Abstract
•Trampling by elephants in the wild is frequent at some sites.•Elephant trampling in the wild can produce fracture edges with notches and pseudo-cone flakes on elephant bones.•Elephant trampling in the wild produces marks on elephant bones that are parallel and not sinuous.•Elephant trampling can change the orientation and dip of elephant bones.•Mammoth bones in anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic assemblages sometimes have marks and breakage features similar to those recorded on trampled elephant bones.
Loxodonta africana bones are repeatedly trampled when deposited at localities where elephant traffic is frequent, such as water sources and mineral licks. This paper discusses and illustrates several major effects of elephant trampling, including bone scattering and re-positioning at death sites, the breakage of even the largest elements, and marking of bone surfaces. We present results of experiments to bend and break elephant bones and we illustrate probable trampling modifications of Pleistocene Mammuthus spp. bones from North America and Europe.