人类学学报 ›› 2025, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (02): 242-254.doi: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0053cstr: 32091.14.j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0053

• 研究论文 • 上一篇    下一篇

骨骼表面人类齿痕特征的实验研究

曹雨昕1,4(), 孙璐2, 张乐3, 张双权1,4()   

  1. 1.中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所,北京 100044
    2.内蒙古大学历史与旅游文化学院,呼和浩特 010020
    3.中央民族大学民族学与社会学学院,北京 100081
    4.中国科学院大学,北京 101499
  • 收稿日期:2023-12-13 接受日期:2024-04-07 出版日期:2025-04-15 发布日期:2025-04-15
  • 通讯作者: 张双权,研究员,主要研究方向为脊椎动物埋藏学与旧石器时代动物考古学。E-mail: zhangshuangquan@ivpp.ac.cn
  • 作者简介:曹雨昕,硕士研究生,主要研究方向为旧石器时代动物考古学和埋藏学。E-mail: caoyuxin@ivpp.ac.cn
  • 基金资助:
    国家社科基金重大委托项目(21@WTK001)

An experimental study of human tooth marks on bones

CAO Yuxin1,4(), SUN Lu2, ZHANG Yue3, ZHANG Shuangquan1,4()   

  1. 1. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044
    2. College of History and Tourism Culture, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010020
    3. School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081
    4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101499
  • Received:2023-12-13 Accepted:2024-04-07 Online:2025-04-15 Published:2025-04-15

摘要:

长期以来,学者们大多将考古遗址出土骨骼表面的牙齿痕迹归因于食肉动物或者啮齿动物的啃咬行为。然而,人类在咀嚼和啃食骨骼及其附着营养物质的过程中,在其表面也会产生的改造痕迹。本文是国内学者对人类齿痕进行实验研究的首次尝试。实验结果显示,由于烹饪方式的不同,动物骨骼上人类齿痕的大小、形态、分布范围、深度等都有可能产生差异。将本次实验所得数据与西方学者研究结果对比后发现,虽然人类与食肉类动物造成的齿痕在形态上存在较大程度的相似性,但在合理排除食肉类动物是遗址中骨骼富集与改造营力的前提之下,我们依然可以通过分析典型人类齿痕组合在考古遗址中的出现情况,对古人类动物资源利用的能力与方式、烹饪技术乃至探讨古人类的食人风俗等提供一个独特的观察视角。

关键词: 人类齿痕, 动物考古学, 埋藏学, 实验, 食人俗

Abstract:

In past decades, researchers primarily focused on the distinguishing characteristics of marks on bone surfaces, such as cut marks, percussion marks and categories of modifications, which are widely considered as direct indicators ancient human behaviors. While earlier investigations often attributed tooth markings found on animal remains to carnivore or rodent consumption habits, recent work by Western archaeologists and ethnoarchaeological researchers consistently demonstrates that humans can inflict a category of modifications on bones during their chewing. In such studies, researchers have also attempted to find ways to distinguish human tooth marks from those produced by other carnivores through actualistic experiments. However, few scholars in China have focused on identifying human tooth marks on animal remains. The current study is thus serving as a complementary work upon prior investigations and at the same time adding to the growing evidence to show that humans do indeed leave discernible dental imprints upon animal skeletal remains during consumption processes—particularly upon flatter or more fragile bones. Damages observed on bones include furrowing, scooping-out, crenulated and saw-toothed edges, longitudinal cracking, crushing, peeling and score. In this paper, we present a detailed description of the types of damages observable on bone surfaces in an experimental human chewing of the bones of sheep. A total of 167 chewed post-cranial bones from different parts of sheep have been examined, including 122 boiled bones and 45 roasted ones. Our experimental observation indicates that, although there is a certain degree of morphological similarity between human tooth marks and those marks caused by carnivores, the former assemblage could still be confidently identified and it thus has the potential to provide us with an independent standard for identifying human actors in faunal remains from the archaeological hominins. On the other hand, the description of human chewing patterns may provide further evidence of exploitation of certain groups of animals where cut-marks are rare, such as small games or birds. Furthermore, this experiment provides valuable materials for the comparative analysis and of human tooth-marked from the Chinese archaeological sites. Additionally, the types of tooth marks observed in this experiment are largely consistent with the findings of Western scientists, indicating that these observations have a considerable degree of universality and can be applied to the study of archaeological materials across a broader geographical range. The present paper is the first attempt made by Chinese archaeologists to document human tooth marks in an actualistic setting and it has the potential to provide us with a novel approach to explore human subsistence strategies in Paleolithic China.

Key words: Human tooth marks, Zooarchaeology, Taphonomy, Experiment, Cannibalism

中图分类号: