphus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of 12 distal ends of
metapodials. The antero -posterior dimension is the maximum one. Width
measured across the condyle (PI. Xc-d). All measurements in millimeters.

as they are dropped. Darling (1956, p. 160) has reported that by
midsummer in his Scottish field, barely a trace of antler can be
found, so complete is the ingestion of this bone, rich in calcium
phosphate. It is certainly possible that a similar activity character-
ized the red deer of our Zagros mountain foothills (sdthough we
do not imply mineral impoverishment), explaining the absence of
all but fragmentary remains of antlers. Incidentally, red deer
normally shed the antlers in the early spring, but we do not
suggest that Palegawra was occupied only during periods when no
antlers were being carried .

In terms of modern conditions, we usually relate the presence
of large deer to forest conditions. Kretzoi (1968, in Gabori-Cs^k,
1968, p. 82) also expressed surprise to find Cervus elaphus in the
oldest and driest of the Middle Paleolithic strata of the excavation
at Erd, Hungary. Reconsidering, we realize that as long as
sufficient food is available, Cervus elaphus could just as well
have occupied sparsely wooded cold steppe such as the Zagros
foothills presumably were. In a letter to Reed, F. Frazier
Darling (April, 1967) agreed that this could be the case; he

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 125

1 6.0 ■

•

•

1 5.0-

^3
N = 7

•

•

•

14.0-

•

1 3.0 .

•

12.0 .

-

1 1.0

1 h

h

H

-1

H

36 .0

3 8 .0

Length

Fig. 7. Cervus elaphus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of seven Mj. The three
smallest specimens are unworn teeth. Width measured anteriorly at widest
part of crown. Length measured perpendicular to width at crown level (PI.
Xa). All measurements in millimeters.

remarked that many areas inhabited by the red deer in the
Scottish Highlands are quite without trees, and pointed out that
red deer in Kashmir are occupying treeless country even now.
Furthermore, Darling has informed us that the Island of Harris in
the Outer Hebrides "is completely treeless, extremely rough and
rocky, and such herbg^e as there is, is very short. The acreage is
55,000, rising from sea level to 2,600 feet, and there is no record
of deer ever having been exterminated. Presumably they have been
there since the glaciers receded." Hence evidence for predominant-
ly steppe environment is not in £iny way in conflict with the
presence in some abundance of the red deer.

In an earlier preliminary report on Palegawra (Braidwood and
Howe, 1960, p. 59), based on field identifications, Capreolus was
mentioned as presumably present. However, under the conditions
of laboratory study, no bone that could be identified as roe deer
W21S seen among the several thousand fragments examined.

C. Fauna Other to an Mammals. Numerous long-bones of birds
were found at all levels. In the absence of available comparative

126

FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

*o ..

35 --

2 5..

Proximal ends of
phal a nx I

N = 26

Bos

25 30 35 40 45 50

Anterior — posterior

Fig. 8. Cervus elaphus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of 26 proximal ends of
first phalanges. For comparison measurements of two specimens of Bos from
Palegawra are shown. Width measured at proximal end. The antero -posterior
dimension is the maximum at the proximal end (PI. Xe, right). All
measurements in millimeters.

materials of avian skeletons in the Field Museum, Dr. Eitan
Tchernov of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem has generously
taken the time to identify the bird bones from Palegawra. He
(pers. comm.) reports the following avifauna:

Alectornis graeca, rock partridge

Tadorna tadorna, sheldrake

Anas ?acuta, pintail duck

A. ?platyrhinchos, mallard

Haliaetus sp., eagle

Falco cf. tinnunculis, kesterel

Ciconia sp. (?ciconia or ?nigra), stork

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA

3 5..

30,

2 5._

20

Proximal ends of
phalanx I I

N = 33

• s •

+

20 25 30 35

Anterior — posterior

4 0

Fig. 9. Cervus elaphus, Palegawra; scatter diagram of 33 proximal ends of
second phalanges. Measured as in Figure 8 (PI. Xf), All measurements in
millimeters.

