Reliable methods are needed to distinguish anthropogenic from non-anthropogenic causes of proboscidean limb bone breakage in fossil assemblages because of theoretical uncertainty about human-proboscidean relationships in the Pleistocene. This paper compares experimentally broken bones of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and mammoths (Mammuthus spp.) after establishing that limb bone fracture dynamics are the same for those proboscidean taxa. We show that features thought exclusively diagnostic of percussive fracturing of green proboscidean long bones such as notched fracture edges, smooth fracture surfaces, and curvilinear fracture outlines also can be created on non-green bones and on bones affected by non-anthropogenic processes. The information reported here can be applied in analyses or re-analyses of fossil proboscidean bone assemblages and may either support or potentially alter current interpretations of hominin behavior.

由于更新世人类-长鼻动物关系的理论不确定性，需要可靠的方法来区分化石组合中长鼻动物肢体骨折的人为和非人为原因。本文通过比较实验打破非洲象（的骨头非洲象）和猛犸（猛犸象spp.) 确定肢体骨折动力学对于那些长鼻类群是相同的。我们表明，也可以在非绿色骨骼和受非人为过程影响的骨骼上创建专门用于诊断绿色长鼻长骨撞击性骨折的特征，例如缺口骨折边缘、光滑的骨折表面和曲线骨折轮廓。此处报告的信息可用于分析或重新分析化石长鼻骨组合，并且可能支持或可能改变当前对人类行为的解释。