Abstract: At what point during the Plio-Pleistocene our ancestors began to successfully compete with other members of the carnivore guild over large game resources has long been an intriguing question to paleoanthropologists. In order to address this question we must utilize taphonomy, originally from paleontology, but over the course of the past three decades heavily influenced by archaeologists. Presented here is a detailed review of the current state of taphonomic research that is designed to address the nature of hominin-carnivore interactions over large game resources during the Plio-Pleistocene. In particular, mortality and skeletal element profiles and bone surface modification studies form the foundation of this research. Taphonomic research is based on actualistic and experimental studies. The majority of these taphonomic studies have been carried out in North America and the Western Old World. Since taphonomic research has not received a great deal of attention in Eastern Old World paleoanthropology, throughout this review we cite examples of research that has been and is currently being conducted in East Asia.

Key words: Taphonomy; Hunting and scavenging; Actualistic and experimental studies; Mortality profile; Skeletal element profile; Bone surface modification