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Mata-González M, Starkovich BM, Zeidi M, Conard NJ. Evidence of diverse animal exploitation during the Middle Paleolithic at Ghar-e Boof (southern Zagros). Sci Rep 2023; 13:19006. [PMID: 37923753 PMCID: PMC10624823 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45974-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Although Middle Paleolithic (MP) hominin diets consisted mainly of ungulates, increasing evidence demonstrates that hominins at least occasionally consumed tortoises, birds, leporids, fish, and carnivores. Until now, the MP zooarchaeological record in the Zagros Mountains has been almost exclusively restricted to ungulates. The narrow range of hominin prey may reflect socioeconomic decisions and/or environmental constraints, but could also result from a research bias favoring the study of large prey, since archaeologists have undertaken no systematic taphonomic analyses of small game or carnivores in the region. Here, we report on the first comprehensive taphonomic analysis of an MP faunal assemblage from Ghar-e Boof (∼ 81-45 kyr), a Late Pleistocene site in the southern Zagros of Iran. Anthropogenic bone surface modifications point to hominins as the main agent of accumulation. Hominins preyed primarily on ungulates, particularly wild goat. However, we also found evidence for MP hominin exploitation of carnivores and tortoises at the site. Although small game represents only a minor portion of the diet, our results suggest that the hunting behavior of MP hominins in the Zagros was more diverse than previously thought, similar to what we find elsewhere in Eurasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Mata-González
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Unit 1176, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA.
| | - Britt M Starkovich
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Mohsen Zeidi
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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2
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Connections between the Levant and the Balkans in the late Middle Pleistocene: Archaeological findings from Velika and Mala Balanica Caves (Serbia). J Hum Evol 2022; 163:103138. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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3
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Zaidner Y, Centi L, Prévost M, Mercier N, Falguères C, Guérin G, Valladas H, Richard M, Galy A, Pécheyran C, Tombret O, Pons-Branchu E, Porat N, Shahack-Gross R, Friesem DE, Yeshurun R, Turgeman-Yaffe Z, Frumkin A, Herzlinger G, Ekshtain R, Shemer M, Varoner O, Sarig R, May H, Hershkovitz I. Middle Pleistocene
Homo
behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with
Homo sapiens. Science 2021. [DOI: 10.1126/science.abh3020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Yossi Zaidner
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Laura Centi
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Marion Prévost
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Norbert Mercier
- Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060 CNRS–Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie (CRP2A), Maison de l’Archéologie, 33607 PESSAC Cedex, France
| | - Christophe Falguères
- UMR7194, Départment “Homme et Environnement, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, CNRS, UPVD, Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 75103 Paris, France
| | - Gilles Guérin
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Hélène Valladas
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Maïlys Richard
- Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060 CNRS–Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie (CRP2A), Maison de l’Archéologie, 33607 PESSAC Cedex, France
- UMR7194, Départment “Homme et Environnement, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, CNRS, UPVD, Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 75103 Paris, France
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
| | - Asmodée Galy
- Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060 CNRS–Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie (CRP2A), Maison de l’Archéologie, 33607 PESSAC Cedex, France
- Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, E2S UPPA, CNRS, IPREM, BP 576 64012 PAU Cedex, France
| | - Christophe Pécheyran
- Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, E2S UPPA, CNRS, IPREM, BP 576 64012 PAU Cedex, France
| | - Olivier Tombret
- UMR7194, Départment “Homme et Environnement, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, CNRS, UPVD, Sorbonne Université, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, 75103 Paris, France
- UMR7209, Départment Homme et Environnement, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Edwige Pons-Branchu
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Naomi Porat
- Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ruth Shahack-Gross
- Department of Maritime Civilizations, Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - David E. Friesem
- Department of Maritime Civilizations, Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Reuven Yeshurun
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
| | - Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
| | - Amos Frumkin
- Cave Research Center, Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus–Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Gadi Herzlinger
