We analyze a new ethnographic and ethnohistoric database of quantitative cases (n p 139) and qual... more We analyze a new ethnographic and ethnohistoric database of quantitative cases (n p 139) and qualitative information on a neglected form of forager subsistence—communal drive hunts (CDHs)—using a human behavioral ecology perspective. Among our key findings are that (i) in specific contexts, CDHs achieve higher return rates or lower odds of failure than encounter hunting; (ii) CDHs increase the rate of success for hunting large ungulates that cluster and have long flight initiation distances and high predator escape velocities; (iii) CDHs engage the benefits and problems of collaborative, sometimes community-wide behavior at scales from the small and opportunistic to the large and institutionalized; (iv) although formerly commonplace, CDHs largely disappeared by the late nineteenth century because of colonial impacts on Indigenous societies and the adoption of repeating rifles and dogs, favoring encounter hunting; (v) cooperative hunting by great apes and indirect archaeological evidence suggest that collaborative hunting is potentially a practice of considerable antiquity and is thus important in the evolution of hominin prosocial behavior; and (vi) while human behavioral ecology has robust models for the analysis of the social distribution of subsistence resources, the development of complementary models for social production is just beginning.
Humans have two features rare in mammals: our locomotor muscles
are dominated by fatigue-resistan... more Humans have two features rare in mammals: our locomotor muscles are dominated by fatigue-resistant fibres and we effectively dissipate through sweating the metabolic heat generated through prolonged, elevated activity. A promising evolutionary explanation of these features is the endurance pursuit (EP) hypothesis, which argues that both traits evolved to facilitate running down game by persistence. However, this hypothesis has faced two challenges: running is energetically costly and accounts of EPs among late twentieth century foragers are rare. While both observations appear to suggest that EPs would be ineffective, we use foraging theory to demonstrate that EPs can be quite efficient. We likewise analyse an ethnohistoric and ethnographic database of nearly 400 EP cases representing 272 globally distributed locations. We provide estimates for return rates of EPs and argue that these are comparable to other pre-modern hunting methods in specified contexts. EP hunting as a method of food procurement would have probably been available and attractive to Plio/ Pleistocene hominins.
Modeling the subsistence strategies of prehistoric groups depends on the accuracy of the faunal i... more Modeling the subsistence strategies of prehistoric groups depends on the accuracy of the faunal identifications that provide the basis for these models. However, our knowledge remains limited about the reproducibility of published taxonomic identifications and how they accurately reflect the range of species deposited in the archaeological record. This study compares taxonomic identifications at three Paleolithic sites (Saint-Césaire and Le Piage in France, Crvena Stijena in Montenegro) characterized by high levels of fragmentation. Identifications at these sites were derived using two methods: morphological identification and collagen fingerprinting, the latter a peptide-based approach known as ZooMS. Using a double-blind experimental design, we show that the two methods give taxonomic profiles that are statistically indistinguishable at all three sites. However, rare species and parts difficult to identify such as ribs seem more frequently associated with errors of identification. Comparisons with the indeterminate fraction indicate that large game is over-represented in the ZooMS sample at two of the three sites. These differences possibly signal differential fragmentation of elements from large species. Collagen fingerprinting can produce critical insights on the range distribution of animal prey in the past while also contributing to improved models of taphonomic processes and subsistence behavior.
Bulletin du Musée d'Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco, 2022
Les premiers restes de léporidés attribués au lapin européen (genre Oryctolagus) ont été trouvés ... more Les premiers restes de léporidés attribués au lapin européen (genre Oryctolagus) ont été trouvés dans les niveaux pliocènes du gisement de Layna en Espagne et seraient datés de 3,5 Ma (López-Martinez, 1977 ; 2008). Sur la Côte d'Azur, à Monaco et en Ligurie, plusieurs sites préhistoriques ont livré des accumulations plus ou moins importantes d'ossements d'Oryctolagus dont les plus anciennes proviennent du site du Vallonnet (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France) et dateraient de plus d'1 million d'années. Au moins deux espèces (Oryctolagus giberti et Oryctolagus cuninculus) ont été décrites dans les sites de ces régions. L'origine de ces accumulations peut être multiple (dont une origine anthropique) mais avec une prédominance d'un apport par des rapaces nocturnes de type hibou Grand-duc et/ou un petit carnivore.