AIy. I . C-M-

FlG. 10. Ratio diagram of logarithmic differences between various length
and width measurements comparing the Palegawra canid (dark circles labeled
P) as the standard with the mean values for dingo (dark triangles labeled D),
Jarmo dogs (light circles, J), Kurdish dog pignt squares, K), and Zagros
wolves (lignt triangles, W). L. = length; W. = width.

127

128 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

Tyto alba, barn owl

Ceryle rudis, pied kingfisher

Neophron percnoptera, Egyptian vulture

Turdus-sized passeriform, thrush

Sturnus vulgaris, starling

Petronia cf. petronia, rock sparrow

Remains of tortoises, Testudo graeca, are abundant at all levels,
and must have furnished a definite addition to the diet. These
tortoises have wide environmental tolerances (Reed and Marx,
1959) and live today in Iraq from the lower foothUls of the Zagros
to the higher grassy slopes above timberline, where the winters are
cold with deep snows. Thus the presence of Testudo graeca in the
Palegawra area at the close of the Pleistocene is not unusual, as the
tortoises would have been active during the summer and then
burrowed below the frost-line to survive the winter.

A few jaws of unidentified lizards and many limb bones of a
toad, Bufo uiridis, were recovered. These animals probably were
merely incidental residents in the cave or at its mouth. Indeed, a
few of the toads, seeking dampness, were found to be living in the
cave at the time it was excavated.

Zarzian and some later peoples of the Zagros area have long
been known to be snail-eaters, and in correlation we found
numerous shells of the edible snail. Helix salomonica, which were
undoubtedly used for food. As with other such snail eaters of the
general time and area, a larger snail (Levantina sp.), actually as
edible as Helix (Reed, 1962), was generally ignored. We recovered
196 shells of Helix and 20 of Levantina, a higher proportion for
the latter than in early Recent sites in the Zagros area.

A few shells of a local fresh- water clam, Unio tigridis, were also
found, and the meat of these clams was probably occasionally
used for food, as was true — sometimes more intensively —
elsewhere in the Zagros during the late Pleistocene (Reed, 1962).
The shells we recovered at Palegawra showed no evidence of
human modification.

A number of claws of crabs, Potamon potamios, freshwater
inhabitants of the stream below the cave, are present in the cave
residues and are evidence of the availability of such crustaceans as
well as for the variety of food enjoyed by the Zarzians. Each such
claw is invariably only the terminal segment (dactylopodite) from
a first walking leg. Some have the distal tip broken to form a tiny
hole. Probably the crabs were eaten at the streamside where
captured but the sharp terminal segments of the first walking legs

TURNBULL & REED : P ALEG AWR A CAVE FAUNA 129

were saved, to be taken to the cave and used for probing and
picking until the tip was broken.

Several fossil echinoid spines were found and present an
interesting situation. Were they of use to the Zarzian cave dwellers
as probes; were they collected as curiosities; or were they merely
coincidently preserved in the accumulation of refuse on the cave
floor? There are but five, all from the 40-60 cm. level; and none
has been altered beyond the breaking of a tip. Were they found
locally in a nearby fossiliferous rock stratum, or were they
transported from other places? These questions cannot be an-
swered at present.

Miss Carol Wagner, working with Dr. Wyatt Durham, University
of California at Berkeley, has kindly examined several of the
spines. She concluded (pers. comm.) that they are indeed fossil
and represent the genus Eucidaris^ and probably the species
metularia or its ancestor. E. metularia lives today in littoral
situations along the northeast coast of Africa, throughout the Red
Sea and the Indo-Pacific all the way to Japan and Hawaii. It could
probably inhabit the Persian Gulf as well. Miss Wagner pointed out
that Eucidaris is known from Eocene and Oligocene deposits of
New Zealand, and from Miocene strata of Australasia and
America. Our guess is that the derivation of the Palegawra spines is
from the local limestone, but neither the stratigraphy nor the
paleontology of the general area has been sufficiently studied to
allow determination of the geological age of the spines.

