Early Gravettian Research Articles

Changing food webs before and during the Last Glacial Maximum based on stable isotopes of animal bone collagen from Lower Austria

ABSTRACTWe investigated palaeofood web structures using stable isotope analyses on animal bone collagen from four Upper Palaeolithic sites dated to the Early Gravettian (Krems‐Hundssteig and Krems‐Wachtberg: 33–31k cal a bp, Langenlois: 31–29k cal a bp) and to the Early Epigravettian (Kammern‐Grubgraben: 24–20k cal a bp). In both periods, δ13C values show niche partitioning between hare, horse and mammoth on one side, and reindeer and ibex on the other, indicating different diets and habitats between both herbivore groups. The δ15N differences between carnivores and herbivores suggest a difference of one trophic level during the pre‐Last Glacial Maximum (pre‐LGM) period at the Early Gravettian sites and a tendency towards secondary carnivores during the LGM at Kammern‐Grubgraben. δ15N values of pre‐LGM mammoths are elevated in relation to other herbivores but shifted to the level of other herbivores in the LGM. A general δ15N value shift in herbivores of 3.3‰ from the pre‐LGM to the LGM is related to climatic deterioration. This may have led to the disappearance of certain ecological niches and to a shift from broader to overlapping ecological herbivore niches shortly before the LGM, as demonstrated by SIBER analyses.

A handful of duck radiuses: Peculiarities of the avifaunal exploitation at the Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal (Belgium)

AbstractThe early Gravettian site of Maisières‐Canal (Belgium) was discovered in 1966, during the widening of the Canal du Centre. Emergency excavation allowed the discovery of an open‐air human occupation which yielded abundant archaeological material. A re‐examination of the well‐preserved faunal collections has expanded the bird assemblage from the 29 bones initially recognized to 78, which have been studied from an archaeozoological point of view. Six taxa were identified, including species regularly encountered in Upper Paleolithic sites, such as the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), the northern raven (Corvus corax), and the willow or rock ptarmigan (Lagopus sp.). Ducks (Anatinae) are by far the best represented taxa. Surprisingly, only radius fragments were recovered for ducks, most bearing breaks and tool marks. We paid special attention to this peculiar set of duck radiuses. We performed experiments on fresh duck wings to evaluate the impact of different actions on the radius. Based on our experiments, two main hypotheses emerged. This accumulation of duck radiuses may represent (1) the waste from the production of dry wings and/or (2) a supply of raw material for craft activities. However, neither of these two hypotheses can be conclusively confirmed. As well as exhibiting some discrepancies, the bird bone assemblage from Maisières‐Canal shares several characteristics with early Gravettian sites from central Europe.

Environment changes during Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in southern Poland (Central Europe). A multiproxy approach for the MIS 3 sequence of Koziarnia Cave (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland)

Marine Isotope Stage 3 is considered a period with several climate oscillations that drove the environments to rapid changes. To understand how these stadial-interstadial cycles affected southern Poland, we combined the results of eight proxies analysed in the samples from the old excavations and a new 2017 trench of Koziarnia Cave (Ojców National Park, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland) in layers related to Middle Palaeolithic, Jerzmanowician, and Early Gravettian. Among the studied proxies were charcoals, pollen record, remains of malacofauna, and vertebrates (including rodents, birds and large mammals, and ZooMS analysis of fragmented bones). Moreover, sediment samples have been analysed for lipid composition (by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, GC–MS).Despite several taphonomic issues, it was possible to recognise two oscillations. The first one, reflected in pollen record and lipid analysis, took place during Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) 14 to 8 and included Heinrich Stadial (HS) 4. The second one, recorded by rodents and bird proxies, was related to DO 8/7 to DO 6 and included HS 3. Charcoal and large mammal proxies provided the broad context of our study. The Jerzmanowician occupation was connected with a relatively cold episode in a landscape characterized mainly by grassland and periglacial environments, while the Late Middle Palaeolithic and Early Gravettian groups settled the cave during milder climatic conditions, where environments were open with sparse boreal woodlands. Such trends provide additional arguments in a broad discussion on Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in Central Europe.

New Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Gravettian in Eastern Central Europe

AbstractThe Middle Upper Palaeolithic (MUP) in eastern Central Europe (ECE) comprises three variants of Gravettian culture: Early Gravettian, Pavlovian, and Late Gravettian. While Early Gravettian and Pavlovian are merely located in Lower Austria and Moravia, the Late Gravettian occupations occurred over the entire territory of ECE. Compared to the number of sites the radiocarbon dating and the absolute chronology of the Late Gravettian is rather poor. The results presented here bring a new set of radiocarbon (14C) dates for the Late Gravettian period in ECE and propose that this period began and ended earlier than previously suggested.

Mobility and social identity in the Mid Upper Paleolithic: New personal ornaments from Poiana Cireșului (Piatra Neamț, Romania).

Most of the Paleolithic art and ornaments discovered in Romania come from the site of Poiana Cireșului. Four Paleolithic layers have been studied at this site—the oldest one belongs to the Early Gravettian period between 30 ka and 31 ka BP. The ornaments discovered in this layer include perforated shells from three species of mollusks: freshwater Lithoglyphus naticoide and Lithoglyphus apertus as well as Homalopoma sanguineum (an exclusively Mediterranean species). Poiana Cireșului is one of the very few Gravettian sites where perforated Homalopoma sanguineum shells were found, and the importance of this discovery is stressed even more by the very long distance between the site and the nearest source located over 900 km away. This find suggests the connection of communities here with the Mediterranean area as well as a possible movement of populations from the south of the continent to the east of the Carpathians with significant implications in understanding human group mobility and the origin of the Early Gravettian in this area. Furthermore, Poiana Cireșului is the only Gravettian settlement where Lithoglyphus naticoides shells were used. The unique association of perforated shells—not found in any other Gravettian settlement—contributes to the identity of the Paleolithic community of Poiana Cireșului through their ornaments.

Reconstructing technology, mobility and land use via intra- and inter-site refits from the Gravettian of the Swabian Jura

The Swabian Gravettian, which is often equated with the Middle Upper Palaeolithic in the German research tradition (e.g. Bosinski, 2008), is limited to a small number of cave sites in a restricted area of the Middle and Eastern Swabian Jura, namely in the Ach and—possibly—Lone valleys. These caves, however, are an important part of Central European prehistory, since the sites yielded early radiocarbon ages covering the timespan from 35 to 31 ka cal. BP (Conard and Bolus 2003; Moreau, 2009a; Higham et al. 2012; Taller and Conard 2016). Technologically and typologically, the lithic assemblages also reflect an early Gravettian. Refits of lithic artefacts are known from Brillenhohle (Lauxmann and Scheer 1986) and Geisenklosterle (Moreau 2009a), as well as Hohle Fels (Floss and Kieselbach 2004). These refits are vital for our understanding of the taphonomy and stratigraphy of the sites as well as for the technological analysis of lithic blank production. Here, the main focus on intra-site refits will be on Hohle Fels. Thus far no refits are known from the Gravettian of the Lone Valley. Moreover, the question is, whether the supposed Gravettian remains from the sites of Vogelherd and Bockstein-Torle do actually reflect Middle Upper Palaeolthic occupations. A remarkable feature of the Ach Valley Gravettian are refits between the sites of Brillenhohle, Geisenklosterle, Hohle Fels and possibly also Sirgenstein (Scheer 1990; Moreau 2009a), which inform us on land use and settlement patterns in the Middle Upper Palaeolithic of Central Europe. Refits from the Ach Valley document a contemporaneous use of at least three of the four caves with Gravettian deposits, while intra-site refits facilitate the study of site formation processes and the spatial use of these important caves. With this paper, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of Gravettian lithic technology, hunter-gatherer mobility and land-use patterns in Swabia as well as the taphonomy of the sites discussed.

