Neanderthal selective hunting of reindeer? The case study of Abri du Maras (south-eastern France)
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Neanderthal selective hunting of reindeer? The case study of Abri du Maras (south-eastern France) C. Daujeard 1 & D. Vettese 1 & K. Britton 2,3 & P. Béarez 4 & N. Boulbes 1 & E. Crégut-Bonnoure 5 & E. Desclaux 6 & N. Lateur 7 & A. Pike-Tay 8 & F. Rivals 9,10,11 & E. Allué 9,10 & M. G. Chacón 1,9,10 & S. Puaud 1 & M. Richard 12 & M.-A. Courty 13 & R. Gallotti 14 & B. Hardy 15 & J. J. Bahain 1 & C. Falguères 1 & E. Pons-Branchu 16 & H. Valladas 16 & M.-H. Moncel 1 Received: 17 February 2017 / Accepted: 28 November 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2017
Abstract Monospecific exploitation of reindeer by Neanderthals is a common behaviour in the Upper Pleistocene of Western Europe. However, reindeer-dominated assemblages have largely been reported from regions of northern Germany and south-western France, with few examples noted in south-eastern France, where faunal assemblages yield most of the time a variety of other large ungulates such as red deer, horse and diverse bovids. Here, we present multi-strand (bio- and eco-) archaeological datasets from the site of Abri du Maras (level 4.1), situated at the mouth of the Ardèche and Rhône rivers, a new example of a reindeerdominated Neanderthal site in south-eastern France. Dated to the beginning of the MIS 3, the zooarchaeological assemblage is dominated by reindeer (88% of the NISP, representing 16 individuals) but also includes horse, bison, giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus), red deer, ibex and lagomorphs. The combination of zooarchaeological, cementochronological and tooth microwear analyses evidence a single species-dominated spectrum, with catastrophic mortality and repeated autumnal deaths. This integrated approach provides an extensive picture of human subsistence behaviour, pointing to short-term hunting episodes of reindeer herds in an exceptional context of a quasi-exclusive Neanderthal accumulation. The high number of individuals and selective butchery may correspond with a cooperative and planned mass hunting strategy. The multidisciplinary approach undertaken here also incorporating paleontological, charcoal, ecological and isotopic analyses places the archaeological and zooarchaeological data within a broader regional palaeoenvironmental framework, providing valuable landscape-contextual information. The zooarchaeological data suggest a subsistence behaviour different from other Neanderthal reindeer-dominated assemblages often connected with specialised butchery or hunting sites. Keywords Neanderthal . Subsistence . Seasonality . Monospecific faunal assemblages . Reindeer predation . Mass procurement
Introduction The hunting abilities of Neanderthals are now well documented, not least due to the many debates at the end of the twentieth century concerning the recognition of human versus carnivore faunal accumulations and the question of hunting versus scavenging in Middle Palaeolithic occupations (e.g. Binford 1981, 1988; Chase 1986; Stiner 1994; Marean Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
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