Mammals have evolved several physiological mechanisms to cope with changes in ambient temperature... more Mammals have evolved several physiological mechanisms to cope with changes in ambient temperature. Particularly critical among them is the process of keeping the membrane of cells in a fluid phase to prevent metabolic dysfunction. In this paper, we examine variation in the fatty acid composition of bone marrow and muscle tissues in the cold-adapted caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) to determine whether there are systematic differences in fatty acid profiles between anatomical regions that could potentially be explained by thermal adaptation as influenced by cell function, including hematopoiesis. Our results indicate that the bone marrow and muscle tissues from the appendicular skeleton are more unsaturated than the same tissues in the axial skeleton, a finding that is consistent with physiological adaptation of the appendicular regions to thermal challenges. Because mechanisms of thermal adaptation appear to be widely shared among terrestrial mammals, we suggest that the same patterns may prevail in other species, possibly including humans.
It is widely known that traditional northern hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit included putrid m... more It is widely known that traditional northern hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit included putrid meat, fish, and fat in their diet, although the ubiquity and dietary importance of decomposing animal foods seem often to have been underappreciated. There is no evidence that these arctic and subarctic foragers suffered from major outbreaks of botulism (Clostridium botulinum), or from the toxic metabolites of other pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella spp., until the 1970s and 1980s when Euroamericans introduced more "sanitary" methods for putrefying Native foods. While many scholars are at least generally aware of the importance of putrefied foods among such peoples, most would not expect similar practices to have been commonplace in the tropics, especially in hot, humid environments like the Congo Basin. And yet a deep dive into the ethnohistoric literature of sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere in the tropics and sub-tropics, shows that both hunter-gatherers and traditional small-scale rural farmers commonly ate putrefied animal foods, consuming some of it raw, frequently cooking it, but often barely so. Moreover, these ethnohistoric accounts make it clear that Indigenous peoples often preferred it that way. Equally surprising, this preference for putrid meat remained widespread in the tropics well into the first quarter of the 20th century. Combining the insights gained by looking at the consumption of putrid meat in both northern and tropical environments, several interesting implications become evident. First, it is clear that the disgust response with regard to the taste, smell, and sight of rotten meat is not a hardwired human universal, but more likely a learned cultural response, one that is closely linked to European colonization, Westernization, urbanization, and industrialization. Second, the capacity for both northern and tropical peoples to consume putrid meat suggests that their ability to resist the toxic effects of C. botulinum and other pathogens most likely stems in large part from the environmental priming of their gut floras and immune systems through early childhood exposure to pathogens rather than from genetic factors. This conclusion fits well with findings from recent microbiome research, including studies of the gut floras of monozygotic twins. Third, putrefaction rapidly, and with little investment of time and energy, provides many of the same benefits that one gets by cooking, because it effectively "pre-digests" meat and fat prior to ingesting them. Finally, we suggest that, by eating meat and fat in a putrefied state, early hominins could have acquired many of the benefits of cooking, but at much lower cost, and quite likely long before they gained control of fire. Until early hominins began acquiring fresh meat in substantial quantities, presumably by hunting, the most important benefits of cooking may have been in the plant food domain.
Explaining variation in hunter-gatherer livelihoods hinges on our ability to predict the tradeoff... more Explaining variation in hunter-gatherer livelihoods hinges on our ability to predict the tradeoffs and opportunities of pursuing different kinds of prey. Central to this problem is the commonly held assumption that larger animals provide higher returns upon encounter than smaller ones. However, to test this assumption, actualistic observations of hunting payoffs must be comparable across different social, technological, and ecological contexts. In this meta-analysis, we revisit published and unpublished estimates of prey return rates (n = 217 from 181 prey types) to assess, first, whether they are methodologically comparable, and second, whether they correlate with body size. We find systematic inter-study differences in how carcass yield, energetic content, and foraging returns are calculated. We correct for these inconsistencies first by calculating new estimates of energetic yield (kcals per kg live weight) and processing costs for over 300 species of terrestrial and avian game. We then recalculate on-encounter returns using a standardized formula. We find that body size is a poor predictor of on-encounter return rate, while prey characteristics and behavior, mode of procurement, and hunting technology are better predictors. Although prey body size correlates well with processing costs and edibility, relationships with pursuit time and energetic value per kilogram are relatively weak.