Neue Einblicke in das Gravettien von Willendorf II. Die Steinartefakte der Grabung 1993

The well-dated stratigraphic sequence of Willendorf II is a reference site for the Upper Palaeolithic in general and the Gravettian in particular. In 1993, a joint team from the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium) and the University of Vienna carried out excavations at this loess site in the Danube Valley known since the end of the 19th century. During the excavation season, the team recovered 391 artefacts, the majority attributed to AH 6 and 8. We performed a technological study based on an attribute analysis of the lithic artefacts. This study demonstrates that the assemblages of AH 6 and 8 differ significantly in terms of technology and techno- economy. AH 6 has a high proportion of non-local erratic flint. The unidirectional reduction strategy aimed at the production of bladelets, especially on high-quality raw materials, to further modify them into backed elements that could be used as projectiles. In addition to the unidirectional, volumetric reduction strategy, burins were also exploited as bladelet cores. Apart from the manufacture of backed elements, the tool spectrum contains burins, end scrapers and pieces with edge retouch. AH 8 is dominated by local raw materials, such as quartzite and siliceous limestone. The unidirectional reduction strategy aimed at the production of blades. The toolkit includes a range of different tool types. Splintered pieces occur most frequently. Furthermore, pointed blades, burins, end scrapers, edge retouches, truncations, a borer with edge retouch, and a notched piece are among the tools. The differences between AH 6 and AH 8 and the similarities of AH 6 to AH 5 and AH 6 of the old excavations highlight that the AH 6 and AH 8 of the 1993 excavations do not belong to the same phase of the Gravettian technocomplex. The hunter-gatherers of AH 6 show technological, techno-economic and socio-technological behaviours more likely to correspond to the early Gravettian, while AH 8 shows diagnostic features of the Pavlovian, thereby confirming the dominant view among researchers that AH 8 of Willendorf II belongs to the Pavlovian.

Neue Einblicke in das Gravettien von Willendorf II. Die Steinartefakte der Grabung 1993

The well-dated stratigraphic sequence of Willendorf II is a reference site for the Upper Palaeolithic in general and the Gravettian in particular. In 1993, a joint team from the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium) and the University of Vienna carried out excavations at this loess site in the Danube Valley known since the end of the 19th century. During the excavation season, the team recovered 391 artefacts, the majority attributed to AH 6 and 8. We performed a technological study based on an attribute analysis of the lithic artefacts. This study demonstrates that the assemblages of AH 6 and 8 differ significantly in terms of technology and techno- economy. AH 6 has a high proportion of non-local erratic flint. The unidirectional reduction strategy aimed at the production of bladelets, especially on high-quality raw materials, to further modify them into backed elements that could be used as projectiles. In addition to the unidirectional, volumetric reduction strategy, burins were also exploited as bladelet cores. Apart from the manufacture of backed elements, the tool spectrum contains burins, end scrapers and pieces with edge retouch. AH 8 is dominated by local raw materials, such as quartzite and siliceous limestone. The unidirectional reduction strategy aimed at the production of blades. The toolkit includes a range of different tool types. Splintered pieces occur most frequently. Furthermore, pointed blades, burins, end scrapers, edge retouches, truncations, a borer with edge retouch, and a notched piece are among the tools. The differences between AH 6 and AH 8 and the similarities of AH 6 to AH 5 and AH 6 of the old excavations highlight that the AH 6 and AH 8 of the 1993 excavations do not belong to the same phase of the Gravettian technocomplex. The hunter-gatherers of AH 6 show technological, techno-economic and socio-technological behaviours more likely to correspond to the early Gravettian, while AH 8 shows diagnostic features of the Pavlovian, thereby confirming the dominant view among researchers that AH 8 of Willendorf II belongs to the Pavlovian.

