Late Pleistocene Deer Fossils from Corbeddu Cave: Implications for human colonization of the island of Sardinia - BAR.

Corbeddu cave in Sardinia contains Late Pleistocene sediments bearing numerous deer fossils. The faunal analyses described in the present study reconstruct the role of human activities in the site formation processes based on quantitative analyses of these fossil assemblages. The collected material and a large dataset provide detailed information about the microstratigraphy of the site, which has been reconstructed using a newly developed computer program, making it possible to distinguish fossil levels. For each reconstructed level the horizontal spatial distribution, the skeletal element representation, the degree of fragmentation, the presence of associated elements, the age and sex compositions, and specific damage patterns have been analyzed. It is concluded that the assemblages cannot have been formed by natural processes alone. In the Corbeddu cave the assemblages' relationship with feeding activity is less evident than for mainland assemblages; possibly the use of bones as tools played an important role.