Refitting is an important analytical tool in archaeology that can yield valuable information on s... more Refitting is an important analytical tool in archaeology that can yield valuable information on site formation processes and on the range of activities practiced at a site, including tool production, tool curation, and discard behavior, among others. In the present paper, we use refit data from a control assemblage of red deer (Cervus elaphus) long bones to assess problems of specimen identification and representation in an experiment where bones were processed for marrow. Three goals motivated this experiment: (i) to assess how different methods of NISP (number of identified specimens) calculation affect comparisons of the relative abundances of long bone regions, (ii) to evaluate whether long bone shaft regions vary with respect to the probability of identification, and (iii) to ascertain the potential refit rate for a well-preserved and fully-collected sample of faunal specimens. Our results show no statistical differences in terms of patterns of skeletal representation between the two methods of NISP calculation (single vs. multiple NISP counts) that we assessed. Our data also indicate that the shape, particularly the cross-section, of fragments clearly impacts the probability of identification and refitting. Moreover, the refitting experiment reveals that, in ideal conditions, a majority of specimens (>95%) from the NISP sample can be refitted, which leads to largely reconstructed skeletal elements. Thus, the comparatively very low refit rates recorded in archaeological sites, including samples that are well preserved, suggest that the often limited extent of excavations, along with offsite discard and/or extensive sharing of parts, substantially reduce the possibility of finding refits in a faunal sample. K E Y W O R D S faunal identification, faunal quantification, refitting
In the archeological record, the presence of smaller-bodied species is often assumed to indicate ... more In the archeological record, the presence of smaller-bodied species is often assumed to indicate a decline in higher-ranked, larger-bodied prey and broadening of the diet to include lower-ranked items with higher handling costs. This shift is typically considered to be a product of a "broad spectrum revolution" that gave rise in many regions to increased sedentism, subsistence intensifica-tion, and investments in farming at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. However, recent evidence suggests that the use of small, fast prey may have emerged much earlier in hominin evolution than previously appreciated. Here, we assess ethnographic, historical, and actualistic observations of European rabbit hunting to explore whether such small, fast prey are inherently lower-ranked than larger ones. We find that, in combination, the type of procurement method and the population density of rabbits substantially affect foraging returns and the definition of prey types. When rabbits are locally abundant and mass-captured in the open, on-encounter returns are predictably high, sometimes higher than those of large-bodied ungulates. We suggest that rabbit hunting may have been locally and intermittently common during the European Middle and Late Pleistocene as rabbit densities waxed and waned.
Recently, the development of taphonomically-oriented studies of avifaunal assemblages have contri... more Recently, the development of taphonomically-oriented studies of avifaunal assemblages have contributed towards renewing our perceptions of the complexity of Neandertal behavioral adaptations in Europe. In contrast, few studies have been conducted on bird samples dated to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Here, we provide new data for three archeological sites (Isturitz, le Piage, Abri Cellier) from southwestern France that have produced Aurignacian material. Evidence of bird processing, use of raptor talons and that bird bones served as raw material aid in enlarging our knowledge of how birds were exploited during the Aurignacian. Overall, the available information shows a clear focus on scavenging birds and points to only marginal changes in the way humans used birds during the Mousterian and Early Upper Paleolithic.
The extraction of grease from deliberately comminuted cancellous bone is a low-return activity th... more The extraction of grease from deliberately comminuted cancellous bone is a low-return activity that has important evolutionary ramifications because it potentially constitutes an early form of resource intensification. From an archaeological standpoint, bone grease extraction is also of significance because it can substantially modify anatomical profiles. Whether this practice is a relatively recent phenomenon or has deep roots reaching back into the Paleolithic, however, remains controversial. The goal of this paper is to cast broader light on the emergence of bone grease procurement by briefly revisiting three French Middle Paleolithic sites (Roc de Marsal, les Pradelles and Grotte du Noisetier) that have been interpreted as potentially early evidence for human processing of cancellous bone for food. To determine whether the published patterns are consistent with this practice, faunal trends at these sites are compared here with recently acquired experimental and ethnographic data on bone comminution activities. The results presented in this paper emphasize the importance of considering human consumption of bone meal as a viable alternative when evaluating competing hypotheses to account for the frequent lack of articular ends in European Paleolithic sites, including many assemblages that show little evidence of carnivore intervention and density-mediated attrition. The analysis also highlights the significance of other activities such as soup making, the use of bone as fuel, ritual disposal of fragments, site cleaning and feeding dogs with pounded bones, which are possible sources of variation when interpreting highly fragmented faunal assemblages. These observations are integrated into a general model focused on the interpretation of bone processing in the archaeological record.
Bone grease rendering is a low-return activity well described in the ethnohistorical and ethnogra... more Bone grease rendering is a low-return activity well described in the ethnohistorical and ethnographic literature. However, identifying this activity in archaeological contexts is complex because diagnostic criteria are few. The goals of this article are twofold: (1) to provide new experimental data on bone grease manufacture for assemblages associated with severe fragmentation, and (2) to assess how these data can be used to make stronger inferences about skeletal fat processing in the archaeological record. The results presented here show that, despite some variation, several forms of damage appear to be diagnostic of bone grease manufacture, regardless of the degree of fragmentation. The results indicate that extensive pounding produces many fragments that can be identified as deriving from articular ends, which conflicts with the oft-cited notion that articular ends are destroyed "beyond recognition" during this activity. Consequently, assemblages with few epiphyseal remains are not consistent with bone grease rendering, assuming that the comminuted fragments were not burned or discarded off-site after boiling. Because bone grease manufacture produces many small fragments, a close analysis of the indeterminate remains is strongly recommended, as is the use of fine mesh screens (2 mm or smaller) in excavations.
