Archaeozoological data from the Mousterian level from Moula-Guercy (Ardèche, France) bearing cannibalised Neanderthal remains

Abstract

The Moula-Guercy cave, in the southeast of France, contains an important stratigraphic sequence attributed to the Mousterian, of Middle and Upper Pleistocene age. The faunal assemblages are rich and have been biostratigraphically well dated. After methodical excavations from 1992 to 1999, layer XV, representing a temperate optimum (MIS 5.5), yielded over a hundred Neanderthal remains with evidence of cannibalism on six specimens. This paper presents the detailed and hitherto unpublished results of the archaeozoological study of the large mammals from this level. In 1999, relatively classical analytical methods were applied in order to compare the results with those of the cannibalised human remains, studied separately.The fauna from layer XV is not abundant but is very diversified, represented by over 1500 remains from 23 different species. The red deer is the second most consumed species after the human species. Layer XV appears to correspond to a summer or autumn hunting halt.