New data on human behavior from a 160,000 year old Acheulean occupation level at Lazaret cave, south-east France: An archaeozoological approach

Abstract

The UA 25 archaeostratigraphic unit of Lazaret cave is an exceptional Acheulean occupation level with abundant lithic and bone material and reveals a clear organization of activities carried out in the cave. In this paper, large mammals are studied from an archaeozoological perspective using a variety of methods of analysis, in order to increase our understanding of the behavior, way of life and environment of the Lazaret Acheuleans. During one autumn hunting episode, twenty-three red deer, six ibexes, three aurochs and one roe deer were slaughtered. For the most part, it appears that Anteneanderthals processed these carcasses inside the cave. They then left more than 600 bone remains piled into a heap with a diameter of 80 cm in the middle of the cave. The study of diversity indexes points towards selective red deer hunting, independently of the prey available in the environment. On the other hand, as far as the deer is concerned, hunted animals do not seem to have been selected within the herd on the basis of factors such as age or sex. The presence of the ibex, the second most hunted species at the site, seems to be directly linked to climatic conditions and its relative abundance in the environment.