Combining traceological analysis and ZooMS on Early Neolithic bone artefacts from the cave of Coro Trasito, NE Iberian Peninsula: Cervidae used equally to Caprinae

Abstract

Few studies have combined the analysis of use-wear traces, traceology, and the proteomic taxonomic identification method Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS). Traceology provides information on the usage, in this case, of bone artefacts, while ZooMS allows for taxonomic identifications where diagnostic features are otherwise gone. The approaches therefore offer complementary information on bone artefacts, allowing for insights into species selection strategies in bone tool manufacture and their subsequent use. Here we present a case study of 20 bone artefacts, mainly bone points, from the Early Neolithic cave site of Coro Trasito located on the southern slope of the Central Pyrenees. Hitherto, studies on Early Neolithic bone artefacts from the Iberian Peninsula have suggested based on morphological assessments that Ovis aries/Capra hircus constituted the majority of the bone material selected for bone tool production. However, the taxonomic identification in this study suggests that, at this site, Cervidae was selected equally to that of O. aries/C. hircus. Furthermore, bone artefacts made from Cervidae specimens seem to be utilised in a wider range of artefact types compared to O. aries/C. hircus. Coro Trasito’s bone artefact species composition is probably site-specific to some degree, however, morphological assessments of bone artefacts might not be representative and could be biased towards certain species. Therefore, research on bone artefacts’ usage could possibly gain new insights by implementing ZooMS in combination with traceology.