Faunal migration in late‐glacial central Italy: implications for human resource exploitation

Abstract

The hunter-gatherer transhumance model presents foragers as specialised hunters of migratory ungulates, which moved seasonally between coastal lowlands and interior uplands. We studied six animal teeth of horse (Equus hydruntinus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) from four different archaeological sites: the Grotta di Vado all'Arancio, Grotta di Settecannelle, Grotta Polesini and Grotta di Pozzo, in central Italy to test whether the migratory patterns and seasonal variations recorded in their teeth were consistent with expectations of the transhumance model for this region during the late Upper Palaeolithic. Sequential sub-samples of enamel were analysed from each tooth for oxygen, carbon and strontium isotope ratios to reconstruct mobility and yearly seasonal variations. The results show little evidence that these animals were moving over different geological terrains throughout the year, although small variations in Sr isotope ratios and concentrations were detected that corresponded to probable seasonal variations as shown by variability in oxygen isotope sequences. The results do, however, demonstrate that Cervus elaphus and Equus hydruntinus had different ranging behaviours, with the former moving over wider areas than the latter. This methodology produces results appropriate to assess animal migratory behaviour and, in turn, to test the consistency of proposed models of hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility strategies. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Eurasian hunter-gatherer populations experienced rapid and extreme environmental changes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the early Holocene (ca. 18 000 to 8000 BP). e.g. 1,2 During this period profound socio-economic changes and technological developments took place that culminated with the transition to agriculture. Various models have been applied to explore the relationship between the environment and hunter-gatherer behaviour during the late-glacial in Mediterranean Europe. The hunter-gatherer transhumance model, a variation of the seasonal mobility model originally developed by Higgs, 3,4 presents foragers as specialised hunters of migratory ungulates that moved seasonally between coastal lowlands and interior uplands. In Italy, Barker hypothesised that hunter-gatherers of the late Pleistocene followed seasonally migratory herd species including Cervus elaphus and Equus hydruntinus between the Apennine uplands and the coastal plains. 5,6 These two locations offer seasonally distinct opportunities for grazing species: in winter the mountains are inhospitable and cold while the coastal plains remain grass-covered. In summer, instead, the lowlands are dry with little vegetation and the mountains remain vegetated. These distinctions would have been intensified in the late Pleistocene, and Barker argued that the seasonal climatic variations of this Mediterranean landscape would have suited wild species of grazing herbivores that could migrate between these two regions. 6 Although the hunter-gatherer transhumance model is attractive for various reasons...

A long hard road… Reviewing the evidence for environmental change and population history in the eastern Adriatic and western Balkans during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

“…The Adriatic was a large coastal plain (van Andel and Shackleton, 1982) and sea level was approximately 130m below present day (Lambeck et al, 2002(Lambeck et al, , 2004. The four main ungulate species exploited in the Paleolithic throughout temperate Europe were red deer, horse, aurochs/bison, and reindeer, which occur in large numbers, high density, have a large body size and high reproduction rates, and are known to migrate on a seasonal basis in some cases (Britton et al, 2011, Gamble, 1986, Pellegrini et al, 2008, Pilaar Birch et al, 2016. These were followed in relative abundance by roe deer, chamois/ibex, elk, and to a lesser extent, musk ox (Gamble, 1986).…”

Analysis of seasonal mobility of sheep in Iron Age Catalonia (north-eastern Spain) based on strontium and oxygen isotope analysis from tooth enamel: First results

“…Strontium isotopes ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) provide direct evidence of geographical origins and patterns of livestock mobility (e.g: Balasse et al, 2002;Bentley, 2006;Evans et al, 2007;Pellegrini et al, 2008;Sykes et al, 2006;Viner et al, 2010, Bogaard et al, 2013, Minniti et al, 2014 by the animal, as strontium substitutes for calcium in the minerals of the skeletal tissue (Comar et al, 1957;Toots and Voorhies, 1965). In the case of teeth, the isotopic signature of the enamel bioapatite reflects the period of tooth formation with little subsequent change.…”

Oxygen isotope analysis of human bone phosphate evidences weaning age in archaeological populations

“…White et al 2000;Evans et al 2006aEvans et al , 2006bEckardt et al 2009;Chenery et al 2010) and wild and domestic animals (e.g. Evans et al 2007;Pellegrini et al 2008;Britton et al 2009). These approaches are all based on the premise that the oxygen isotope composition of tissues developed during life will be directly related to that of local drinking water, the latter being primarily controlled by local air temperatures and, therefore, geographic setting (Dansgaard 1964;.…”