The First Record of Palaeopathology from the Zooarchaeological Record of Late Pleistocene, Southwest Tasmania

Several bones from the Late Pleistocene archaeological site, Kutikina Cave, in southwest Tasmania, show pathological conditions. The majority of these specimens represent Bennett's or red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus), with a single specimen of the Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) recorded. While there has been extensive work in this region of Australia since the early 1980s, this is the first record of palaeopathology from the late Pleistocene of Tasmania, and the first from a human accumulation of predominately macropod material. The palaeopathology raises several questions concerning the mobility of these animals which might have increased their susceptibly to predation, while some of the effected elements are fragmented, suggesting that people utilised these bones despite their deformities. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.