Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition
Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphol...
Published in: | Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/20126 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 |
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ftunivalgarve:oai:sapientia.ualg.pt:10400.1/20126 2023-12-03T10:29:25+01:00 Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie Rendu, William Steele, Teresa E. Spasov, Rosen Madelaine, Stéphane Renou, Sylvain Soulier, Marie-Cécile Martisius, Naomi L. aldeias, vera Endarova, Elena Goldberg, Paul McPherron, Shannon J. P. Rezek, Zeljko Sandgathe, Dennis Sirakov, Nikolay Sirakova, Svoboda Soressi, Marie Tsanova, Tsenka Turq, Alain Hublin, Jean-Jacques Welker, Frido Smith, Geoff M. 2023 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/20126 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 eng eng Springer info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/948365/EU info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/101027850/EU http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/20126 doi:10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 1866-9565 openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ZooMS Zooarchaeology Bone surface modification Subsistence behaviour Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition Late Pleistocene article 2023 ftunivalgarve https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 2023-11-08T01:05:02Z Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottes and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison (Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass (Equus) at Les Cottes and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages. Dutch Research Council VI.C.191.070, National Science Foundation (NSF) 2004818, European Union (EU) European Research Council (ERC) 101041245, European Research Council (ERC) Spanish Government 948365, 101041245 ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer tarandus Universidade do Algarve: Sapienta Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Universidade do Algarve: Sapienta |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalgarve |
language |
English |
topic |
ZooMS Zooarchaeology Bone surface modification Subsistence behaviour Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition Late Pleistocene |
spellingShingle |
ZooMS Zooarchaeology Bone surface modification Subsistence behaviour Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition Late Pleistocene Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie Rendu, William Steele, Teresa E. Spasov, Rosen Madelaine, Stéphane Renou, Sylvain Soulier, Marie-Cécile Martisius, Naomi L. aldeias, vera Endarova, Elena Goldberg, Paul McPherron, Shannon J. P. Rezek, Zeljko Sandgathe, Dennis Sirakov, Nikolay Sirakova, Svoboda Soressi, Marie Tsanova, Tsenka Turq, Alain Hublin, Jean-Jacques Welker, Frido Smith, Geoff M. Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition |
topic_facet |
ZooMS Zooarchaeology Bone surface modification Subsistence behaviour Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition Late Pleistocene |
description |
Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottes and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison (Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass (Equus) at Les Cottes and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages. Dutch Research Council VI.C.191.070, National Science Foundation (NSF) 2004818, European Union (EU) European Research Council (ERC) 101041245, European Research Council (ERC) Spanish Government 948365, 101041245 ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie Rendu, William Steele, Teresa E. Spasov, Rosen Madelaine, Stéphane Renou, Sylvain Soulier, Marie-Cécile Martisius, Naomi L. aldeias, vera Endarova, Elena Goldberg, Paul McPherron, Shannon J. P. Rezek, Zeljko Sandgathe, Dennis Sirakov, Nikolay Sirakova, Svoboda Soressi, Marie Tsanova, Tsenka Turq, Alain Hublin, Jean-Jacques Welker, Frido Smith, Geoff M. |
author_facet |
Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie Rendu, William Steele, Teresa E. Spasov, Rosen Madelaine, Stéphane Renou, Sylvain Soulier, Marie-Cécile Martisius, Naomi L. aldeias, vera Endarova, Elena Goldberg, Paul McPherron, Shannon J. P. Rezek, Zeljko Sandgathe, Dennis Sirakov, Nikolay Sirakova, Svoboda Soressi, Marie Tsanova, Tsenka Turq, Alain Hublin, Jean-Jacques Welker, Frido Smith, Geoff M. |
author_sort |
Sinet-Mathiot, Virginie |
title |
Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition |
title_short |
Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition |
title_full |
Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition |
title_fullStr |
Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition |
title_sort |
identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the middle to upper palaeolithic transition |
publisher |
Springer |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/20126 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 |
genre |
Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Rangifer tarandus |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/948365/EU info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/101027850/EU http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/20126 doi:10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 1866-9565 |
op_rights |
openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01830-4 |
container_title |
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
9 |
_version_ |
1784254761132883968 |