Where the snags are: Looking into bird bones

A study of bird remains from the Koziarnia Cave (Poland) revealed the presence of nearly a dozen bony shreds (snags) projecting from the natural canals in bones; the snags were made of a material that accumulated during the Late Pleistocene. This paper describes this phenomenon and determines the most probable agent responsible for its occurrence by utilizing observations of snag microstructure, taphonomic analysis of bird assemblages from Koziarnia Cave, and surveys of collected bird remains (modern and fossilized). The presence of snag may be a good qualitative indicator of an agent responsible for the accumulation of bird bones at archeological sites and could be useful in future taphonomic studies.