The evolution of high-crowned molars among horses (Family Equidae) is thought to be an adaptation for abrasive diets associated with the spread of grasslands. The sharpness and relief of the worn cusp apices of teeth (mesowear) are a measure of dietary abrasion. We collected mesowear data for North American Equidae for the past 55.5 million years to test the association of molar height and dietary abrasion. Mesowear trends in horses are reflective of global cooling and associated vegetation changes. There is a strong correlation between mesowear and crown height in horses; however, most horse paleopopulations had highly variable amounts of dietary abrasion, suggesting that selective pressures for crown height may have been weak much of the time. However, instances of higher abrasion were observed in some paleopopulations, suggesting intervals of stronger selection for the evolution of dentitions, including the early Miocene shortly before the first appearance of Equinae, the horse subfamily in which high-crowned dentitions evolved.

During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Bison was widely dispersed across North America and occupied most regions not covered by ice sheets. A dietary study on Bison paleopopulations from Alaska, New Mexico, Florida, and Texas was performed using two methods that relate dental wear patterns to diet, mesowear analysis and microwear analysis. These data were compared to a mixed sample of extant Bison from the North American central plains, extant wood Bison from Alberta (Canada) and a variety of other modern ungulates. Mesowear relates macroscopic molar facet shape to levels of dietary abrasion. The mesowear signature observed on fossil Bison differs significantly from the hyper-abrasive grazing diet of extant Bison. Tooth microwear examines wear on the surface of enamel at a microscopic scale. The microwear signal of fossil samples resembles to modern Bison, but the fossil samples show a greater diversity of features, suggesting that fossil Bison populations regularly consumed food items that are texturally inconsistent with the short-grass diet typical of modern plains Bison. Mesowear and microwear signals of fossil Bison samples most closely resemble a variety of typical mixed feeding ungulates, all with diets that are substantially less abrasive than what is typical for modern plains Bison. Furthermore, statistical tests suggest significant differences between the microwear signatures of the fossil samples, thus revealing geographic variability in Pleistocene Bison diets. This study reveals that fossils are of value in developing an understanding of the dietary breadth and ecological versatility of species that, in recent times, are rare, endangered, and occupy only a small remnant of their former ranges.

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Monospecific exploitation of reindeer by Neanderthals is common behaviour in the Upper Pleistocene of WesternEurope. However, reindeer-dominated assemblages have largely been reported from regions of northern Germany and south-western France, with few examples noted in south-eastern France, where faunal assemblages are most of the time dominated by a variety of other large ungulates such as red deer, horse and diverse bovids. Here, we present multi- ManuscriptClick here to download Manuscript Daujeard_et_al_Maras_4.1_Text_AAS.docx strand (bio-and eco-) archaeological datasets from the site of Abri du Maras (level 4.1), situated at the mouth of the Ardèche and Rhône rivers, a new example of a reindeer-dominated Neanderthal site in south-eastern France. Dated to the beginning of the MIS 3, the zooarchaeological assemblage is dominated by reindeer (88% of the NISP, representing 16 individuals), but also includes horse, bison, megaceros, red deer, ibex and lagomorphs. The combination of zooarchaeological, cementochronological and tooth microwear analyses evidence a single-species dominated spectrum, with catastrophic mortality and repeated autumnal deaths. This integrated approach provides an extensive picture of human subsistence behaviour, pointing to short-term hunting episodes of reindeer herds in an exceptional context of a quasi-exclusive Neanderthal accumulation. The high number of individuals and selective butchery may correspond with a cooperative and planned mass hunting strategy. The multidisciplinary approach undertaken here also incorporating paleontological, charcoal, ecological, and isotopic analyses places the archaeological and zooarchaeological data within a broader regional palaeoenvironmental framework, providing valuable landscape-contextual information. The zooarchaeological data suggest a subsistence behaviour different from other Neanderthal reindeer-dominated assemblages often connected with specialised butchery or hunting sites.

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