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Ravid Ekshtain
- Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Maayan Shemer
- Prehistoric Branch, Archaeological Research Department, Israel Antiquity Authority, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Oz Varoner
- Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Rachel Sarig
- Department of Oral Biology, Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Hila May
- Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Israel Hershkovitz
- Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Groman-Yaroslavski I, Zaidner Y, Weinstein-Evron M. Complexity and sophistication of Early Middle Paleolithic flint tools revealed through use-wear analysis of tools from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. J Hum Evol 2021; 154:102955. [PMID: 33831631 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The Early Middle Paleolithic (EMP) is a less-studied phase of the Levantine Middle Paleolithic, attributable to the small number of sites discovered. Drawing on the dense archaeological accumulations at Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, the present study seeks to trace EMP daily activities and behavioral patterns through the prism of use-wear analysis. The emergence of the laminar and Levallois technologies that form the EMP toolkit is investigated to reveal other dimensions of tool novelties. Through microscopic analyses, integrated with experimentation, the most outstanding aspect revealed in this study is the extensive evidence of hafting, which included the use of binding together with various techniques for tool design. A unique treatment was identified, never reported before, entailing the abrasion of cortical surfaces and protruding dorsal ridges. Other aspects include the clear preference for pointed tools as a leading morphological trend and the use of retouch as a mean to create durable working edges and facilitate grip arrangements. The analysis demonstrates the venue of use-wear to trace a wide variety of practices, including consumption-related (processing hunted game and edible plants) and craft-related (hide processing, woodworking, and perhaps stone working) activities that otherwise hardly leave a trace in the archaeological record. By exploring these features, the research provides important insights into early hominin behavior and way of life during the EMP, emphasizing the novelties brought by the earliest Homo sapiens out of Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yossi Zaidner
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 3498838 Haifa, Israel
| | - Mina Weinstein-Evron
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 3498838 Haifa, Israel
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5
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Yeshurun R, Malkinson D, Crater Gershtein KM, Zaidner Y, Weinstein-Evron M. Site occupation dynamics of early modern humans at Misliya Cave (Mount Carmel, Israel): Evidence from the spatial taphonomy of faunal remains. J Hum Evol 2020; 143:102797. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Revised: 03/28/2020] [Accepted: 03/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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Climate variability in early expansions of Homo sapiens in light of the new record of micromammals in Misliya Cave, Israel. J Hum Evol 2020; 139:102741. [PMID: 32062432 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2019] [Revised: 12/27/2019] [Accepted: 12/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we provide the first taphonomic and taxonomic descriptions of the micromammals from Misliya Cave, where recently a Homo sapiens hemimaxilla has been reported. This finding significantly extends the time frame for the out-of-Africa presence of anatomically modern humans. It also provides an opportunity to reassess variation in early modern human population responses to climate change in the Levantine sequence. Information on species ranking and diversity estimations (Shannon functions) is obtained from quantitative data across 31 Levantine assemblages and investigated in a broad comparative frame using multivariate analyses. Recent models of human-climate interactions in the late Early-Middle Paleolithic of the southern Levant have drawn heavily on on-site associations of human fossils with remains of micromammals. However, there has been little, if any, attempt to examine the long-term picture of how paleocommunities of micromammals responded qualitatively and quantitatively to climatic oscillations of the region by altering their compositional complexity. Consequently, our understanding is vastly limited in regard to the paleoecosystem functions that linked past precipitation shifts to changes in primary producers and consumers or as to the background climatic conditions that allowed for the development of highly nonanalog ancient communities in the region. Although previous studies argued for a correspondence between alternations in H. sapiens and Neanderthal occupations of the Levant and faunal shifts in key biostratigraphic indicator taxa (such as Euro-Siberian Ellobius versus Saharo-Arabian Mastomys and Arvicanthis), our data indicate the likelihood that early H. sapiens populations (Misliya and Qafzeh hominins) persisted through high amplitudes of paleoecological and climatic oscillations. It is unlikely, given these results, that climate functioned as a significant filter of early modern human persistence and genetic interactions with Neanderthals in the Levant.