Gazing at Owls? Human-strigiform Interfaces and their Role in the Construction of Gravettian Lifeworlds in East-Central Europe

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a new perspective on human-owl relations in the Pavlovian, a regional group of the early Gravettian of East-Central Europe. It argues that the regular representation of owls in figurative art and ornamentation in this context must be understood as a result of unique conditions of encounter and interaction emerging at the intersection of Southern Moravian early MIS 2-environments, Pavlovian sociocultural practice, and owl presence and behaviour. It is shown that the diverse and tree-rich environments of East-Central Europe, and the Pavlovian Hill region in particular, provided highly favourable living conditions for a rich owl community. In conjunction with Pavlovian settlement behaviour which produced large-scale aggregation sites and seems to have been associated with a more sedentary mode of life, humans were thus particularly exposed to owls that likely dominated the nightly soundscapes of the region. This coincides with the fact that many of the present owl species are resident birds and aligns with compelling evidence for a pronounced ‘sense of place’ in the region's early Gravettian. The paper therefore suggests considering the saliency of negotiating the owl theme in the Pavlovian as an expression of the general eco-cultural entanglement of humans and owls in this setting. I argue that human-owl relations in the Pavlovian might have ultimately been fashioned by a shared sense of place.

Des armes en ivoire de mammouth : deux cas particuliers

The Upper Palaeolithic material made from mammoth ivory comprises many hunting weapons, mostly spear points and a few big hand spears, mainly from Eastern Europe notably Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia… Two objects stand out through their uniqueness. The first one is a fragment of a spearthrower, the only one made in ivory, decorated in semi round, in the shape of a young bovid, probably a bison. It dates to the Middle Magdalenian and comes from the La Madeleine shelter in Dordogne (France). The second one is a non-returning boomerang with a striated handle, dating to the Early Gravettian and coming from the Obłazowa cave in Poland. Its morphology and morphometry are very like some Australian examples.

Aux prémices du Gravettien dans le Nord-Ouest européen : étude de la production des pointes lithiques à Maisières-Canal (province de Hainaut, Belgique)

Aux prémices du Gravettien dans le Nord-Ouest européen : étude de la production des pointes lithiques à Maisières-Canal (province de Hainaut, Belgique)

Lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (Cape St. Vicente, southern Portugal): insights into human technology and settlement in southwestern Iberia

During the Upper Paleolithic, lithic variability is one of the most important keys to recognize hunter-gatherer behavior, technology, ecology, and social dynamics. The origin and expansion of Gravettian populations in Eurasia has been seen as one of the most critical episodes in human evolution, argued to be the first clear evidence of the so-called polymorphism among modern human populations. In the case of southern Iberian Peninsula, recent data have shown a new regional and diachronic organization for the Gravettian occupation in this region. Therefore, the interpretation of such variability is one of the most important questions, and functional analysis is a fundamental proxy to recognize human technological, settlement and ecological adaptations as major factors for this polymorphism. This study focused on lithic use-wear analysis of the Early Gravettian of Vale Boi (southern Portugal), in order to understand lithic technological organization and variability within and between occupations at the site. Results show similar patterns between assemblages, showing that different materials were worked at the site, although showing reduced time of work, low variability and percentage of pieces used. Unlike other Gravettian contexts in southern Iberia, the Early Gravettian from Vale Boi is characterized by some variability of backed points, marked by the predominance of bipointed double-backed bladelets. Functional analysis of the Early Gravettian lithic industries of Vale Boi provide a new insight to interpret human technology and settlement strategy during the onset of Upper Paleolithic industries in western Eurasia.

Did prehistoric foragers behave in an economically irrational manner? Raw material availability and technological organisation at the early Gravettian site of Willendorf II (Austria)

Willendorf II provides the longest and best-studied MIS 3 sequence in the Middle Danube region, and represents one of the key reference sequences for this time period in Central Europe. The assemblage chosen for analysis derives from archaeological horizon (AH) 5, attributed to the period of the first Gravettian between 30 and 27 ka uncal. BP. Previous analyses were all based on a selected inventory (mainly tools and cores) derived from the 1908/1909 excavations. The discovery of labelled wooden boxes containing numerous additional artefacts from the 1908/1909 excavations at the end of the 1990s in the cellar of the Natural History Museum in Vienna considerably raises the total number of finds for all archaeological horizons, and opens new perspectives for investigating Upper Palaeolithic behavioural variability in the Middle Danube region. For the first time, all artefacts have been assigned to a raw material source area, thus providing a picture of the geographic extent of the foraging territory, and allowing for quantified observations on raw material economy and technological variability in the early Gravettian of the Middle Danube region. Willendorf II provides an excellent basis for the study of Gravettian lithic assemblage variability due to the wide array of local and nonlocal lithic resources available at varying distances from the settlement. Source provenance information and patterns of raw material use offer complementary measures of mobility. We discuss the results in the light of the concepts of “technological provisioning” developed by S.L. Kuhn. Distance to source alone is not suitable to predict and explain raw material frequencies and the character of transported technologies on nonlocal material at Willendorf II-AH5. We argue that other factors such as the degree of anticipation of foreseeable activities and occupation span might account for the observed economic patterns. Our results clearly have broader relevance for understanding assemblage variability in the Gravettian of Central Europe and further afield.

