The Taphonomy of Dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania) Based on Field Sketches of the German Tendaguru Expedition (1909-1913)1

With 23 figures and 2 tables Tendaguru is one of the most important dinosaur localities in Africa. The Tendaguru Beds have produced a diverse Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian) dinosaur assemblage, including sauropods (Brachiosaurus, Barosaurus, Dicraeosaurus, Janenschia), theropods (e.g., Elaphrosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Allosaurus), and ornithischians (Kentrosaurus, Dryosaurus). Con-trary to the well studied skeletal anatomy of the Tendaguru dinosaurs, the available taphonomic information is rather limited, and a generally accepted taphonomic model has not yet been established. Assessment of unpublished excavation sketches by the German Tendaguru expedition (1909-1913) document bone assemblages of sauropod and ornithischian dinosaurs from the Middle Saurian Bed, Upper Saurian Bed, and the Transitional Sands above the Trigonia smeei Bed, and shed some light on the taphonomy of the Tendaguru dinosaurs. Stages of disarticulation range from incomplete skeletons to solitary bones, and strongly argue for carcass decay and post-mortem transport prior to burial. The sauropod bone accumulations are domi-nated by adult individuals, and juveniles are rare or missing. The occurrence of bones in different superimposed dinosaur-bearing horizons indicates that skeletal remains were accumulated over a long time span during the Late Jurassic, and the majority of the bone accumulations are probably attritional. These accumulations are likely to have resulted from long-term bone imput due to normal mortality events caused by starvation, seasonal drought, disease, old age and weakness. The deposi