Shelters and bones: Site-specific archaeofaunal taphonomy for identifying formation processes in Saharan Holocene rock shelters

Abstract This study investigates natural syn- and post-depositional processes affecting terrestrial mammal bones from the Takarkori rock shelter in the hyper-arid Tadrart Acacus massif, south-western Libya. The site’s Early to Middle Holocene stratigraphy (c. 10,200–4,600 cal BP) enables diachronic and synchronic assessment of taphonomic processes critical for interpreting faunal assemblages. As biomolecular methods, among others, are increasingly applied in archaeology, detailed evaluations of preservation conditions and diagenetic alterations are essential to ensure data reliability. Using macroscopic, microscopic, and SEM-EDX analyses, this research systematically records bone surface modifications attributable to natural agents, including weathering, salt encrustation, and gnawing. The results demonstrate that fine-scale variability in exposure, sedimentation, and geochemistry has created heterogeneous preservation conditions across depositional and chronological contexts. This study aims to characterise principal natural taphonomic traces and assess their stratigraphic and chronological variability, to explore their implications for site formation processes and depositional dynamics. The findings establish a comparative framework to improve interpretations of faunal remains from archaeological contexts in arid environments and highlight the need for multidisciplinary approaches to disentangle natural and anthropogenic taphonomic processes.