A handful of duck radiuses: Peculiarities of the avifaunal exploitation at the Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal (Belgium)

Abstract

The early Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal (Belgium) was discovered in 1966, during the widening of the Canal du Centre. Emergency excavation allowed the discovery of an open‐air human occupation which yielded abundant archaeological material. A re‐examination of the well‐preserved faunal collections has expanded the bird assemblage from the 29 bones initially recognized to 78, which have been studied from an archaeozoological point of view. Six taxa were identified, including species regularly encountered in Upper Paleolithic sites, such as the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), the northern raven (Corvus corax), and the willow or rock ptarmigan (Lagopus sp.). Ducks (Anatinae) are by far the best represented taxa. Surprisingly, only radius fragments were recovered for ducks, most bearing breaks and tool marks. We paid special attention to this peculiar set of duck radiuses. We performed experiments on fresh duck wings to evaluate the impact of different actions on the radius. Based on our experiments, two main hypotheses emerged. This accumulation of duck radiuses may represent (1) the waste from the production of dry wings and/or (2) a supply of raw material for craft activities. However, neither of these two hypotheses can be conclusively confirmed. As well as exhibiting some discrepancies, the bird bone assemblage from Maisières‐Canal shares several characteristics with early Gravettian sites from central Europe.

Terminal ballistic analysis of impact fractures reveals the use of spearthrower 31 ky ago at Maisières-Canal, Belgium

“…The large mammal remains include at least two reindeer, one horse, and one aurochs/bison. Small game is represented by a minimum of eight mountain hares and 17 birds 87 , 99 .…”

“…The environment at Maisières-Canal has been reconstructed as steppe or tundra with a marshland component 85 , 87 , 98 , with trees such as pine, alder, willow, and birch probably present in sheltered areas in the region 85 . The archeozoological study documented a variety of species typical of a cold, humid environment, including reindeer (MNI = 2), horse (MNI = 1), bear (MNI = 1), aurochs/bison (MNI = 1), and cervids (MNI = 1), as well as small fauna, such as hare (MNI = 8), fox (MNI = 6), and various birds (MNI = 17) 87 , 99 . The MNI counts are overall brought down by the high proportion of heavily fragmented and burnt bone in the collection 87 , 100 .…”

Songs of the past ‐ papers of the 10th ICAZ Bird Working Group Meeting

“…An analysis of the bird remains from the Middle Pleistocene level TE9d at Sima del Elefante in Spain by Marqueta et al (2023) shows that despite the presence of hominins, raptors were the main accumulating agents of the avian assemblage. Goffette et al (2023) use an experimental approach to test hypotheses regarding the origin of an assemblage of duck radiuses, whether it is anthropogenic or natural, from the early Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal in Belgium. Worked bird bones are relatively rare in assemblages.…”