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Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), brown bear (Ursus arctos), and Neanderthals were potential competitors for environmental resources (shelters and food) in Europe. In order to reinforce this view and contribute to the ongoing debate on late Neanderthal behavior, we present evidence from zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses of bear bone remains discovered at Rio Secco Cave and Fumane Cave in northeast Italy, an extended geographic area north of the Adriatic Sea. The remains from both caves come from layers dated to 49-42 ky cal. BP, and suggest close interactions between humans and bears, with data not only limited to the association of Mousterian lithic artifacts with numerous bear remains, but also the detection of clearly preserved traces of human modification such as cut and percussion marks, which enable a reconstruction of the main steps of fur recovery and the butchering process. Examples of Neanderthal bear exploitation are extremely sporadic in Europe, and Grotta Rio Secco and Grotta Fumane can be considered rare cases of remain accumulations generated by the human predation of bears of varied age classes during or near the end of hibernation. All of this evidence suggests that bears had a strategic role in the nomadic economy of Neanderthal hunting groups.
The cave bear (
Ursus spelaeus
) is one of the Late Pleistocene megafauna species that faced extinction at the end of the last ice age. Although it is represented by one of the largest fossil records in Europe and has been subject to several interdisciplinary studies including palaeogenetic research, its fate remains highly controversial. Here, we used a combination of hybridisation capture and next generation sequencing to reconstruct 59 new complete cave bear mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) from 14 sites in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. In a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, we compared them to 64 published cave bear mtDNA sequences to reconstruct the population dynamics and phylogeography during the Late Pleistocene. We found five major mitochondrial DNA lineages resulting in a noticeably more complex biogeography of the European lineages during the last 50,000 years than previously assumed. Furthermore, our calculated effective female population sizes suggest a drastic cave bear population decline starting around 40,000 years ago at the onset of the Aurignacian, coinciding with the spread of anatomically modern humans in Europe. Thus, our study supports a potential significant human role in the general extinction and local extirpation of the European cave bear and illuminates the fate of this megafauna species.
Objectives: The analysis of prehistoric human dietary habits is key for understanding the effects of paleoenvironmental changes on the evolution of cultural and social human behaviors. In this study, we compare results from zooarchaeological, stable isotope and dental calculus analyses as well as lower second molar macrowear patterns to gain a broader understanding of the diet of three individuals who lived between the end of the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene (ca., 17-8 ky cal BP) in the Eastern Alpine region of Italy. Materials and methods: We analyze individuals buried at the sites of Riparo Tagliente (Verona), Riparo Villabruna, and Mondeval de Sora (Belluno). The three burials provide
This work reviews the anthropogenic exploitation of small mammals during a crucial time span for the reconstruction of human behavior at the dawn of the Middle Upper Palaeolithic boundary in the Northern Mediterranean region. Data are sourced from faunal assemblages recovered in the final Mousterian levels of Grotta di Fumane (A5A6 complex) and the Late Mousterian levels of Riparo Tagliente (levels 35 and 36) and Grotta di San Bernardino (units II and IV), in the North of Italy. As a whole, these records mostly comprise ungulates, rather than bird and carnivore bones, and derive from primary accumulation processes more than from postdepositional activities or direct carnivore actions. Broadly, the taphonomic analyses reveal the presence of human modifications referable to different butchering activities on almost all of the ungulates. Small mammal bones are present throughout the late MP sequences in variable quantities, with canids and rodents represented in each of the assemblages. This work highlights new qualitative taphonomic records produced by humans within a large area that reveal Neandertals' exploitation of small mammals as game. At Grotta di Fumane, foxes have been butchered in order to exploit fur and meat. Similarly, at Grotta Maggiore di San Bernardino and Riparo Tagliente some large rodents bear cutmarks related to the same purposes. Krapina Cave is the only other Mousterian site containing evidence of small game exploitation (beaver and marmot) that is in close geographical proximity to the caves analyzed here.
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