Small prey exploitation during the final Gravettian in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula: The case of Level D from Arbreda Cave

Abstract

AbstractArbreda Cave is one of the most important sites in the Reclau Caves complex (Serinyà, north‐east Iberian Peninsula). Its stratigraphy reveals that the cave was intensively occupied during the Upper Palaeolithic. As in other archaeological sites in the western Mediterranean regions, a shift towards an intensification in small prey exploitation has been observed over the course of this period. This trend is indicated by the presence of large quantities of small mammal remains, mainly rabbits, in the archaeofaunal assemblages. However, the anthropogenic origin of these bone accumulations requires to be proved through the detailed taphonomic analysis because their presence in the archaeological record may be consequence of the activity of different agents. On this question, neotaphonomic studies have become a valuable tool with which to distinguish the taphonomic signatures produced by terrestrial carnivores, birds of prey, and humans.Although most researchers agree on the importance of small prey in the human diet during this period, this issue has not yet been resolved. Because data are still scarce, subsistence in some Upper Palaeolithic episodes, such as the final Gravettian, is not well understood. The aim of this paper is to establish the origin of the small mammal prey assemblages from Level D of Arbreda Cave and to assess the importance of these animals for the subsistence of humans in western Mediterranean regions. This level has been dated to ca. 25–20 kyr 14C BP and is mainly contemporary with the palaeoenvironmental cold conditions derived from the Greenland Stadial 3. The results of this study indicate that Level D small mammal prey assemblages have a remarkable anthropogenic footprint. Rabbits were intensively exploited, but other small mammals, such as hedgehogs, were also part of the human diet. The animal carcasses were brought whole to the cave, where they were butchered, cooked, and consumed. In addition, marrow exploitation was also practiced in the case of the rabbits.Although at Arbreda Cave, ungulates were a primary resource in the subsistence of hunter–gatherers; small prey also played an important role in human diet during the final Gravettian.