Quantification of skeletal remains in faunal assemblages is often central to the study of human b... more Quantification of skeletal remains in faunal assemblages is often central to the study of human behavior at archaeological sites. Recently, we introduced the Number of Distinct Elements (NDE) as a simpler, experimentally robust alternative to the Minimum Number of Elements (MNE). The MNE is a widely used counting method that has been shown to inflate the representation of rare elements and is affected by the issue of ag-gregation, among other problems (Morin et al., 2017, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 24, 938-973). The NDE approach avoids both of these issues because it focuses on a specific suite of constant landmarks, which means that counts are independent of sample size. The present paper discusses how the NDE differs from MNE and zone-based recording methods and expands its use to equids, suiformes, camelids, tapirids, proboscideans, rhinocerotids and carnivores. A list of NDE landmarks is also presented for typically smaller animals, such as glires (rodents and lagomorphs), birds and turtles/tortoises.
We conducted a preliminary analysis of faunal remains from three Middle Paleolithic assemblages f... more We conducted a preliminary analysis of faunal remains from three Middle Paleolithic assemblages from sites in Charente, France: Grotte Simard, Abri Commont (Petit-Puymoyen), and Abri Lartet, a distinct locus in the Grotte de Montgaudier. All three assemblages were excavated between the 1950s and the 1980s. Our examination of the material, while mindful of the potential role of selective retention of faunal remains, suggests a number of hypotheses concerning the role of humans in the faunal accumulations, particularly regarding the possible ex- ploitation of small, fast prey by Neandertals at the three sites. While traces of human activity are present at Grotte Simard, this assemblage seems to predominantly reflect carnivore activity. In contrast, the faunal samples from Abri Commont and Abri Lartet contain strong anthropogenic signals and minimal evidence of large car- nivore imprint in the main occupation layers. At Abri Commont, the fauna from Couche 2, associated with a Quina industry, is dominated by reindeer, followed by horse and large bovids. More detailed study of the small game from Abri Commont suggests that non-human animal activity was responsible for their accumulation at the site. At Abri Lartet, the main occupation layer (Couche 2) is associated with what has been described as a transitional “Ferrassie/Quina” lithic industry, and the faunal assemblage is heavily dominated by reindeer. Based on the available stratigraphic information, we divide the assemblages from the lower levels (3–9) of Abri Lartet into east and west sectors. The faunal assemblages from levels 3, 4, and 6 in the east part of the Abri are consistently dominated by reindeer, while levels 3 and lower in the west part show substantial evidence of bear activity. Despite signs of extensive processing of ungulate parts in the east levels of Abri Lartet, we hypothesize that small animals were rarely exploited as food at the site, consistent with other sites in southwestern France.
We analyze a new ethnographic and ethnohistoric database of quantitative cases (n p 139) and qual... more We analyze a new ethnographic and ethnohistoric database of quantitative cases (n p 139) and qualitative information on a neglected form of forager subsistence—communal drive hunts (CDHs)—using a human behavioral ecology perspective. Among our key findings are that (i) in specific contexts, CDHs achieve higher return rates or lower odds of failure than encounter hunting; (ii) CDHs increase the rate of success for hunting large ungulates that cluster and have long flight initiation distances and high predator escape velocities; (iii) CDHs engage the benefits and problems of collaborative, sometimes community-wide behavior at scales from the small and opportunistic to the large and institutionalized; (iv) although formerly commonplace, CDHs largely disappeared by the late nineteenth century because of colonial impacts on Indigenous societies and the adoption of repeating rifles and dogs, favoring encounter hunting; (v) cooperative hunting by great apes and indirect archaeological evidence suggest that collaborative hunting is potentially a practice of considerable antiquity and is thus important in the evolution of hominin prosocial behavior; and (vi) while human behavioral ecology has robust models for the analysis of the social distribution of subsistence resources, the development of complementary models for social production is just beginning.