D. ANIMALS NOT PRESENT. We can derive intellectual profit from
a consideration of the animals probably present in the area of
Palegawra ca. 12,000 and more years ago, but whose remains are
not found in the cave. Thus we perceive instantly that the Zarzian
people, although they did capture foxes (see above), probably
rarely hunted the other large or small carnivores — bear, leopard,
wolf, jackal, hyaena, badger, lynx, and smaller cats (and also
possibly lion and/or tiger) — some or all of which were probably in
the area. Or, if killed occasionally (as badger, lynx, and small cats
were; Table 1) the bones of these animals were not often taken to
the cave; possibly the meat of such carnivores simply was not
sought. Furthermore, to hunt such animals entadled difficulty or
d£inger or both far out of proportion to the rewards to be
expected from the routine hunting — whatever the routine may
have been — of the few standard game herbivores.

The absence in the cave deposits of bones or scat of the hyena,
Hyaena hyaena would seem to be a mystery. If the cave were

130 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

sporadically occupied, as we think to be true, hyenas would be
expected to enter whenever the human occupants had left, to feed
on or carry away the bones of the most recently-killed animals.
However, none of the bones in the cave show evidence of crushing
by hyena, nor is there — with one possible exception (p. 106) —
any of their typical bone-filled scat preserved, as probably
it would be if it were ever present. Indeed, in reviewing mentally
the remains of caves and middens one of us (Reed) has known in
northeastern Iraq, we are impressed with the total absence of
evidence of the hyena in all such sites ^ . The animal was obviously
not a food item, but as an obligate scavenger one would expect to
find an occasional bit of evidence of its presence.

Possibly the absence of Dama mesopotamica and Capreolus
capreolus from the cave deposits may mean that the fallow deer
and roe deer were not present in the area at the time of Zarzian
occupation, probably because of the absence of sufficient forest
cover. Certadnly a hunting people who successfully killed Cervus
elaphus, the big red deer, would have also killed smaller cervids if
they had been available. Within the late Pleistocene and into the
Recent, Dama has had a wide distribution in southwestern Asia,
from the central Persian plateau into Palestine and perhaps into
Egypt (Haltenorth, 1959), thus ranging over a territory with
considerable environmental variation. In northern Iraq in 1954,
Reed saw roe deer in country more mountainous but more heavily
forested than was that around Palegawra 12,000-14,000 years ago.
Both of these deer have lived within historical time in areas of
southwestern Asia with snow and sub-freezing temperatures but
both are deer which probably require more of a forested
environment than we have imagined for the Palegawra area at the
end of the Pleistocene. Thus their absence from the cave deposits
would seem to indicate their absence from the area at the end of
the Pleistocene.

IV. THE FAUNA AND HUMAN HUNTING

The analysis of the faunal remains yields information primarily
related to the hunting and butchering activities of the Zarzian
peoples. Some of this information has been mentioned in
discussing remains of individual species, but a more detailed £md
statistical survey produces further information.

* Hyaena scat was found at Warwasi in west-central Iran (TurnbuU, MS).

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 131

Table 1 lists the species (minimal possible number of each) of
the fauna in terms of decreasing percentage of the total. It is
obvious that food animals of medium-to-large size make up the
major proportion of the list. As the amount of meat on an onager
is less than half that of a cow, it is to be wondered that so little
Bos and/or Bison occurs. We think it probable that the large
bovids were scarce in the area at this time. Additionally, a herd of
homed cattle present more danger than do equids to a small
hunting party, and it is possible that selection of deer and onager
in preference to cattle reflect conditions of choice rather than
scarcity. In terms of Palegawra's location in the Z^ros hills, it
would appear cattle would be more apt to have been found south
and west of the immediate area of the cave. Perkin's "schlepp"
effect must also contribute to the sparse occurrence of bones of
Bos, for these heavy pieces would have been abandoned after the
meat was stripped.

