Mousterian hunting patterns in the northwestern Caucasus and the ecology of the Neanderthals

Abstract

The northwestern Caucasus contains a group of cave and open-air sites occupied by Neanderthals during the early and middle phases of the Last Glacial (OIS 4 -3). These sites vary widely in terms of topographic setting, elevation, artifacts, and associated faunal remains. Both medium and large mammals (goat, sheep, and bison) were probably hunted at Mezmaiskaya Cave (1300 m above sea level), as indicated by the number and location of tool marks on the bones and prime-dominated age mortality profiles. Medium and large mammals (bison and other ungulates) may have been hunted at Il'skaya (100 m above sea level) and Barakaevskaya Cave (900 m above sea level), which also yield prime-dominated mortality profiles. There is no compelling evidence for hominid scavenging. The sites appear to exhibit variations in function and seasonality, and may reflect scheduled exploitation of seasonally abundant resources in different altitudinal zones on the northern slope of the Caucasus Mountains.

What Neanderthals and AMH ate: reassessment of the subsistence across the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Vasco‐Cantabrian region of SW Europe

“…These data highlight that Neanderthals kept similar hunting strategies over time, showing continuity in subsistence strategies with AMH (Yravedra et al ., 2016). This conclusion coincides with other authors who do not observe important cultural and subsistence changes until the end of the Upper Palaeolithic (Butzer, 1986; Clark and Lindly, 1989a, b; Marshack, 1989; Hoffecker and Gleghron, 2000; Patou‐Mathis, 2000; Yravedra, 2002). In El Castillo, located in the same river valley of Covalejos, the macrofaunal spectrum of Mousterian Level 20 and the Transitional Aurignacian levels (18B and 18C) from recent excavations is similar in all of them.…”

On Neanderthal subsistence strategies and land use: A regional focus on the Rhone Valley area in southeastern France

“…Indeed, the massive exploitation of the local lithic resources, and to a lesser extent of the faunal resources for the majority of the sites (except La Combette), associated with the movement and reduction of lithic materials, indicates a circulating/foraging model (Binford, 1981;Khun, 1995). This type of organisation has been observed, among others, in the north of France (Goval, 2008), in Crimea (Burke, 2000(Burke, , 2004(Burke, , 2006, even in the northern Caucasus (Hoffecker and Cleghorn, 2000). It is, on the other hand, opposed to the organisation observed in Italy by Stiner (1994) or in the south of France by Boyle (2000) where, with such great variability, the hypothesis of ecological niches exploited by small groups with reduced mobility is preferred to that of more complex and organised logistical behaviour.…”

“…The distinction between site occupation modes, taking into consideration data intrinsic to the territories covered (climate, topography, biotopes, mineral resources, human groups, etc. ), is favoured by regional studies (Gamble, 1998;Texier et al, 1998Texier et al, , 2005Patou-Mathis, 2000;Conard and Prindiville, 2000;Boyle, 2000;Hoffecker and Cleghorn, 2000;Burke, 2000Burke, , 2006Szmidt, 2003;Fiore et al, 2004;Valensi and Psathi, 2004).…”

Taphonomy and zooarchaeology of a high-altitude Upper Pleistocene faunal sequence from Hovk-1 Cave, Armenia

“…It includes, in addition, remains of several species of small carnivores, mainly fox. In contrast, other Middle and Upper Palaeolithic faunal assemblages from the Caucasus are typically dominated by one or two prey taxa often including the wild goat and/or steppe bison (Bison priscus) or aurochs (Bos primigenius) Bar-Oz et al, 2007;Baryshnikov et al, 1996;Cleghorn, 2006;Hoffecker and Cleghorn, 2000). Studies of Palaeolithic assemblages from the sites of Table 6 Frequencies of fracture angle, fracture outline, fracture edge and shaft circumference of ungulates and cave bear bones from Hovk-1.…”

“…Some of the most important evidence is an abundance of butchery marks on skeletal remains of various prey taxa and mortality profiles that show clear selection of prime-age individuals Bar-Oz and Adler, 2005;Baryshnikov and Hoffecker, 1994;Cleghorn, 2006). Some variation among sites in the frequency of prey types appears to reflect seasonality in prey abundance and scheduling of resource exploitation activities as well as choice of hunting habitat (Bar-Oz et al, 2007;Cleghorn, 2006;Hoffecker and Cleghorn, 2000; see also Bar-Oz et al, 2009). The evidence from the southern Caucasus faunal record appears to support models that imply similarities in the ecological niches of Neanderthals and Modern humans (Adler, 2009;Adler et al, 2008;Adler and Tushabramishvili, 2004) but it remains unclear how different populations adapted to and utilized resources in their variable environments and particularly in highaltitude mountainous regions.…”