Humans have two features rare in mammals: our locomotor muscles
are dominated by fatigue-resistan... more Humans have two features rare in mammals: our locomotor muscles are dominated by fatigue-resistant fibres and we effectively dissipate through sweating the metabolic heat generated through prolonged, elevated activity. A promising evolutionary explanation of these features is the endurance pursuit (EP) hypothesis, which argues that both traits evolved to facilitate running down game by persistence. However, this hypothesis has faced two challenges: running is energetically costly and accounts of EPs among late twentieth century foragers are rare. While both observations appear to suggest that EPs would be ineffective, we use foraging theory to demonstrate that EPs can be quite efficient. We likewise analyse an ethnohistoric and ethnographic database of nearly 400 EP cases representing 272 globally distributed locations. We provide estimates for return rates of EPs and argue that these are comparable to other pre-modern hunting methods in specified contexts. EP hunting as a method of food procurement would have probably been available and attractive to Plio/ Pleistocene hominins.
Modeling the subsistence strategies of prehistoric groups depends on the accuracy of the faunal i... more Modeling the subsistence strategies of prehistoric groups depends on the accuracy of the faunal identifications that provide the basis for these models. However, our knowledge remains limited about the reproducibility of published taxonomic identifications and how they accurately reflect the range of species deposited in the archaeological record. This study compares taxonomic identifications at three Paleolithic sites (Saint-Césaire and Le Piage in France, Crvena Stijena in Montenegro) characterized by high levels of fragmentation. Identifications at these sites were derived using two methods: morphological identification and collagen fingerprinting, the latter a peptide-based approach known as ZooMS. Using a double-blind experimental design, we show that the two methods give taxonomic profiles that are statistically indistinguishable at all three sites. However, rare species and parts difficult to identify such as ribs seem more frequently associated with errors of identification. Comparisons with the indeterminate fraction indicate that large game is over-represented in the ZooMS sample at two of the three sites. These differences possibly signal differential fragmentation of elements from large species. Collagen fingerprinting can produce critical insights on the range distribution of animal prey in the past while also contributing to improved models of taphonomic processes and subsistence behavior.
Bulletin du Musée d'Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco, 2022
Les premiers restes de léporidés attribués au lapin européen (genre Oryctolagus) ont été trouvés ... more Les premiers restes de léporidés attribués au lapin européen (genre Oryctolagus) ont été trouvés dans les niveaux pliocènes du gisement de Layna en Espagne et seraient datés de 3,5 Ma (López-Martinez, 1977 ; 2008). Sur la Côte d'Azur, à Monaco et en Ligurie, plusieurs sites préhistoriques ont livré des accumulations plus ou moins importantes d'ossements d'Oryctolagus dont les plus anciennes proviennent du site du Vallonnet (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France) et dateraient de plus d'1 million d'années. Au moins deux espèces (Oryctolagus giberti et Oryctolagus cuninculus) ont été décrites dans les sites de ces régions. L'origine de ces accumulations peut être multiple (dont une origine anthropique) mais avec une prédominance d'un apport par des rapaces nocturnes de type hibou Grand-duc et/ou un petit carnivore.
Mammals have evolved several physiological mechanisms to cope with changes in ambient temperature... more Mammals have evolved several physiological mechanisms to cope with changes in ambient temperature. Particularly critical among them is the process of keeping the membrane of cells in a fluid phase to prevent metabolic dysfunction. In this paper, we examine variation in the fatty acid composition of bone marrow and muscle tissues in the cold-adapted caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) to determine whether there are systematic differences in fatty acid profiles between anatomical regions that could potentially be explained by thermal adaptation as influenced by cell function, including hematopoiesis. Our results indicate that the bone marrow and muscle tissues from the appendicular skeleton are more unsaturated than the same tissues in the axial skeleton, a finding that is consistent with physiological adaptation of the appendicular regions to thermal challenges. Because mechanisms of thermal adaptation appear to be widely shared among terrestrial mammals, we suggest that the same patterns may prevail in other species, possibly including humans.
It is widely known that traditional northern hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit included putrid m... more It is widely known that traditional northern hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit included putrid meat, fish, and fat in their diet, although the ubiquity and dietary importance of decomposing animal foods seem often to have been underappreciated. There is no evidence that these arctic and subarctic foragers suffered from major outbreaks of botulism (Clostridium botulinum), or from the toxic metabolites of other pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella spp., until the 1970s and 1980s when Euroamericans introduced more "sanitary" methods for putrefying Native foods. While many scholars are at least generally aware of the importance of putrefied foods among such peoples, most would not expect similar practices to have been commonplace in the tropics, especially in hot, humid environments like the Congo Basin. And yet a deep dive into the ethnohistoric literature of sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere in the tropics and sub-tropics, shows that both hunter-gatherers and traditional small-scale rural farmers commonly ate putrefied animal foods, consuming some of it raw, frequently cooking it, but often barely so. Moreover, these ethnohistoric accounts make it clear that Indigenous peoples often preferred it that way. Equally surprising, this preference for putrid meat remained widespread in the tropics well into the first quarter of the 20th century. Combining the insights gained by looking at the consumption of putrid meat in both northern and tropical environments, several interesting implications become evident. First, it is clear that the disgust response with regard to the taste, smell, and sight of rotten meat is not a hardwired human universal, but more likely a learned cultural response, one that is closely linked to European colonization, Westernization, urbanization, and industrialization. Second, the capacity for both northern and tropical peoples to consume putrid meat suggests that their ability to resist the toxic effects of C. botulinum and other pathogens most likely stems in large part from the environmental priming of their gut floras and immune systems through early childhood exposure to pathogens rather than from genetic factors. This conclusion fits well with findings from recent microbiome research, including studies of the gut floras of monozygotic twins. Third, putrefaction rapidly, and with little investment of time and energy, provides many of the same benefits that one gets by cooking, because it effectively "pre-digests" meat and fat prior to ingesting them. Finally, we suggest that, by eating meat and fat in a putrefied state, early hominins could have acquired many of the benefits of cooking, but at much lower cost, and quite likely long before they gained control of fire. Until early hominins began acquiring fresh meat in substantial quantities, presumably by hunting, the most important benefits of cooking may have been in the plant food domain.
