Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2017 Late Pleistocene extinction of the flat-headed peccary on the Ozark Plateau: Paleozoological insights from Peccary Cave, Arkansas Kurt M. Wilson Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Kurt M., "Late Pleistocene extinction of the flat-headed peccary on the Ozark Plateau: Paleozoological insights from Peccary Cave, Arkansas" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 15461. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/15461 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Late Pleistocene extinction of the flat-headed peccary on the Ozark Plateau: Paleozoological insights from Peccary Cave, Arkansas by Kurt M. Wilson A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: Anthropology Program of Study Committee: Matthew G. Hill, Major Professor Alan D. Wanamaker Jill D. Pruetz The student author and the program of study committee are solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2017 Copyright © Kurt M. Wilson, 2017. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2. LATE PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTIONS 3 Overkill and Human Causation .................................................................................................... 3 Climate Change and Non-Human Causation ............................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 3. FLAT-HEADED PECCARY 7 General Characteristics ................................................................................................................ 7 Geographic Distribution .............................................................................................................. 8 Temporal Distribution .................................................................................................................. 9 Behavior ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Diet............................................................................................................................................... 11 Archaeological Associations ........................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 4. PECCARY CAVE 12 Geologic and Sedimentary Setting ............................................................................................... 12 Excavations .................................................................................................................................. 13 Previous Research on the Faunal Remains .................................................................................. 14 Environmental Context ................................................................................................................ 15 Age of the Faunal Remains .......................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 5. PALEOZOOLOGY 20 General Assemblage Characteristics ............................................................................................ 20 Skeletal Element Representation ................................................................................................. 21 Minimum Number of Elements ................................................................................................... 22 Minimum Number of Individuals ................................................................................................ 23 Assemblage Age Composition ..................................................................................................... 24 Carnivore Damage ....................................................................................................................... 25 Density-Mediated Attrition .......................................................................................................... 25 Dire Wolf ..................................................................................................................................... 26 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 27 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 6. STABLE ISOTOPES 31 Methods ....................................................................................................................................... 33 Results .......................................................................................................................................... 34 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 36 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 39 iii CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS 41 The Uncommon and Unadaptable Flat-Headed Peccary ............................................................. 41 Modern Peccary Reproductive Biology ....................................................................................... 44 Extinction of Flat-Headed Peccary on the Ozark Plateau ............................................................ 45 REFERENCES CITED ............................................................................................................................. 64 APPENDIX A. RECORDS OF FLAT-HEADED PECCARY ................................................................ 88 APPENDIX B. SCAN SITE MNES AND VOLUME DENSITIES ........................................................ 95 APPENDIX C. RAW STABLE ISOTOPES DATA ................................................................................ 96 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Location of Peccary Cave and other selected places on and around the Ozark Plateau ............ 49 Figure 2. Location of published records of peccary in the contiguous United States ............................... 50 Figure 3. General character of peccary assemblages ................................................................................ 51 Figure 4. Radiocarbon ages for peccary .................................................................................................... 51 Figure 5. MNI estimates for peccary assemblages ................................................................................... 52 Figure 6. Location of Peccary Cave at the confluence of Ben’s Branch and Cave Creek ........................ 53 Figure 7. Plan map of Peccary Cave, including excavation trenches and sections ................................... 53 Figure 8. AMS radiocarbon ages for selected taxa on the Ozark Plateau ................................................. 54 Figure 9. AMS radiocarbon ages for peccary and dire wolf ..................................................................... 54 Figure 10. Box-and-whisker plot of mandibular third molar length ......................................................... 55 Figure 11. Examples of breccia coverage ................................................................................................. 55 Figure 12. Skeletal element profiles for sub/adult and fetal/neonate peccary .......................................... 56 Figure 13. Distribution of selected classes of faunal and archaeological material ................................... 56 Figure 14. Stable isotope values for peccary and dire wolf ...................................................................... 57 Figure 15. Intratooth δ13C and δ18O profiles for peccary mandibular canines .......................................... 57 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Direct dates for peccary .............................................................................................................. 58 Table 2. Ozark Plateau environment from Pre-LGM through the Oldest Dryas ...................................... 59 Table 3. Radiocarbon AMS measurements and δ13C results on peccary and dire wolf ............................ 59 Table 4. Summary of rodent modification ...............................................................................................