Technical diversity within the tanged-tool Gravettian: New results from Belgium

Located at the interface between the Paris and the Rhine Basins and the more northern territories of Europe, Belgium contains several Gravettian occupations, both open-air and in caves. The available documentation is unfortunately limited by the earliness of the excavations conducted at most sites. Stratified records in karstic context, primarily excavated in the 19th century, are particularly affected by this situation. The analysis of Gravettian lithic technological behaviours can, however, rely on two open air sites excavated in the late 20th century which provide more rigorous data: Maisières-Canal and Station de l'Hermitage. These two sites have been the focus of comparisons that highlight their similarities, both in terms of the lithic industry and location. In fact, the former stands out for the presence of tanged tools, a typological marker which is usually associated with the Early Gravettian of Western Europe. In this article, we present a new study that evidences the differences in the lithic technical systems represented at these sites. After a presentation of the most recent data, we consider the causes that may be responsible for such diversity, highlighting the possible role of the chronological factor, but also of the existence of an original technical tradition in north-western Europe during the appearance and development of the Gravettian.

Gravettian and Epigravettian lithics in Slovakia

The Gravettian is the most widespread Paleolithic culture in Slovakia. The Early Gravettian (30–25/24 ka BP) does not involve any significant network of sites. It represents mainly workshop sites for processing of radiolarite (Nemšová, Zamarovce) or short-term cave camps (the Dzeravá skala cave near Plavecký Mikuláš, the Slaninová cave near the village of Háj). Trenčianske Bohuslavice, dated to 26–25/24 ka BP, is a rather important site. The Late Gravettian (24–20 ka BP) involves a thick network of sites in the Váh and Nitra river regions and in Eastern Slovakia, around the Zemplín Hills. The shouldered points horizon is named after its typical tool. The group of tools comprises frequent retouched blades and retouched pointed blades. Burins usually prevail over end-scrapers. The number of backed tools varies. In the Váh region, larger concentrations of settlement are documented, confirmed also by radiometric dating in the region of Moravany nad Váhom and Trenčín, in the Nitra river region and the town of Nitra, in Cejkov and Kašov in Eastern Slovakia. Smaller groups of Gravettian hunters with high mobility often founded multiple settlements. Imports of Polish raw materials in Slovak sites document the connection of the Váh and Nitra river regions with the territory of the Upper Vistula river. Inventories of individual sites are different in terms of used raw materials and tool typology. Future investigation and new analyses of lithic inventories might confirm the assumption that the Late Gravettian in Slovakia consisted of several independent facies.The Epigravettian (20–17 ka BP) production used local raw materials: radiolarite in Western Slovakia and obsidian in Eastern Slovakia. End-scrapers on short blades and flakes prevail over burins. Aurignacoidal elements also occur and there are backed tools. The number of microbladelets with microretouch increases.

Lithic technological adaptation within the Gravettian of the Iberian Atlantic region: Results from two case studies

The origins and expansion of Gravettian industries in Western Europe have recently been considered a cultural mosaic phenomena marked by regional technological facies. Probably associated with climatic oscillations, the development of these facies is likely related to sociocultural patterns and human adaptations to different ecological niches. Thereby, changes of subsistence strategies and mobility patterns are also reflected by technological and typological adaptations and innovations within the lithic assemblages. With the Iberian Peninsula being an important ecological niche for studying these phenomena, we conducted a comparative analysis of two occupations to test human ecological and lithic technological adaptations during the early Gravettian in Iberia: Cueto de la Mina on the northern Iberian Atlantic coast and Vale Boi on the western Portuguese Atlantic coast. Results show that these occupations exhibit major technological differences, but also strong similarities in the case of typological innovation/adaptation, possibly related to local resource accessibility (e.g. high-quality raw material). Based on these observations, the study provides further information concerning possible connections throughout the Iberian Atlantic coastline during an early Gravettian timeframe.