Some of the rodents found at Palegawra probably lived with
man, or lived in the cave between human occupations. However,
the commensal house mouse, Mus musculus, native to the aiea
today, is absent from our list. One rodent which must have
been purposely collected, undoubtedly for food, is a burrowing
form, Spalax leucodon. We suggest that probably the way that
prehistoric people caught them was to watch for their rare
emergence above ground at night, as does occasionally happen
(Reed, 1958). Once above ground, they are quite helpless and can
easUy be picked up. Spalax would not be a normal inhabitant of a
cave or rock-shelter.

Another rodent found at Palegawra which must have been
carried there, presumably by man, is the water vole (Aruicola
terrestris). These rodents typically burrow in deep wet soil
adjacent to streams but may emerge from their burrows to feed in
streamside vegetation (Lay, 1967, p. 161). They are neither large
enough, or numerous enough in the Palegawra fauna, to have been
an important item of diet, but seemingly they were occasionally
caught, possibly in traps.

Table 2 presents, in addition to the minimum numbers of
individuals and percentages of the game mammals, the minimum
gimounts of available meat represented by the cave remains.
Calculations are based upon half the live weights given by Walker
(1964), as tempered by Reed's experiences with most of the
species. There is evidence that nearly seven times as much meat
from equids as from sheep/goat was available to the Palegawrans,

TABLE 3. Kinds of bones of game animals represented in the remains
from Palegawra Cave.

Bos Ovis Capra Gazella

Equus Sus primi- Cervus Ovis/ orien- hircus subgut-

hemionus scrofa genius elaphus Capra talis aegagrus turosa

Fragment
of antler
or horn core

12

1

6

Skull fragments

6

2

1

3

Individual teeth

390

10

2

65

122

6

13

Maxillary frag-
ments with or
without teeth

' 25

3

1

5

3

Mandibular frag-
ments with or
without teeth

42

3

1

22

30

3

13

19

Vertebrae

28

2

3

26

2

Scapulae

15

1

6

15

Humeri

11

4

2

18

7

2

3

Radii-ulnae

23

1

3

14

34

2

2

3

Carpal bones

45

3

1

15

13

Metacarpals

13

7

3

12

4

1

Pelvic fragments

12

1

3

Femora

25

2

7

10

1

1

Patellae

23

1

4

Tibiae-fibulae

20

1

2

7

20

Tarsal bones

39

5

20

16

11

9

5

Metatarsals

3

1

2

7

6

2

2

Sesamoids

53

10

Metapodials indet

. 67

6

1

29

26

1

11

Phalanges 1

97

6

6

107

21

24

19

28

Phalanges 2

103

7

1

80

17

36

17

11

Phalanges 3

76

6

2

49

7

18

8

1

132

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA

133

TABLE 4. Least number of individuals of different game animals as deter-
mined by the presence of different bones of limbs and jaws; based on the raw
data from Table 3.

Equus hemionus

Cervus elaphus

Ouis/Capra

Gazella subgutturosa

Phalanx II

Phalanx I

Mandible

Mandible

27

14

23

10

Phalanx I

Mandible

Radius-ulna

Metapodials

25

11

19

4

Metapodials

Phalanx II

Metapodials

Phalanx I

21

10

15

4

Mandible

Metapodials

Humerus

Phalanx II

21

9

14

2

Phalanx III

Phalanx III

Tibia

Humerus

19

7

10

2

Femur

Radius-ulna

Phalanx II

Radius-ulna

13

7

10

2

Maxilla

Tibia

Phalanx I

Maxilla

13

4

8

2

Patella

Femur

Scapula

Phalanx III

12

4

8

1

Radius-ulna

Scapula

Femur

12

3

6

Tibia

Maxilla

Phalanx III

10

1

5

Scapula

Humerus

Maxilla

8

1

3

Humerus

Patella

Patella

6

1

2

and nearly four times as much as from deer. Considering the
greater difficulty and hazards of hunting hemiones over hunting
the smaller game, it would seem the trouble was well worth the
energy expended to hunt, kill, butcher, and "schlepp" the equids.
Useful as sheep /goat remains are to the anthropologist interested
in domestication, the Palegawrans simply were more interested in
the then present potentials of the equids than in the future use to
which their descendants put sheep and goats! Despite the paucity
of Bos, discussed above, a significant part of the diet consisted of
beef — cattle may have been scarce, but individually they are large,
and beef must have been a welcome dietary bonanza.

