Skeletal Inventories from Wildebeest Drownings at Lakes Masek and Ndutu in the Serengeti Ecosystem of Tanzania
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Catastrophic mortality by drowning has been documented as animal herds cross large bodies of water in a range of ecosystems and has been implicated in large dinosaur bone beds.
“Catastrophic mortality by drowning has been documented as animal herds cross large bodies of water in a range of ecosystems (9,11), and has been implicated in the occurrence of large dinosaur bone beds (12).”
From Annual mass drownings of the Serengeti wildebeest migration influence nutrient cycling and storage in the Mara River (2017) · cites this paper as [9]
Previous studies have not investigated the size and frequency of wildebeest mass drownings or the fate of the carcasses and associated nutrients.
“Although wildebeest mass drownings during the migration have been documented in the region (8-10), previous studies have not investigated the size and frequency of these mass drownings or the fate of the carcasses and associated nutrients.”
From Annual mass drownings of the Serengeti wildebeest migration influence nutrient cycling and storage in the Mara River (2017) · cites this paper as [9]
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“In the rare occurrences where catastrophic mortality concentrates carcasses in one place or carnivores make a mass kill, prey taxonomic diversity is low (Capaldo and Peters, 1995; Kruuk, 1972; Schaller, 1972).”
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“Catastrophic mortality by drowning has been documented as animal herds cross large bodies of water in a range of ecosystems (9, 11), and has been implicated in the occurrence of large dinosaur bone beds (12).”
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“…both anthropogenic barriers, such as fences and dams (Bolger et al., 2008) and natural boundaries, such as water crossings by migrating ungulates (Capaldo & Peters, 1995, 1996; Hummel & Ray, 2008; Subalusky et al., 2017) and mass stranding of marine animals (Brownell et al., 2005; Mazzariol et…”
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“Rivers and lakes in “high-water” or flood stage can also generate local concentrations of terrestrial vertebrate carcasses, with perhaps the most commonly cited example being the mass drowning of wildebeest during their overland migrations (Talbot and Talbot, 1963; McHugh, 1972; Schaller, 1972, 1973; Sinclair, 1979; C…”
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“Indeed, mass drownings modeled after Lake Masek have been suggested as a plausible source of the large bovids at FLK Zinj based on skeletal profiles (Capaldo and Peters, 1995).”
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“For instance, the Masek-Ndutu bone bed in the Serengeti, which has yielded thousands of wildebeests (Capaldo and Peters, 1995), would be a poor indicator of current biocoenosis in the area, especially when compared to much smaller samples from other bone-accumulating agents, such as hyena dens.”
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“, 2007) has elicited alternative scenarios that hominins may have acquired large amounts of carcass flesh from herd ungulates who died in mass drownings (Capaldo and Peters, 1995) or in droughts (Lam, 2008).”
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“…the weathering is rendering the elements unidentifiable, although this can be the case over long timescales (Behrensmeyer, 1978), but rather that higher levels of weathering increase the likelihood of element destruction (Capaldo and Peters, 1995; Moore and Norman, 2009; Thompson et al., 2011).”
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“were previously published by Cifuentes-Alcobendas and Domínguez-Rodrigo (2019) (cut marks), PizarroMonzo and Domínguez-Rodrigo (2020) (trampling marks), and Abellán et al.”
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“…disarticulate, fragment and/or carry off parts of the postcranial skeleton away from the main carcass, especially when competition between carnivores, either of the same or different species, is higher ( Capaldo & Peters, 1995 ; Haynes & Klimowicz, 2015 ; White & Diedrich, 2012 ; Wadley, 2020 ).”
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- Authors
- Capaldo, S. D., & Peters, C. R.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Georgia (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Archaeological Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1995-05
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 385-408
- ISSN
- 0305-4403 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1985645049
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 15.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Archaeological Science (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Keywords
- skeletal assemblages, wildebeest migration, Serengeti, long bones, scavenging, early hominins, carnivore scavenging
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