Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle
Since the end of the nineteenth century, a great deal of work studying subsistence patterns of prehistoric societies in Western Europe has been done. During the Middle Paleolithic, humans were interested in small game, particularly the Leporidae, taxa that were abundant in their territories. However...
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Language: | French |
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Musée national de Préhistoire
2016
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Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/paleo/2962 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:revues.org:paleo/2962 2023-05-15T17:07:51+02:00 Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle Hare and rabbit in Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France): palaeontological and taphonomic studies of two naturally occurring bone accumulations Pelletier, Maxime Royer, Aurélien Holliday, Trenton Maureille, Bruno 2016-06-01 http://journals.openedition.org/paleo/2962 fr fre Musée national de Préhistoire Paleo urn:doi:10.4000/paleo.2962 http://journals.openedition.org/paleo/2962 lic_creative-commons taphonomie paléontologie morphométrie géométrique 2D mortalité attritionnelle mortalité accidentelle Lepus timidus Oryctolagus cuniculus Taphonomy Palaeontology 2D geometric morphometry Attritional mortality Accidental mortality archeo hist Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2016 fttriple https://doi.org/10.4000/paleo.2962 2023-01-22T19:21:30Z Since the end of the nineteenth century, a great deal of work studying subsistence patterns of prehistoric societies in Western Europe has been done. During the Middle Paleolithic, humans were interested in small game, particularly the Leporidae, taxa that were abundant in their territories. However, distinguishing the exact nature of their origin in an archaeological site is not an easy task, given that numerous agents could be responsible for their accumulation (i.e., natural mortality, acquisition by humans and/or other terrestrial carnivores, or even nocturnal or diurnal raptors). In this contribution, we put forth a new taphonomic and paleontological study of the leporids of Regourdou, a Mousterian site that has yielded a Neandertal skeleton. This study suggests that no predators were involved in the accumulation of the hare or rabbit remains, but rather that they are due to natural (accidental) mortality for the former, and natural (attritional) mortality for the latter. Specifically, the evidence suggests that at one point in its history (for the hares), the cavity functioned as a natural pitfall trap, while for the rabbits it appears to show the existence of a warren, which we interpret as having existed during the last occupation of the site during MIS 4 or 3, before the end of the accumulation of sediments in the site. Morphological variation and body size of individuals also allows us to specify the order of paleoenvironmental changes since the site’s functional beginning, confirming the attribution of the inferior levels to the MIS 5 temperate period, and the upper levels to a more recent phase in MIS 4 or 3. Depuis la fin du XIXe siècle, l’Europe occidentale a fait l’objet de très nombreux travaux pour étudier les modes de subsistance des sociétés préhistoriques. À partir du Paléolithique moyen, les Hommes vont alors s’intéresser au petit gibier, tels que les léporidés, taxons relativement abondants sur ce territoire. Or, distinguer l’origine de leur accumulation dans un site archéologique ne ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Lepus timidus Unknown Paléo 26 161 183 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
French |
topic |
taphonomie paléontologie morphométrie géométrique 2D mortalité attritionnelle mortalité accidentelle Lepus timidus Oryctolagus cuniculus Taphonomy Palaeontology 2D geometric morphometry Attritional mortality Accidental mortality archeo hist |
spellingShingle |
taphonomie paléontologie morphométrie géométrique 2D mortalité attritionnelle mortalité accidentelle Lepus timidus Oryctolagus cuniculus Taphonomy Palaeontology 2D geometric morphometry Attritional mortality Accidental mortality archeo hist Pelletier, Maxime Royer, Aurélien Holliday, Trenton Maureille, Bruno Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
topic_facet |
taphonomie paléontologie morphométrie géométrique 2D mortalité attritionnelle mortalité accidentelle Lepus timidus Oryctolagus cuniculus Taphonomy Palaeontology 2D geometric morphometry Attritional mortality Accidental mortality archeo hist |
description |
Since the end of the nineteenth century, a great deal of work studying subsistence patterns of prehistoric societies in Western Europe has been done. During the Middle Paleolithic, humans were interested in small game, particularly the Leporidae, taxa that were abundant in their territories. However, distinguishing the exact nature of their origin in an archaeological site is not an easy task, given that numerous agents could be responsible for their accumulation (i.e., natural mortality, acquisition by humans and/or other terrestrial carnivores, or even nocturnal or diurnal raptors). In this contribution, we put forth a new taphonomic and paleontological study of the leporids of Regourdou, a Mousterian site that has yielded a Neandertal skeleton. This study suggests that no predators were involved in the accumulation of the hare or rabbit remains, but rather that they are due to natural (accidental) mortality for the former, and natural (attritional) mortality for the latter. Specifically, the evidence suggests that at one point in its history (for the hares), the cavity functioned as a natural pitfall trap, while for the rabbits it appears to show the existence of a warren, which we interpret as having existed during the last occupation of the site during MIS 4 or 3, before the end of the accumulation of sediments in the site. Morphological variation and body size of individuals also allows us to specify the order of paleoenvironmental changes since the site’s functional beginning, confirming the attribution of the inferior levels to the MIS 5 temperate period, and the upper levels to a more recent phase in MIS 4 or 3. Depuis la fin du XIXe siècle, l’Europe occidentale a fait l’objet de très nombreux travaux pour étudier les modes de subsistance des sociétés préhistoriques. À partir du Paléolithique moyen, les Hommes vont alors s’intéresser au petit gibier, tels que les léporidés, taxons relativement abondants sur ce territoire. Or, distinguer l’origine de leur accumulation dans un site archéologique ne ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pelletier, Maxime Royer, Aurélien Holliday, Trenton Maureille, Bruno |
author_facet |
Pelletier, Maxime Royer, Aurélien Holliday, Trenton Maureille, Bruno |
author_sort |
Pelletier, Maxime |
title |
Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
title_short |
Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
title_full |
Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
title_fullStr |
Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
title_full_unstemmed |
Lièvre et lapin à Regourdou (Montignac-sur-Vézère, Dordogne, France) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
title_sort |
lièvre et lapin à regourdou (montignac-sur-vézère, dordogne, france) : études paléontologique et taphonomique de deux accumulations osseuses d’origine naturelle |
publisher |
Musée national de Préhistoire |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://journals.openedition.org/paleo/2962 |
genre |
Lepus timidus |
genre_facet |
Lepus timidus |
op_relation |
urn:doi:10.4000/paleo.2962 http://journals.openedition.org/paleo/2962 |
op_rights |
lic_creative-commons |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4000/paleo.2962 |
container_title |
Paléo |
container_issue |
26 |
container_start_page |
161 |
op_container_end_page |
183 |
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1766063355367260160 |