Explaining variation in hunter-gatherer livelihoods hinges on our ability to predict the tradeoff... more Explaining variation in hunter-gatherer livelihoods hinges on our ability to predict the tradeoffs and opportunities of pursuing different kinds of prey. Central to this problem is the commonly held assumption that larger animals provide higher returns upon encounter than smaller ones. However, to test this assumption, actualistic observations of hunting payoffs must be comparable across different social, technological, and ecological contexts. In this meta-analysis, we revisit published and unpublished estimates of prey return rates (n = 217 from 181 prey types) to assess, first, whether they are methodologically comparable, and second, whether they correlate with body size. We find systematic inter-study differences in how carcass yield, energetic content, and foraging returns are calculated. We correct for these inconsistencies first by calculating new estimates of energetic yield (kcals per kg live weight) and processing costs for over 300 species of terrestrial and avian game. We then recalculate on-encounter returns using a standardized formula. We find that body size is a poor predictor of on-encounter return rate, while prey characteristics and behavior, mode of procurement, and hunting technology are better predictors. Although prey body size correlates well with processing costs and edibility, relationships with pursuit time and energetic value per kilogram are relatively weak.
Refitting is an important analytical tool in archaeology that can yield valuable information on s... more Refitting is an important analytical tool in archaeology that can yield valuable information on site formation processes and on the range of activities practiced at a site, including tool production, tool curation, and discard behavior, among others. In the present paper, we use refit data from a control assemblage of red deer (Cervus elaphus) long bones to assess problems of specimen identification and representation in an experiment where bones were processed for marrow. Three goals motivated this experiment: (i) to assess how different methods of NISP (number of identified specimens) calculation affect comparisons of the relative abundances of long bone regions, (ii) to evaluate whether long bone shaft regions vary with respect to the probability of identification, and (iii) to ascertain the potential refit rate for a well-preserved and fully-collected sample of faunal specimens. Our results show no statistical differences in terms of patterns of skeletal representation between the two methods of NISP calculation (single vs. multiple NISP counts) that we assessed. Our data also indicate that the shape, particularly the cross-section, of fragments clearly impacts the probability of identification and refitting. Moreover, the refitting experiment reveals that, in ideal conditions, a majority of specimens (>95%) from the NISP sample can be refitted, which leads to largely reconstructed skeletal elements. Thus, the comparatively very low refit rates recorded in archaeological sites, including samples that are well preserved, suggest that the often limited extent of excavations, along with offsite discard and/or extensive sharing of parts, substantially reduce the possibility of finding refits in a faunal sample. K E Y W O R D S faunal identification, faunal quantification, refitting
In the archeological record, the presence of smaller-bodied species is often assumed to indicate ... more In the archeological record, the presence of smaller-bodied species is often assumed to indicate a decline in higher-ranked, larger-bodied prey and broadening of the diet to include lower-ranked items with higher handling costs. This shift is typically considered to be a product of a "broad spectrum revolution" that gave rise in many regions to increased sedentism, subsistence intensifica-tion, and investments in farming at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. However, recent evidence suggests that the use of small, fast prey may have emerged much earlier in hominin evolution than previously appreciated. Here, we assess ethnographic, historical, and actualistic observations of European rabbit hunting to explore whether such small, fast prey are inherently lower-ranked than larger ones. We find that, in combination, the type of procurement method and the population density of rabbits substantially affect foraging returns and the definition of prey types. When rabbits are locally abundant and mass-captured in the open, on-encounter returns are predictably high, sometimes higher than those of large-bodied ungulates. We suggest that rabbit hunting may have been locally and intermittently common during the European Middle and Late Pleistocene as rabbit densities waxed and waned.
