A handful of duck radiuses: Peculiarities of the avifaunal exploitation at the Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal (Belgium)

• Published in: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
• Main Authors: Goffette, Quentin, Lepers, Christian, Jadin, Ivan, Rots, Veerle
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2022
• Subjects: Bubo scandiacus; rock ptarmigan; snowy owl
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/oa.3194; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/oa.3194; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/oa.3194

Abstract The early Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal (Belgium) was discovered in 1966, during the widening of the Canal du Centre. Emergency excavation allowed the discovery of an open‐air human occupation which yielded abundant archaeological material. A re‐examination of the well‐preserved faunal collections has expanded the bird assemblage from the 29 bones initially recognized to 78, which have been studied from an archaeozoological point of view. Six taxa were identified, including species regularly encountered in Upper Paleolithic sites, such as the snowy owl ( Bubo scandiacus ), the northern raven ( Corvus corax ), and the willow or rock ptarmigan ( Lagopus sp.). Ducks (Anatinae) are by far the best represented taxa. Surprisingly, only radius fragments were recovered for ducks, most bearing breaks and tool marks. We paid special attention to this peculiar set of duck radiuses. We performed experiments on fresh duck wings to evaluate the impact of different actions on the radius. Based on our experiments, two main hypotheses emerged. This accumulation of duck radiuses may represent (1) the waste from the production of dry wings and/or (2) a supply of raw material for craft activities. However, neither of these two hypotheses can be conclusively confirmed. As well as exhibiting some discrepancies, the bird bone assemblage from Maisières‐Canal shares several characteristics with early Gravettian sites from central Europe.