The role of foxes in the Palaeolithic economies of the Swabian Jura (Germany)
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(2020) 12:208
ORIGINAL PAPER
The role of foxes in the Palaeolithic economies of the Swabian Jura (Germany) Chris Baumann 1,2
&
Gillian L. Wong 1 & Britt M. Starkovich 1,3 & Susanne C. Münzel 1 & Nicholas J. Conard 4,5
Received: 22 June 2020 / Accepted: 27 July 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In this study, we examine the role of foxes in Palaeolithic economies, focusing on sites of the Middle Palaeolithic, Aurignacian, Gravettian and Magdalenian of the Swabian Jura. For this purpose, we used published faunal data from 26 assemblages from the region, including new information from the Magdalenian layers of Langmahdhalde. We explore how the abundance of foxes changes over time, how they were used by humans, and how they were deposited at the sites, with a special focus on fox hunting methods. To evaluate these hunting methods, we use the prey choice model of optimal foraging theory (OFT) and simulate possible hunting scenarios, which we test based on the published faunal assemblages. Our research indicates that foxes were hunted since the early Upper Palaeolithic for their meat, fur and teeth, possibly with traps. We find that the abundance of fox remains in the archaeological record of the region increased continuously starting in the Aurignacian, which cannot be explained by taphonomic factors. The trend of foxes to adapt to human-influenced environments with commensal behavior may also have contributed to them being hunted more often. Keywords Fox hunting methods . Prey choice model . Aurignacian . Gravettian . Magdalenian . Middle Palaeolithic
Introduction The transition from the Middle Palaeolithic, which was dominated by Neanderthals, to the Upper Palaeolithic, which is This article is part of the topical collection on Do good things come in small packages? Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01173-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Chris Baumann [email protected] 1
Institute for Scientific Archaeology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
2
Biogeology, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
3
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
4
Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Burgsteige 11, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
5
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Burgsteige 11, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans, is an important and very active field of research in archaeology (Arrighi et al. 2019; Benazzi et al. 2011; Fa et al. 2016; Jones et al. 2019; Jones et al. 2018; Morales et al. 2016; Peresani et al. 2016; Pirson et al. 2012; Pleurdeau et al. 2016; Richard et al. 2019; Romandini et al. 2019). In zooarchaeological studies, this transition is often interpreted as a change in human hunting behavior or an expansion of t
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