Recently, the development of taphonomically-oriented studies of avifaunal assemblages have contri... more Recently, the development of taphonomically-oriented studies of avifaunal assemblages have contributed towards renewing our perceptions of the complexity of Neandertal behavioral adaptations in Europe. In contrast, few studies have been conducted on bird samples dated to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Here, we provide new data for three archeological sites (Isturitz, le Piage, Abri Cellier) from southwestern France that have produced Aurignacian material. Evidence of bird processing, use of raptor talons and that bird bones served as raw material aid in enlarging our knowledge of how birds were exploited during the Aurignacian. Overall, the available information shows a clear focus on scavenging birds and points to only marginal changes in the way humans used birds during the Mousterian and Early Upper Paleolithic.
The extraction of grease from deliberately comminuted cancellous bone is a low-return activity th... more The extraction of grease from deliberately comminuted cancellous bone is a low-return activity that has important evolutionary ramifications because it potentially constitutes an early form of resource intensification. From an archaeological standpoint, bone grease extraction is also of significance because it can substantially modify anatomical profiles. Whether this practice is a relatively recent phenomenon or has deep roots reaching back into the Paleolithic, however, remains controversial. The goal of this paper is to cast broader light on the emergence of bone grease procurement by briefly revisiting three French Middle Paleolithic sites (Roc de Marsal, les Pradelles and Grotte du Noisetier) that have been interpreted as potentially early evidence for human processing of cancellous bone for food. To determine whether the published patterns are consistent with this practice, faunal trends at these sites are compared here with recently acquired experimental and ethnographic data on bone comminution activities. The results presented in this paper emphasize the importance of considering human consumption of bone meal as a viable alternative when evaluating competing hypotheses to account for the frequent lack of articular ends in European Paleolithic sites, including many assemblages that show little evidence of carnivore intervention and density-mediated attrition. The analysis also highlights the significance of other activities such as soup making, the use of bone as fuel, ritual disposal of fragments, site cleaning and feeding dogs with pounded bones, which are possible sources of variation when interpreting highly fragmented faunal assemblages. These observations are integrated into a general model focused on the interpretation of bone processing in the archaeological record.
Bone grease rendering is a low-return activity well described in the ethnohistorical and ethnogra... more Bone grease rendering is a low-return activity well described in the ethnohistorical and ethnographic literature. However, identifying this activity in archaeological contexts is complex because diagnostic criteria are few. The goals of this article are twofold: (1) to provide new experimental data on bone grease manufacture for assemblages associated with severe fragmentation, and (2) to assess how these data can be used to make stronger inferences about skeletal fat processing in the archaeological record. The results presented here show that, despite some variation, several forms of damage appear to be diagnostic of bone grease manufacture, regardless of the degree of fragmentation. The results indicate that extensive pounding produces many fragments that can be identified as deriving from articular ends, which conflicts with the oft-cited notion that articular ends are destroyed "beyond recognition" during this activity. Consequently, assemblages with few epiphyseal remains are not consistent with bone grease rendering, assuming that the comminuted fragments were not burned or discarded off-site after boiling. Because bone grease manufacture produces many small fragments, a close analysis of the indeterminate remains is strongly recommended, as is the use of fine mesh screens (2 mm or smaller) in excavations.
Quantification of skeletal remains in faunal assemblages is often central to the study of human b... more Quantification of skeletal remains in faunal assemblages is often central to the study of human behavior at archaeological sites. Recently, we introduced the Number of Distinct Elements (NDE) as a simpler, experimentally robust alternative to the Minimum Number of Elements (MNE). The MNE is a widely used counting method that has been shown to inflate the representation of rare elements and is affected by the issue of ag-gregation, among other problems (Morin et al., 2017, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 24, 938-973). The NDE approach avoids both of these issues because it focuses on a specific suite of constant landmarks, which means that counts are independent of sample size. The present paper discusses how the NDE differs from MNE and zone-based recording methods and expands its use to equids, suiformes, camelids, tapirids, proboscideans, rhinocerotids and carnivores. A list of NDE landmarks is also presented for typically smaller animals, such as glires (rodents and lagomorphs), birds and turtles/tortoises.
