Gerard Klein Hofmeijer

Late Pleistocene Deer Fossils from Corbeddu Cave Gerard Klein Hofmeijer

Corbeddu cave on the island of Sardinia contains Late Pleistocene sediments containing numerous fossils of a common species of deer. Evidence of human activities was also found which is unusual as a Late Pleistocene island fauna is not supposed to be asscoaited with humans, as they were supposed, until recently to have colonized islands not earlier than the Holocene. Analysis of the assemblages, presented in this study, provided detailed information about the microstratigraphy of the site, which has been reconstructed by using a newly developed computer program. The combination of all taphonomic information makes it possible to reconstruct the nature of the site formation processes and Hofmeijer argues that the assemblages cannot have been formed by natural processes alone. Indeed the Corbeddu cave differs from mainland assemblages to such an extent that the study suggests that the bones were a by product of feeding but were also used as tools.