Table 3 lists the kinds of bones present for each of the large
game animals, and gives a record of the numbers of each kind of
bone identified.

For the more numerous ungulates (onagers, red deer, sheep/
goat, and gazelles). Table 4 translates the data of Table 3 from a
census of individual bones to determinations of the minimal

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136 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

numbers of animals which would have been derived from an
analysis of those bones. The relatively high proportion of numbers
of individuals which would have been counted on the bases of
mandibles and distal bones of the limbs, as compared with
maxillae and more proximal bones of the limbs, is apparent. The
mandibles and bones of the feet were more often carried or
dragged to the cave, and the disproportion of these bones we
attribute to "schlepping" (Perkins and Daly, 1968). From Table 4
we also derive the information that third phalanges (the most
distal ones), are erraticcilly preserved in such zoo-archeological
collections, probably due to the small size of these bones, and are
not dependable indicators of absolute numbers or relative popula-
tion densities.

Table 5 summarizes the ages of the larger mammals as reflected
in a study of dental wear, the sequence of eruption of teeth, and
epiphyseal fusion. Numbers in the chart refer to actual numbers of
individual bones. If a jaw contained an Mj along with other teeth,
only the Mj was considered. Thus, most "other teeth" represent
loose teeth. From the evidence shown here, most of the mammals
whose bones were preserved at Palegawra were adults with teeth
moderately worn and with all or almost all epiphyses fused. Thus
we conclude that the Zarzian hunters were not concentrating on
the groups of very young or very old, but attacked and killed any
animal they could, getting a somewhat random sample of the
hunted population. They may even have avoided killing the very
young individuals, or, if killing these, may sometimes not have
carried the parts to the cave. The bones of very young animals are
also fragile and less certain of preservation.

In Table 6 we have applied the conclusions derived from the
known data on dental wear for the American elk, Cervus
canadensis, to the teeth of C. elaphus from Palegawra, although we
realize these two forms' lived in different environments. Quimby
and Gaab (1957) developed a series of diagnostic criteria, which,
when applied to lower cheek teeth in Cervus canadensis, gave at
least a good approximation of individual age.^ The results of
applying the characters of Quimby and Gaab for 2, 3, and 4 year
old C. canadensis to our collection of C. elaphus are shown in

' The American elk, Cervus canadensis, and the red deer, C. elaphus, are
probably no more than sub-specifically distinct.

^ We have not counted the growth layers in dental cement, a technique
used for determination of age of red deer by Mitchell (1963).

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA

137

TABLE 6. Aging Ceruus elaphus, using the criteria of Quimby and Gaab, 1957.
Specimen no. Yearling 2-year 3-year 4-year 5-year 8-i-year

PM 11189, LM3- X

PM 11188, LPj-M^ X X

PM 10752, LP3-.4- X

PM 10753, R?^ X X

PM 10163, RM^-^ X X

PM 10164, LM3- X

PM 10165, RP3- X X

PM 10113, RM3- X

PM 10111, LMj-^ X

PM 12670, LM3- X

PM 12492, RP^j- X

PM 10677, RM3- X

PM 11386, RP3-M- X

PM 11485, RPj-Mj- X

PM 10675, LPy-Mj- X

PM 11384, LP2-M3- X

PM 12349, RM3- X

PM 11934. LdP:r X

PM 11935, LM3-
PM 11256, RP^-r^f
PM 10517, LM— 3

X-
X

X
-X

PM 11792, RMj
PM 11628, LM3

X
X

R = Right
L = Left

Table 6. These data are further evidence that the Palegawra
hunters were concentrating on mature game animals.

