Ain Boucherit (Upper)
Basic information
Sample name: Ain Boucherit (Upper)

Sample aka: AB-Up

Reference: I. Câceres, R. Chelli Cheheb, J. van der Made, Z. Harichane, and K. Boulaghraief. 2023. Assessing the subsistence strategies of the earliest North African inhabitants: evidence from the Early Pleistocene site of Ain Boucherit (Algeria). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15(87):1-28 [ER 3933]
Geography
Country: Algeria



Coordinate: 36.204102° N, 5.627° E
Coordinate basis: stated in text

Formation: Ain Boucherit

Time interval: Early Pleistocene

Section: Ain Boucherit

Unit number: 2

Unit order: below to above

Ma: 1.92

Age basis: ESR

Geography comments: dating was based on "a combination" of magnetostratigraphy, ESR, and biochronology, but primarily the ESR date of 1.92 +- 0.18 Ma for a sample "less than 1 m below" the fossils

Environment
Lithology: siltstone

Taphonomic context: overbank deposit,paleosol,carnivore accumulation,human accumulation

Archaeology: stone tools

Habitat comments: the fossils are from "primarily silty sediments" and the environment is interpreted as an "open-air site" in a "suspension-loaded" floodplain
there are cutmarks and percussion marks plus toothmarks and other carnivore damage on the bones, "butchery" is inferred, and carnivore activity was considerable at this stratigraphic level
there are 234 stone tools

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates

Sampling methods: quarry

Sample size: 103 specimens

Sampling comments: there were "limited trench excavations"

Metadata
Sample number: 4337

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Modifier no: John Alroy

Created: 2023-08-11 12:21:43

Modified: 2024-11-15 11:36:31

Abundance distribution
16 species
5 singletons
total count 103
geometric series index: 31.5
Fisher's α: 5.304
geometric series k: 0.8008
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8375
Shannon's H: 2.1563
Good's u: 0.9522
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Elephantidae indet.4
Elephas recki, Mammuthus meridionalis, and Elephas moghrebiensis are listed at once
Equus numidicus14
Equus tabeti5
"Equus tibeti"
Hippopotamus sp.2
Kolpochoerus cf. limnetes2
"Kolpochoerus cf. heseloni": see Yang et al. (2022)
Camelus thomasi1
Giraffa pomeli1
Tragelaphus gaudryi1
"Taurotragus gaudryi": see Blondel et al. (2018)
Pelorovis sp.1
questionably referred
Gazella cf. setifensis23
Parantidorcas latifrons28
plus 72 Antilopinae
Parmularius ? altidens10
Connochaetes tournoueri2
plus 4 Alcelaphinae
Ursus sp.1
questionably referred
Canis sp.6
"Canis primaevus": certainly wrong because this is an old synonym of Canis dirus
Felidae indet.2
large