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7
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Early Upper Paleolithic subsistence in the Levant: Zooarchaeology of the Ahmarian–Aurignacian sequence at Manot Cave, Israel. J Hum Evol 2019; 160:102619. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Revised: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 05/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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8
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Dos Santos M, West SA. The coevolution of cooperation and cognition in humans. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2018.0723. [PMID: 29848655 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 05/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cooperative behaviours in archaic hunter-gatherers could have been maintained partly due to the gains from cooperation being shared with kin. However, the question arises as to how cooperation was maintained after early humans transitioned to larger groups of unrelated individuals. We hypothesize that after cooperation had evolved via benefits to kin, the consecutive evolution of cognition increased the returns from cooperating, to the point where benefits to self were sufficient for cooperation to remain stable when group size increased and relatedness decreased. We investigate the theoretical plausibility of this hypothesis, with both analytical modelling and simulations. We examine situations where cognition either (i) increases the benefits of cooperation, (ii) leads to synergistic benefits between cognitively enhanced cooperators, (iii) allows the exploitation of less intelligent partners, and (iv) the combination of these effects. We find that cooperation and cognition can coevolve-cooperation initially evolves, favouring enhanced cognition, which favours enhanced cooperation, and stabilizes cooperation against a drop in relatedness. These results suggest that enhanced cognition could have transformed the nature of cooperative dilemmas faced by early humans, thereby explaining the maintenance of cooperation between unrelated partners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Dos Santos
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Stuart A West
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
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9
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The hunters or the hunters: Human and hyena prey choice divergence in the Late Pleistocene Levant. J Hum Evol 2019; 160:102572. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2018] [Revised: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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10
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Hershkovitz I, Duval M, Grün R, Mercier N, Valladas H, Ayalon A, Bar-Matthews M, Weber GW, Quam R, Zaidner Y, Weinstein-Evron M. Response to Comment on “The earliest modern humans outside Africa”. Science 2018; 362:362/6413/eaat8964. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aat8964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Israel Hershkovitz
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research and Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Mathieu Duval
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), 09002 Burgos, Spain
| | - Rainer Grün
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
- Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Norbert Mercier
- Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060 CNRS–Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, Centre de Recherche en Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie (CRP2A), Maison de l’archéologie, 33607 PESSAC Cedex, France
| | - Helene Valladas
- LSCE/IPSL, UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
| | - Avner Ayalon
- Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem 95501, Israel
| | | | - Gerhard W. Weber
- Department of Anthropology and Core Facility for Micro-Computed Tomography, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Rolf Quam
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
| | - Yossi Zaidner
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel 3498838, Israel
| | - Mina Weinstein-Evron
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel 3498838, Israel
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Hershkovitz I, Weber GW, Quam R, Duval M, Grün R, Kinsley L, Ayalon A, Bar-Matthews M, Valladas H, Mercier N, Arsuaga JL, Martinón-Torres M, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Fornai C, Martín-Francés L, Sarig R, May H, Krenn VA, Slon V, Rodríguez L, García R, Lorenzo C, Carretero JM, Frumkin A, Shahack-Gross R, Bar-Yosef Mayer DE, Cui Y, Wu X, Peled N, Groman-Yaroslavski I, Weissbrod L, Yeshurun R, Tsatskin A, Zaidner Y, Weinstein-Evron M. The earliest modern humans outside Africa. Science 2018; 359:456-459. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aap8369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 297] [Impact Index Per Article: 49.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2017] [Accepted: 12/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Marín J, Saladié P, Rodríguez-Hidalgo A, Carbonell E. Neanderthal hunting strategies inferred from mortality profiles within the Abric Romaní sequence. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0186970. [PMID: 29166384 PMCID: PMC5699840 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Ungulate mortality profiles are commonly used to study Neanderthal subsistence strategies. To assess the hunting strategies used by Neanderthals, we studied the ages at death of the cervids and equids found in levels E, H, I, Ja, Jb, K, L and M of the Abric Romaní sequence. These levels date between 43.2 ± 1.1 ka BP (14C AMS) and 54.5 ± 1.7 ka BP (U-series). The degree of eruption and development of the teeth and their wear stages were used to determine the ages of these animals at death, and mortality profiles were constructed using these data. The equids display prime dominated profiles in all of the analyzed levels, whereas the cervids display variable profiles. These results suggest that the Neanderthals of Abric Romaní employed both selective and non-selective hunting strategies. The selective strategy focused on the hunting of prime adults and generated prime dominated profiles. On the other hand, non-selective strategies, involved the consumption of animals of variable ages, resulting in catastrophic profiles. It is likely that in the selective hunting events were conducted using selective ambushes in which it was possible to select specific prey animals. On the other hand, encounter hunting or non-selective ambush hunting may have also been used at times, based on the abundances of prey animals and encounter rates. Specific hunting strategies would have been developed accordance with the taxa and the age of the individual to be hunted. The hunting groups most likely employed cooperative hunting techniques, especially in the capture of large animals. Thus, it is not possible to uniquely associate a single mortality profile with the predation tactics of Neanderthals at Abric Romaní.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Marín
- Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Institut de Paléontologie Humaine (IPH), 1 rue René Panhard, Paris, France
- Equipo de Investigación Primeros Pobladores de Extremadura. Casa de la Cultura Rodríguez Moñino, Avd. Cervantes s/n, Cáceres, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Palmira Saladié
- IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Unit associated with the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Área de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, Tarragona, Spain
- GQP-CG, Grupo Quaternário e Pré-História do Centro de Geociências (uI and D 73 –FCT) Maçao, Portugal
- Unit associated to CSIC. Departamento de Paleobiologia. Museo Nacional d Ciencias Naturales, C/ José Gutierrez Abazcal, Madrid, Spain
| | - Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo
- Equipo de Investigación Primeros Pobladores de Extremadura. Casa de la Cultura Rodríguez Moñino, Avd. Cervantes s/n, Cáceres, Spain
- Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, Madrid, Spain
- IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Calle Covarrubias 36, Madrid, Spain
| | - Eudald Carbonell
- IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Unit associated with the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, Spain
- Área de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, Tarragona, Spain
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Rodríguez-Hidalgo A, Saladié P, Ollé A, Arsuaga JL, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Carbonell E. Human predatory behavior and the social implications of communal hunting based on evidence from the TD10.2 bison bone bed at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Spain). J Hum Evol 2017; 105:89-122. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2015] [Revised: 01/15/2017] [Accepted: 01/24/2017] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
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May H, Ruff C. Physical burden and lower limb bone structure at the origin of agriculture in the levant. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2016; 161:26-36. [PMID: 27166918 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2015] [Revised: 03/15/2016] [Accepted: 04/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To examine the femoral midshaft morphological characteristics in hunter-gathering Natufian and farming Pre-pottery Neolithic (PPN) populations in the southern Levant and relate these to changes in mobility, physical stress, and diet. MATERIALS AND METHODS 32 Natufian, 41 PPNB, and 26 PPNC femora, dating from 14,900 to 8,250 cal BP, were studied. Femoral diaphyseal cross-sectional images were obtained from CT scans. Dedicated software was used to measure cross-sectional breadths, areas, cortical bone thickness, rigidity, and strength. RESULTS Two general temporal trends in femoral bone architecture were observed: (1) a continuous decline in the relative amount of bone tissue (cortical area/total area) due to expansion of the medullary cavity and (2) an increase in circularity (decrease in anteroposterior/mediolateral ratios) together with an overall decline in bone rigidity and strength, mainly apparent in the later PPNC. The first trend suggests a gradual decline in nutritional quality and health continuing from the Natufian through the late Neolithic. The second trend is interpreted as a result of increased sedentism with the full establishment of agriculture. DISCUSSION The transition to food production in the southern Levant was accompanied by reduced physical stress and mobility, with the most marked effects occurring toward the end of the PPN with increasing sedentism. Deterioration of nutrition and health also occurred, but more continuously from the beginning of the PPN. Thus, environmental changes associated with the agricultural transition in this region of the world were gradual and prolonged, with direct dietary effects more apparent earlier than reductions in mobility. Am J Phys Anthropol 161:26-36, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hila May
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.,The Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and National Research Center, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel
| | - Christopher Ruff
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205
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15