Butchering and retrieval techniques: The favorite butchering
technique with a dead ungulate seems to have been to skin it
where it fell, leaving the feet and mandibles (less often the
maxillae also) in the skin. The meat was then cut off the carcass
and piled on the spread skin, after which the feet and jaw provided
handles for sometimes dragging ("schlepping") and sometimes
carrying the load back to the cave. This explanation fits the facts
as we find them at Palegawra (tables 3, 4), and also most probably

TABLE 7. Specimens used as basis for computing minimum number of
individuals, game animals only.

Equus hemionus. All specimens in Field Museum of Natural History.

PM 19062-3, 11506, 10139, 10062, 10068, 12695-9, 11067-72, 10084-7,
12614-5, 12617-8, 12474-5, 12478, 12489, 10257, 11615-6, 10491,
10259, 12477, 10656-9, 11398-9, 12771-82, 10779-81, 11170-6,
11449, 11410, 11447, 11697-702, 11932, 10533, 11240-5, 10344-50,
12047-51, 11331, 12100-1, 12007, 11999, 12002-3, 12063, 10224-6.

These represent 103 second phalanges. Simply divided by 4, there
w^ould be 26 individuals; one bone was so immature that it had to be
considered alone, giving a total of 27 as the minimum number of equids
represented.

Sus scrofa. Three right maxillary fragments.

PM 11795, 10182, 11913.

Cervus elaphus. 12 right mandibular rami.

PM 11792, 11256, 11485, 11386, 11358, 12349, 10677, 10753, 10163,
10113, 10165, 11385.

Although 107 first phalanges, divided by 8, would yield 14 animals,
several of the phalanges were broken fragments that possibly belong
together. The rami are considered the more reliable for counting in this
case.

Capra, Ovis, Capra/Ovis. 18 left mandibular rami.

Capra hircus aegagrus. PM 10358, 11942, 11522, 10957, 11525-6, 12180.

Ovis orien talis. PM 1 0 1 97 .

Capra/Ovis. PM 12518, 10022, 10440, 11259, 11666, 12302,

10194, 11754,11524,12402.

Consideration of two different kinds of bones produces an interesting
"check" on our" estimate. We recognize ten Ovis right astragali, and
eight Capra right Mjs, a total of 18, the same as our total estimate
based on jaws. Since there are but five Capra right astragali, giving a
total of 15 recognizable right astragali for Capra/Ovis, we use the
somewhat larger figure based on the rami.

Gazella subgutturosa. Seven left mandibular rami.

PM 10020-1, 10433, 10809, 10189, 11914, 12178.

138

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 139

was typical of the hunters at the pre-agricultur£il village of Suberde
in southwestern Anatolia (Perkins and Daly, 1968).

Variations on the typical technique as described above were
possible. Reed's experiences with Kurdish hunters in the Zagros
Mountains are that a single man can and will carry a whole or
gutted carcass of wild sheep, goat, or gazelle several kilometers,
and will thus arrive at his village with skeleton intact. Such a
practice was seemingly rare among Palegawrans, or, if they did
occasionally do so, they still removed the horns and much of the
skull before carrying. Particularly in sheep and goats the horns are
heavy and have no food value; if not used for artifacts (and
seemingly horn cores at least were not so used) the logical thing
was to discard them at the site of the kill. Probably the skull was
opened and the brain eaten, the horns removed, and the remainder
of the skull (except the mandible, still in the skin) discarded. The
viscera were probably too valuable, since most of them can be
eaten or otherwise utilized, to be discarded and may often have
been carried in the carcass to the cave by a solitary man, but of
this we have no evidence.

The schlepping and carrying of the meat of a single onager or
red deer to the cave was necessarily a laborious job, requiring the
co-operation of several men. They would, under these circum-
st£inces, probably have discarded as much bone as possible.
Therefore, the presence of several large limb bones (table 4)
among the remains of these animals demands an explanation, and
we suggest that these two large ungulates (and particularly the
onagers) were often killed close enough to the cave — perhaps in
the valley below the cave — that whole limbs, or segments of
them, with their contained bone could be individually carried up
to the cave. Indeed, onagers particularly but perhaps deer also may
have been purposely and slowly driven toward the cave before
killing.

