Neanderthal subsistence behaviours in Europe

Abstract

Ten years of research about the Neanderthal's subsistence behaviour are presented. The study of large mammal bones is now recognized as a means of understanding subsistence behaviour (sensu lato), notably by analysing acquisition and processing strategies, as well as patterns of consumption. This paper summarizes the results of an analysis of a corpus of data from several European countries, representing a total of 466 levels corresponding to 323 sites (Patou-Mathis M. 1999a. Memoire d'Habilitation a Diriger des Recherches, submitted to: University Paris I. The countries involved are: France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine and Georgia. The period of study extends from the end of the Middle Pleistocene to the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene, i.e. from isotope stage 8 to stage 3. Three different sources of data are used: bone assemblage studies by the author (reference samples); fully published zooarchaeological studies (reliable samples) and publications containing relatively detailed data about fauna (more problematical samples). The information obtained from these data sources does not have the same degree of precision. In order to consider the full range of subsistence behaviour exhibited by Neanderthals, faunal analyses are compared to results of the analysis of lithic materials from the target regions. This comparison validates hypotheses about subsistence, site function, settlement territory, and human mobility. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.