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Yaroshevich A, Zaidner Y, Weinstein-Evron M. Projectile Damage and Point Morphometry at the Early Middle Paleolithic Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel (Israel): Preliminary Results and Interpretations. VERTEBRATE PALEOBIOLOGY AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7602-8_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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Zaidner Y, Frumkin A, Porat N, Tsatskin A, Yeshurun R, Weissbrod L. A series of Mousterian occupations in a new type of site: The Nesher Ramla karst depression, Israel. J Hum Evol 2014; 66:1-17. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2013] [Revised: 05/07/2013] [Accepted: 06/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Dating the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Levant: A view from Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. J Hum Evol 2013; 65:585-93. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2013] [Revised: 06/14/2013] [Accepted: 07/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Moncel MH, Moigne AM, Combier J. Towards the Middle Palaeolithic in Western Europe: The case of Orgnac 3 (southeastern France). J Hum Evol 2012; 63:653-66. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2011] [Revised: 08/06/2012] [Accepted: 08/06/2012] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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Making a point: the Early Middle Palaeolithic tool assemblage of Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.3828/bfarm.2012.4.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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d'Errico F, Stringer CB. Evolution, revolution or saltation scenario for the emergence of modern cultures? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2011; 366:1060-9. [PMID: 21357228 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 216] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Crucial questions in the debate on the origin of quintessential human behaviours are whether modern cognition and associated innovations are unique to our species and whether they emerged abruptly, gradually or as the result of a discontinuous process. Three scenarios have been proposed to account for the origin of cultural modernity. The first argues that modern cognition is unique to our species and the consequence of a genetic mutation that took place approximately 50 ka in Africa among already evolved anatomically modern humans. The second posits that cultural modernity emerged gradually in Africa starting at least 200 ka in concert with the origin of our species on that continent. The third states that innovations indicative of modern cognition are not restricted to our species and appear and disappear in Africa and Eurasia between 200 and 40 ka before becoming fully consolidated. We evaluate these scenarios in the light of new evidence from Africa, Asia and Europe and explore the mechanisms that may have led to modern cultures. Such reflections will demonstrate the need for further inquiry into the relationship between climate and demographic/cultural change in order to better understand the mechanisms of cultural transmission at work in Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens populations.
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Hearth-side socioeconomics, hunting and paleoecology during the late Lower Paleolithic at Qesem Cave, Israel. J Hum Evol 2011; 60:213-33. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 125] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2010] [Revised: 10/13/2010] [Accepted: 10/25/2010] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Wadley L. Were snares and traps used in the Middle Stone Age and does it matter? A review and a case study from Sibudu, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2010; 58:179-92. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2009] [Revised: 10/21/2009] [Accepted: 10/26/2009] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Cooperative hunting and meat sharing 400-200 kya at Qesem Cave, Israel. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2009; 106:13207-12. [PMID: 19666542 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0900564106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 173] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Zooarchaeological research at Qesem Cave, Israel demonstrates that large-game hunting was a regular practice by the late Lower Paleolithic period. The 400- to 200,000-year-old fallow deer assemblages from this cave provide early examples of prime-age-focused ungulate hunting, a human predator-prey relationship that has persisted into recent times. The meat diet at Qesem centered on large game and was supplemented with tortoises. These hominins hunted cooperatively, and consumption of the highest quality parts of large prey was delayed until the food could be moved to the cave and processed with the aid of blade cutting tools and fire. Delayed consumption of high-quality body parts implies that the meat was shared with other members of the group. The types of cut marks on upper limb bones indicate simple flesh removal activities only. The Qesem cut marks are both more abundant and more randomly oriented than those observed in Middle and Upper Paleolithic cases in the Levant, suggesting that more (skilled and unskilled) individuals were directly involved in cutting meat from the bones at Qesem Cave. Among recent humans, butchering of large animals normally involves a chain of focused tasks performed by one or just a few persons, and butchering guides many of the formalities of meat distribution and sharing that follow. The results from Qesem Cave raise new hypotheses about possible differences in the mechanics of meat sharing between the late Lower Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic.
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