Neanderthals’ hunting seasonality inferred from combined cementochronology, mesowear, and microwear analysis: case studies from the Alpine foreland in Italy

Abstract

Herbivore teeth are a valuable source of information for inferring the hunting season of past hunter-gatherers, the spatial–temporal organization of their activities, their socio-economic organization, and their adaptation to the seasonal fluctuation of the resources. Numberless of studies have been conducted on Neanderthals across Eurasia, but only few of them rely on the application of cementochronology and tooth wear analyses combined to obtain information about the ungulate paleodiet, paleoenvironments, and the time range of the mortality events. In this study, we present the results achieved though the combination of these two high-resolution techniques applied to large and medium-sized herbivore teeth yielded by two Middle Paleolithic sites in the north-east of Italy. We combined the two methodologies with the aim to overcome any possible lack of information, due to the use of a single method. This study addressed to analyze the material coming from two caves in the Venetian region, De Nadale and San Bernardino, and to produce data supporting the interpretation of the origin of the two archaeofaunal assemblages as a result of seasonal hunting events that took place mainly in winter. In this specific geographic and environmental context, our data gain a better understanding of Neanderthal subsistence strategies and occupational patterns.

Flexibility within Quina lithic production systems and tool-use in Northern Italy: implications on Neanderthal behavior and ecology during early MIS 4

“…The study, carried out on a sample of large sized ungulate teeth, confirmed the paleoenvironmental reconstruction and indicated that the accumulation event(s) that lead to the formation of the faunal assemblage at the site lasted for a limited period in a time span of a year, less than or equal to a season. Thanks to the cementochronology techniques, these limited periods of time have been linked to the cold season, namely winter, with some minor frequentation during the good season (spring and summer) (Livraghi et al 2022). The availability of food resources even in the sharpest phases acted as a strategic reason for the occupation of the region and site.…”