Learning by Heart: Cultural Patterns in the Faunal Processing Sequence during the Middle Pleistocene

Social learning, as an information acquisition process, enables intergenerational transmission and the stabilisation of cultural forms, generating and sustaining behavioural traditions within human groups. Archaeologically, such social processes might become observable by identifying repetitions in the record that result from the execution of standardised actions. From a zooarchaeological perspective, the processing and consumption of carcasses may be used to identify these types of phenomena at the sites. To investigate this idea, several faunal assemblages from Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain, MIS 9-5e) and Gran Dolina TD10-1 (Burgos, Spain, MIS 9) were analysed. The data show that some butchery activities exhibit variability as a result of multiple conditioning factors and, therefore, the identification of cultural patterns through the resulting cutmarks presents additional difficulties. However, other activities, such as marrow removal by means of intentional breakage, seem to reflect standardised actions unrelated to the physical characteristics of the bones. The statistical tests we applied show no correlation between the less dense areas of the bones and the location of impacts. Comparison of our experimental series with the archaeological samples indicates a counter-intuitive selection of the preferred locus of impact, especially marked in the case of Bolomor IV. This fact supports the view that bone breakage was executed counterintuitively and repetitively on specific sections because it may have been part of an acquired behavioural repertoire. These reiterations differ between levels and sites, suggesting the possible existence of cultural identities or behavioural predispositions dependant on groups. On this basis, the study of patterns could significantly contribute to the identification of occupational strategies and organisation of the hominids in a territory. In this study, we use faunal data in identifying the mechanics of intergenerational information transmission within Middle Pleistocene human communities and provide new ideas for the investigation of occupational dynamics from a zooarchaeological approach

Changes in the exploitation dynamics of small terrestrial vertebrates and fish during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the SW Iberian Peninsula: A review

The Pleistocene-Holocene transition c. 11.5 ka cal. BP is associated with dramatic climatic changes. These events led to fundamental shifts in landscape and have, therefore, been seen as responsible for a major impact on the human ecological behavior of the last hunter-gatherers in the Western European territory. In the case of Iberian Peninsula, it is commonly assumed that these human ecological adaptations are reflected in the new settlement and subsistence patterns that characterized the Late Upper Paleolithic-Mesolithic transition. Following the argument, the main aim of this paper is to present the state-of-the-art and consider this theoretical model using zooarchaeological data of small terrestrial vertebrates and fish from SW Portugal. Archaeological data are reviewed and discussed in order to analyze the change in the exploitation of small game, birds, and aquatic resources during this period. In this paper, we reinforce the idea that in SW Iberia, subsistence intensification and diversification precede the transition itself and are more likely to be related to other long-term phenomena, cultural and/or demographical, than to the changes in settlement behavior. The state-of-the-art discussed here led to new research questions related to the role of small vertebrates on the changes in human subsistence behavior during the Pleistocene-Holocene from Western Iberia

Population dynamics during the Neolithic transition and the onset of megalithism in Portugal according to summed probability distribution of radiocarbon determinations

As field data accumulates, the study of Neolithic Portugal has been receiving increasing attention recently, from material culture and subsistence to ideology. However, little is known about population dynamics. In this paper, we use a judicious selection of radiocarbon determinations to evaluate demographic phenomena within the 9.500-5.000 cal BP range (thus, starting in the Late Mesolithic) making use of "summed probability distribution" analysis. In greater Portugal, results show a negative deviation (i.e. demographic decrease) at 6.400-6.300 cal BP and a positive deviation (i.e. demographic increase) at 5.350-4.950 cal BP. These can be explained, respectively, by the impact of farming about one millennium after its introduction (confirming the "Neolithic demographic transition" model) and by the full establishment of the "secondary products revolution" in the Late Neolithic. However, individual analyses of the northern and southern halves of the country-i.e. using the Mondego river valley as an ecological-geographical divide-show rather contrasting trajectories, with scarce Mesolithic populations and a demographic increase in the megalithism in the North, whereas in the South a demographic crisis occurred at the onset of megalithism (which remains to be fully explained) being followed in the Late Neolithic by a sharp demographic increase. Further summed probability distribution analyses of radiocarbon determinations, particularly if combined with other populational proxies, will be able in the future to detect other demographic events taking place in space and time.Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral grant [FJCI-2016-30588]Catalonian government [PGC2018-096943-B-C21]Spanish governmentSpanish GovernmentEuropean Commission [2017-SGR-1302]APOSTD Postdoctoral grant by the Valencian government [APOST/2019/179]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio