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The Hunters or the Hunted?: An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy is a book written by Charles Kimberlin Brain regarding the taphonomy of cave deposits in Africa.

Structure
The book is divided into two parts. The first part "A Guide to the Interpretation of Bone Accumulations in African Caves" details the processes and effects on how taphonomy occurs. The second half "Fossil Assemblages from the Sterkfontein Valley Caves: Analysis and Interpretation." deals sucessively with the Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Kromdraai caves. The final chapter, "Who were the hunters and who the hunted" concludes that australopithecines found in the 3 caves did not enter them volunarily, but that their remains were brought in by carnivores.

Reception
Neil Tappen, writing in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, wrote that the book "brings together the findings of a versatile investigator who has been working many years to interpret the hominid-bearing cave deposits in South Africa. It is a mine of in formation for professional students of the fossil record of human evolution, but the narrative is so clearly written that it should also capture the interest of undergraduates with a background in physical anthropology." furthering that the book is "a substantial reference work as well as an account of research; it should prove valuable to specialists as well as those with a general interest in the hominid fossil record."

R. J. G. S., writing in Geological Magazine, described the book as "substantial, carefully documented and magnificently produced", although he questioned the "the cost effectiveness of publishing long lists of material." concluding that "All workers on African Pleistocene mammal faunas will certainly find a valuablestore of information here. Those on other continents will doubtless use the data  for comparison. But one is left with the final nagging feeling that taphonomy is not yet a science - at least not in the Popperian sense"