Neandertal mobility and large-game hunting: The exploitation of reindeer during the Quina Mousterian at Chez-Pinaud Jonzac (Charente-Maritime, France)

• Main Authors: Niven, Laura, Steele, T.E., Rendu, William, Mallye, Jean-Baptiste, Mcpherron, S.P., Soressi, Marie, Jaubert, Jacques, Hublin, Jean-Jacques
• Other Authors: Travaux et recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés (TRACES), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès (UT2J), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (Inrap), Department of Human Evolution Leipzig, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft-Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: Middle Paleolithic; Ungulates; Rangifer tarandus; Late Pleistocene; Europe; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory
• Online Access: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00904417

International audience Neandertals were effective hunters of large ungulates throughout their geographic and temporal ranges. Equipped with this knowledge, researchers in paleoanthropology continue to seek insight on the rela- tionships between hunting and subsistence strategies with other components of the Neandertals' niche, such as mobility, site use, and lithic technology. The Quina Mousterian deposits from the rockshelter site of Chez Pinaud Jonzac (Charente-Maritime, France; hereafter Jonzac) offer an excellent opportunity to pursue these issues. This paper focuses on the extensive and well-preserved skeletal remains of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) recovered from recent excavations of the site, representing at least 18 individuals that were hunted by Neandertals during the fall through winter. Our zooarchaeological results indicate that all ages of reindeer were hunted but adult individuals predominate. No bias is evident in the comparable frequencies of males and females. These prey were butchered on-site, with abundant evidence of meat filleting and marrow exploitation. In the excavated sample, the absence of hearths and the almost complete lack of burned bones or stones suggest that Neandertals were not using fire to assist with processing the reindeer carcasses. The zooarchaeological results presented here indicate that reindeer were hunted during a restricted window of time when they were seasonally abundant in the local area near Jonzac. Taken together with the lithic industry based on bifacial elements, the evidence is consistent with a pattern of site use by highly mobile hunter-gatherers making frequent, short-term visits. Ongoing research at Jonzac and other Quina Mousterian localities will contribute to a better understanding of Neandertal behavior during cold climate phases.