We conducted a preliminary analysis of faunal remains from three Middle Paleolithic assemblages f... more We conducted a preliminary analysis of faunal remains from three Middle Paleolithic assemblages from sites in Charente, France: Grotte Simard, Abri Commont (Petit-Puymoyen), and Abri Lartet, a distinct locus in the Grotte de Montgaudier. All three assemblages were excavated between the 1950s and the 1980s. Our examination of the material, while mindful of the potential role of selective retention of faunal remains, suggests a number of hypotheses concerning the role of humans in the faunal accumulations, particularly regarding the possible ex- ploitation of small, fast prey by Neandertals at the three sites. While traces of human activity are present at Grotte Simard, this assemblage seems to predominantly reflect carnivore activity. In contrast, the faunal samples from Abri Commont and Abri Lartet contain strong anthropogenic signals and minimal evidence of large car- nivore imprint in the main occupation layers. At Abri Commont, the fauna from Couche 2, associated with a Quina industry, is dominated by reindeer, followed by horse and large bovids. More detailed study of the small game from Abri Commont suggests that non-human animal activity was responsible for their accumulation at the site. At Abri Lartet, the main occupation layer (Couche 2) is associated with what has been described as a transitional “Ferrassie/Quina” lithic industry, and the faunal assemblage is heavily dominated by reindeer. Based on the available stratigraphic information, we divide the assemblages from the lower levels (3–9) of Abri Lartet into east and west sectors. The faunal assemblages from levels 3, 4, and 6 in the east part of the Abri are consistently dominated by reindeer, while levels 3 and lower in the west part show substantial evidence of bear activity. Despite signs of extensive processing of ungulate parts in the east levels of Abri Lartet, we hypothesize that small animals were rarely exploited as food at the site, consistent with other sites in southwestern France.
Presence of faecal remains in archaeological deposits is a robust indicator of animal presence at... more Presence of faecal remains in archaeological deposits is a robust indicator of animal presence at a site. However, explanations of the ecological dynamics between humans and animals living in cave habitats remain unclear. To adress this issue, here we present preliminary data of an ongoing multi-technique investigation designed to provide standards for accurate coprolite identification at the microscale level. Micromorphology and stable isotopes analysis (δ13C and δ15N) have been applied to modern carnivore faecal remains provided by Doñana Biological Station (Sevilla, Spain) and Middle Palaeolithic carnivore coprolite samples coming from Coves del Toll (Moià, Spain), Cova de les Teixoneres (Moià, Spain) and La Roche à Pierrot (Saint-Césaire, France). Preliminary results show differences in the internal structure, digested material diagenesis and isotopic values depending on which species originated the coprolite. In contrast, similarities between different individuals from the same species have been observed. Our micromorphological and biochemical characterization of carnivore coprolites provides a stronger framework to 1) better understand palaeodietary and palaeoecological information and 2) establish a precise microstratigraphy of the anthropogenic palimpsest deposits. Thus, identification of animal activity through analyses of archaeological coprolites becomes a crucial approach to better understand hunter-gatherer socio-ecological behavior.
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Papers by Eugene Morin
are dominated by fatigue-resistant fibres and we effectively dissipate through sweating the metabolic heat generated through prolonged, elevated activity. A promising evolutionary explanation of these features
is the endurance pursuit (EP) hypothesis, which argues that both traits evolved to facilitate running down game by persistence. However, this hypothesis has faced two challenges: running is energetically costly and accounts of EPs among late twentieth century foragers are rare. While
both observations appear to suggest that EPs would be ineffective, we use foraging theory to demonstrate that EPs can be quite efficient. We likewise analyse an ethnohistoric and ethnographic database of nearly 400 EP cases representing 272 globally distributed locations. We provide estimates for return rates of EPs and argue that these are comparable to other pre-modern hunting methods in specified contexts. EP hunting as a method of food procurement would have probably been available and attractive to Plio/ Pleistocene hominins.
are dominated by fatigue-resistant fibres and we effectively dissipate through sweating the metabolic heat generated through prolonged, elevated activity. A promising evolutionary explanation of these features
is the endurance pursuit (EP) hypothesis, which argues that both traits evolved to facilitate running down game by persistence. However, this hypothesis has faced two challenges: running is energetically costly and accounts of EPs among late twentieth century foragers are rare. While
both observations appear to suggest that EPs would be ineffective, we use foraging theory to demonstrate that EPs can be quite efficient. We likewise analyse an ethnohistoric and ethnographic database of nearly 400 EP cases representing 272 globally distributed locations. We provide estimates for return rates of EPs and argue that these are comparable to other pre-modern hunting methods in specified contexts. EP hunting as a method of food procurement would have probably been available and attractive to Plio/ Pleistocene hominins.
Our micromorphological and biochemical characterization of carnivore coprolites provides a stronger framework to 1) better understand palaeodietary and palaeoecological information and 2) establish a precise microstratigraphy of the anthropogenic palimpsest deposits. Thus, identification of animal activity through analyses of archaeological coprolites becomes a crucial approach to better understand hunter-gatherer socio-ecological behavior.