For some of the game animals, proximal limb bones were
recovered in greater numbers than were more distal bones in the
same limb (table 4); for some other limbs and/or other animals the
reverse is true. We assume, considering the size of the sample
available, that chance alone — random chances of bones getting
into the cave and being preserved there — accounts for the
differences found.

The bones of the game animals are often charred, and broken in
ways not usual in nature, surely evidence that most of the animals
in this cave were utilized for food. Numbers of the bones are

140 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 63

scratched and chipped as though with a tool. A few have holes
bored into them and several have been gnawed by rodents.

V. CONCLUSIONS

Of the 26 mammalian genera represented in the Palegawra
fauna, seven of them (Equus, Ceruus, Ouis, Capra, Gazella, Sus,
and Vulpes) account for at least 50 per cent of the minimum
number of individuals and 92 per cent of the total bone present.
These were the major food animals hunted by the Zarzians who
utilized the Palegawra shelter. The smaller game and rodents either
were occasionally caught, perhaps by the women and children
close to camp, or entered the cave during times when it was
unoccupied. We have already speculated that Bos, because of its
size and strength, was possibly not sought as a food animal; it is
also probable that, following the cold dry conditions that
prevailed following the Wiirm maximum in the Zagros foothills,
the cattle were simply rather uncommon.

Considering the three most common groups — equid, cervid,
and sheep /goat — in the sense that each of these are represented
by many more hundreds of bones than are Sus, Gazella, or
Bos — it may be imagined that the Palegawran hunters came into
this small Bazian valley for the purpose of seeking onagers and
deer as larger game, plus the smaller sheep and goats. The cave was
small and would not comfortably accommodate a large hunting
party or make a good permanent camp. The season or seasons of
occupation each year, if indeed there was any such annual
regularity, cannot be determined from the mammal bones, most of
which were from adult animals and none of which were from
animals whose age can be determined so precisely as to suggest
seasonal occupation (tables 5, 6). The snails, which come to the
surface to feed only after rains (Reed, 1962) could not have been
gathered in the summer heat, during freezing weather, or while
snow covered the ground. At the same time, Palegawra is a "wet"
cave, with water dripping from the roof after prolonged rains, and
would have been an uncomfortable dwelling throughout most of
the season from November into April.

Furthermore, the lack of hearths would argue against prolonged
winter occupation, when fires in the cave would seem to have been
a necessity. Fires were assuredly present, to cook the snails or the
meat; indeed some of the bones are charred from having been in
fire, but the major fires here presumably were outside the lip of

TURNBULL & REED: PALEGAWRA CAVE FAUNA 141

the cave, where the remains would have been long lost down the
slope.

Perhaps there was no regularity to the occupation of Palegawra,
but it may have been used sporadically by one or a few families
after making a kill, when gathering snails, or for shelter from a
violent storm. It would have been then, as it is now, a pleasant
retreat from summer sun.

Having found and kUled their quarry down in the valley or on
the slopes at some little distance from the shelter, the hunters
proceeded to butcher. The data in Tables 3 and 4 indicate that few
skulls or vertebrae were carried up to the cave. Fore-and-hind-
quarters, mandibles, and maxillaries (see above) were by far the
commonest parts preserved. Some skulls and other bones were
fragmented beyond recognition and there is a certain amount of
indeterminate material. Pieces of rib are fairly abundant, but not
identifiable as to animal. Little vertebral material is identifiable
unless it consists of more than just centra. Very few horn cores or
antlers are found, £ind what are present are mere bits and pieces.
The evidence indicates that entire carcasses were not dragged 70
m. upslope to be butchered, but rather that butchering was
accomplished on the spot of the kill, skulls perhaps being broken
open for the immediate consumption of the brains, and fore and
hind quarters reserved for transport ot the cave. Backbones, tails,
and crania were abandoned except for the rather enigmatic
salvaging of the jaws, and mostly of lower jaws, perhaps used as
handles in carrying skins of meat to the shelter.

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