‘We hunt to share’: social dynamics and very large mammal butchery during the Oldowan–Acheulean transition

Steps to individuality in biology and culture

“…This species had a larger brain relative to previous Homo species and may have had a more complex social life with more sophisticated systems of communication and information transfer. The size of hominin groups could have increased during this period [76], with larger groups facilitating the successful dispersal of H. erectus out of Africa [77]. Consequently, the shift from Oldowan to Acheulean culture may have also been associated with changes in the structure of biological groups of hominins and expanding hominin group size.…”

Glacial/interglacial climate variability in southern Spain during the late Early Pleistocene and climate backdrop for early Homo in Europe

“…Paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions of BL and FN3 have been undertaken using a variety of proxies and techniques: ecometric and mesowear analyses based on the large-mammal assemblages (Saarinen et al, 2021a); analysis of herpetofaunal assemblages (Blain, 2005(Blain, , 2009Bailon, 2010;Blain and Bailon, 2010;Blain et al, 2011Blain et al, , 2016aSánchez-Bandera et al, 2020); analysis of small-mammal assemblages (Agustí et al, 2010a(Agustí et al, , b, 2015a(Agustí et al, , 2019b; malacofaunal analysis (applied at BL, Albesa and Robles, 2020); isotopic analysis of ostracod shells (Anadón and Gabàs, 2009), of biogenic lacustrine carbonates (Anadón et al, 2015) and of the tooth enamel of large herbivores (Bocherens et al, 2020); pollen analysis (Jiménez Moreno, 2003;Ochando et al, 2022); and taphonomic studies (Yravedra et al, 2021(Yravedra et al, , 2022. Nevertheless, with the exception of the microvertebrate analyses (Agustí et al, 2015a(Agustí et al, , 2019bSánchez-Bandera et al, 2020) and the isotopic analyses of ostracod shells (Anadón and Gabàs, 2009) and biogenic lacustrine carbonates (Anadón et al, 2015), these proxies have been applied to the sites at a broad level, i.e.…”

“…Level D1 (with an average thickness of around 65 cm) is composed of gravels, pebbles, and cobbles, varying from small quartz clasts to palustrine limestone boulders (Anadón and Julià, 2010). The formation of level D1 is associated with a high-energy flash flood depositional event, which brought faunal remains (some anthropogenically modified) and detrital lithic materials (including knapped Oldowan lithics) from an area adjacent to the present-day site (Oms et al, 2011;Titton et al, 2021;Yravedra et al, 2022). Contrastingly, some of the archaeo-paleontological materials present a good state of preservation with little taphonomic alteration (Titton et al, 2021;Yravedra et al, 2022).…”

“…The formation of level D1 is associated with a high-energy flash flood depositional event, which brought faunal remains (some anthropogenically modified) and detrital lithic materials (including knapped Oldowan lithics) from an area adjacent to the present-day site (Oms et al, 2011;Titton et al, 2021;Yravedra et al, 2022). Contrastingly, some of the archaeo-paleontological materials present a good state of preservation with little taphonomic alteration (Titton et al, 2021;Yravedra et al, 2022). Along with the refitted and conjoined lithic sets that have been documented (Gibert et al, 1998;Toro-Moyano et al, 2013;Titton et al, 2021), this attests to in situ hominin activity taking place in level D1.…”

“…These two sites have yielded very rich and well-documented stone tool assemblages (Barsky et al, 2013(Barsky et al, , 2015a(Barsky et al, , b, 2018Titton et al, 2018Titton et al, , 2020Titton et al, , 2021Toro-Moyano et al, 2010; Supplementary Note 1). In addition, the fauna from both sites shows clear signs of anthropogenic manipulation, evidenced by the presence of cut and percussion marks on the cortical surface of the bones (Espigares et al, 2019;Yravedra et al, 2021Yravedra et al, , 2022.…”