Abstract
The role of small game in prehistoric hunter-gatherer economy is a highly debated topic. Despite the general assumption that this practice was uneconomic, several studies have underlined the relevance of the circumstance of capture – in terms of hunting strategies and technology – in the evaluation of the actual role of small mammals in human foraging efficiency. Since very few studies have focused on the recognition of bone hunting lesions, in a previous work we explored the potential of 3D microscopy in distinguishing projectile impact marks from other taphonomic marks, developing a widely-applicable diagnostic framework based on experimental data and focused on Late Epigravettian projectiles. Even though we confirmed the validity of the method on zooarchaeological remains of large-sized mammals, the reliability of the experimental record in relation to smaller animals needed more testing and verification. In this report we thus present the data acquired through a new ballistic experiment on small mammals and compare the results to those previously obtained on medium-sized animals, in order to bolster the diagnostic criteria useful in bone lesion identification with specific reference to small game. We also present the application of this renewed methodology to an archaeological context dated to the Late Glacial and located in the eastern Italian Alps.
Highlights
The role of small game in prehistoric hunter-gatherer economy is a highly debated topic
Very few studies have focused on the recognition of projectile impact marks (PIMs; after O’Driscoll and Thompson58,59), they represent the only taphonomic evidence directly connected to hunting technologies employed by humans
In previous work we used 3D microscopy for the development of a diagnostic method aimed at the distinction of bone hunting injuries from other taphonomic marks: the experimental PIMs taken as reference were produced exclusively by Late Epigravettian projectiles, shaping a widely-applicable framework useful for the identification of hunting bone lesions in other Late Glacial cultural complexes[107]
Summary
The role of small game in prehistoric hunter-gatherer economy is a highly debated topic. Since prey items are ranked according to their energy return balance (i.e. a measure of an animal’s caloric or nutritional value per unit of time taking into account search and post-encounter processing costs), small-bodied and difficult-to-catch mammals are usually categorised as low-ranking resources[30,31,32] Going beyond this generalisation, several studies underlined other variables, such as circumstance of capture, hunting technology and game catchability, could be relevant in the evaluation of the actual role of small mammals in human foraging efficiency[33,34,35,36]. Bone dimension and thickness could affect their resistance to projectile impacts, influencing the morphometry of hunting injuries and the representativeness of PIM classes
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