Prehistoric Exploitation of the Brown Dorcopsis

In the last chapter it was shown that the basic pattern of exploitation of animal resources in the Ayamaru area was remarkably stable throughout the greater part of the Holocene, at least insofar as this can be judged archaeologically. The central activity through this period was the hunting and consumption of the Brown Dorcopsis, Dorcopsis muelleri (locally known as Djief), a medium-sized mammal but one of the largest terrestrial prey items available to the prehistoric occupants of the caves.