Siuren I: new zooarchaeological results

Грот Сюрень I – это многослойная палеолитическая стоянка. Технико-типологическим анализом артефактов установлено, что материалы пачек горизонтов F, G и H относятся к ориньякской индустрии двух типов. Радиоуглеродным датированием был установлен возраст ориньяка Сюрени I: 28,5 – 30,0 тыс. лет назад. Предположительно, авторами ориньякских артефактов были люди современного антропологического типа. Некоторое количество микокских орудий, ассоциирующихся с неандертальцами, обнаружено в пачках горизонтов G и H. На основании тафономического анализа костного материала сделан вывод о том, что основная роль в аккумуляции фауны в гроте принадлежит гоминидам. Остатки многочисленных поселений достаточно быстро консервировались обломочным материалом. Первобытными охотниками, в зависимости от размеров добытых животных, применялись разные подходы к их потреблению. Различий между способами эксплуатации фауны в горизонтах пачек G и H не установлено, как, впрочем, нельзя соотнести определенные способы использования фаунистических ресурсов с антропологическим типом охотников. Во время аккумуляции пачек горизонтов G и H грот Сюрень I многократно использовался как кратковременный охотничий лагерь, на территории которого происходили разделка и потребление добычи

Neanderthal Use of Fish, Mammals, Birds, Starchy Plants and Wood 125-250,000 Years Ago

Neanderthals are most often portrayed as big game hunters who derived the vast majority of their diet from large terrestrial herbivores while birds, fish and plants are seen as relatively unimportant or beyond the capabilities of Neanderthals. Although evidence for exploitation of other resources (small mammals, birds, fish, shellfish, and plants) has been found at certain Neanderthal sites, these are typically dismissed as unusual exceptions. The general view suggests that Neanderthal diet may broaden with time, but that this only occurs sometime after 50,000 years ago. We present evidence, in the form of lithic residue and use-wear analyses, for an example of a broad-based subsistence for Neanderthals at the site of Payre, Ardèche, France (beginning of MIS 5/end of MIS 6 to beginning of MIS 7/end of MIS 8; approximately 125–250,000 years ago). In addition to large terrestrial herbivores, Neanderthals at Payre also exploited starchy plants, birds, and fish. These results demonstrate a varied subsistence already in place with early Neanderthals and suggest that our ideas of Neanderthal subsistence are biased by our dependence on the zooarchaeological record and a deep-seated intellectual emphasis on big game hunting

Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus

Recent genomic data have revealed multiple interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans, but there is currently little genetic evidence regarding Neanderthal behaviour, diet, or disease. Here we describe the shotgun-sequencing of ancient DNA from five specimens of Neanderthal calcified dental plaque (calculus) and the characterization of regional differences in Neanderthal ecology. At Spy cave, Belgium, Neanderthal diet was heavily meat based and included woolly rhinoceros and wild sheep (mouflon), characteristic of a steppe environment. In contrast, no meat was detected in the diet of Neanderthals from El Sidrón cave, Spain, and dietary components of mushrooms, pine nuts, and moss reflected forest gathering. Differences in diet were also linked to an overall shift in the oral bacterial community (microbiota) and suggested that meat consumption contributed to substantial variation within Neanderthal microbiota. Evidence for self-medication was detected in an El Sidrón Neanderthal with a dental abscess and a chronic gastrointestinal pathogen (Enterocytozoon bieneusi). Metagenomic data from this individual also contained a nearly complete genome of the archaeal commensal Methanobrevibacter oralis (10.2× depth of coverage)-the oldest draft microbial genome generated to date, at around 48,000 years old. DNA preserved within dental calculus represents a notable source of information about the behaviour and health of ancient hominin specimens, as well as a unique system that is useful for the study of long-term microbial evolution

Kabazi V, Late Middle Palaeolithic camps: raw material and fauna exploitation

В полутораметровой пачке инситных рыхлых литологических отложений погребенного грота Кабази V обнаружено 56 археологических горизонтов (levels), которые составили 7 пачек горизонтов (subunits) и один культурный слой (Unit). Практически все горизонты представлены палимпсестами, которые образовались в результате комбинации ряда антропогенных и геологических факторов: достаточно частых визитов гоминид, сопровождавшихся интенсивной эксплуатацией жилых поверхностей, и умеренной / низкой скорости аккумуляции рыхлых отложений

Zooarchaeological study of an Upper Palaeolithic site with mammoth remains, Pushkari Ieexcavation VII (Chernigov oblast, Ukraine)

The Pushkari archaeological complex is one of the few sites which shows human occupations related to the first part of the Upper Pleniglacial. Pushkari I furnished rich archaeological material. Study of the lithic industry identified a facies of Gravettian with epigravettian features, called Pushkarian. In order to figure out acquisition and treatment modalities of large mammals, and to test the hypothesis of the use of woolly mammoth as a source of food and building material, we conducted a zooarchaeological study of the faunal remains from excavation VII of Pushkari I. The faunal spectrum is made of Mammuthus primigenius, the predominant species, Equus sp., R. tarandus, Canis lupus and Vulpes vulpes/Alopex lagopus. Taphonomic study suggests that some bone remains of mammoth lay in open-air for a long time before they were buried while bones of carnivores and other bones of mammoth were quickly buried. All the assemblage was affected by acid sandy deposits. Phenomena of freeze-thaw action were observed, but the archaeological layer was little disturbed. Mammoths came regularly on the promontory. The skeletal preservation shows that they died there. The mortality profile with a majority of adults combined with a palethnographic interpretation suggests that they were slaughtered and butchered by human groups. Tusks were stored. The spatial distribution indicates a campsite, which corresponds to recurrent short-termed occupations on the promontory by human groups. This site is a strategic place to collect flint to make weapons, to find dry mammoth bones, and to hunt and butcher mammoths. This study provides new data to understand the particular status of the woolly mammoth for the Upper Pleniglacial human groups in the Russo-Ukrainian plain.Animal resources and subsistence of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in Ukrain

Des biotopes variés.

International audienc

Des biotopes variés.

International audienc

The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in Northern France: 40 years of archaeozoological discoveries and studies.

International audienc

Comportements de subsistance à la transition Paléolithique moyen / Paléolithique supérieur : exemples d’Europe orientale et d’Asie centrale.

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