Exploitation of carnivores, lagomorphs and rodents at Grotta Paglicci during the Epigravettian: The dawn of a new subsistence strategy?

Abstract

Summary Data about exploitation of carnivore, rodent and lagomorph taxa from the Epigravettian of Grotta Paglicci are presented in this paper. Grotta Paglicci is characterized by a long term stratigraphy, whose Epigravettian part covers, quite continuously, a time span from about 20,000 years cal. BP to about 13,500 years cal. BP. During this time, among mammals, the percentage of non-ungulate taxa increases with an abrupt change during the Final Epigravettian, and reaches a maximum of 45% of NISP at the top of the sequence. Taphonomy, carried out also by means of 3D-microscopy, clearly testifies to an anthropic accumulation of faunal remains. The increase in non-ungulate taxa doesn't seem to be related to a climatic change. If, on the one hand, it seems to follow the decrease in mean body size of hunted ungulates, on the other hand it is clear that the contribution of small games to the diet in terms of biomass is ephemeral. This change in the exploitation of mammal resources is probably linked to other cultural phenomena, different than the necessity to catch more food.