Rod debitage by extraction: An overview of different cases identified for the Upper Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic in Europe

One of the objectives of the CNRS European Research Group GDRE PREHISTOS is to look for cases of “debitage by extraction” on the European continent from the Paleolithic to the First Iron Age. We will thus be able to fill the gaps in our knowledge by first describing each case in technical and economic terms and by identifying new variants of this method. The rod production by extraction is a major invention in the working of osseous materials and it is conceptually similar to the laminar debitage procedure in stone working in that it allows blanks of a similar shape, artificial and standardized, to be produced. The “baguette”, whose shape is close to that of blades, is the best known of these types of blanks. This capacity to produce series of blanks with a sometimes exactly similar morphology and then finished objects led to the standardized mass productions that characterize the evolution of some categories of objects, such as projectile points. This debitage by extraction appears globally during the first half of the Upper Paleolithic (being present in the Early Gravettian of Western Europe). The aim of this paper is to give an overview of different cases identified in the last years for the Upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic, especially in Europe.

Multistep food plant processing at Grotta Paglicci (Southern Italy) around 32,600 cal B.P.

Residue analyses on a grinding tool recovered at Grotta Paglicci sublayer 23A [32,614 ± 429 calibrated (cal) B.P.], Southern Italy, have demonstrated that early modern humans collected and processed various plants. The recording of starch grains attributable to Avena (oat) caryopses expands our information about the food plants used for producing flour in Europe during the Paleolithic and about the origins of a food tradition persisting up to the present in the Mediterranean basin. The quantitative distribution of the starch grains on the surface of the grinding stone furnished information about the tool handling, confirming its use as a pestle-grinder, as suggested by the wear-trace analysis. The particular state of preservation of the starch grains suggests the use of a thermal treatment before grinding, possibly to accelerate drying of the plants, making the following process easier and faster. The study clearly indicates that the exploitation of plant resources was very important for hunter-gatherer populations, to the point that the Early Gravettian inhabitants of Paglicci were able to process food plants and already possessed a wealth of knowledge that was to become widespread after the dawn of agriculture.

The early Gravettian in a marginal area: New evidence from SW Poland

Previous studies on the Gravettian in Central Europe did not pay much attention to the issue of the marginal areas' occupation, because the main research interest was placed on analysis of remains from the area of classic refugia, the middle Danube valley or southern Moravia. Consequently, little is known about the mechanisms associated with occupation of areas located to the north of the Carpathians and the Sudetes, both in terms of chronology as well as system of mobility. The results of excavations at the open-air site in Henryków (SW Poland), presented in this paper, indicate that attempts of exploitation of upland territories located to the north of the mountain chains, started very early, i.e. in the so-called Early Gravettian period. This is indicated by radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples (28.5–31.5 ka BP) from the site. These dates were confirmed by dating of mineral deposits using the OSL method (ca. 29 ka). Based on geoarchaeological studies, the period of human stay at the Henryków site plausibly associated with development of the soil complex of the Komorniki (L1S1, Stillfried B/Lohner Boden type). Archaeological data indicate that the stay was linked with hunting practices. The features of the Henryków site, typical for marginal occupation, suggest that during the visit tool kits were reconstructed, stocks were replenished and fire was used. The dataset suggests that traces from Henryków should be treated as a result of pioneering expeditions. This mobility probably never had a more stable character, as in the later period of the Gravettian complex development.

Tracking possible decline of woolly mammoth during the Gravettian in Dordogne (France) and the Ach Valley (Germany) using multi-isotope tracking (13C, 14C, 15N, 34S, 18O)

The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was an emblematic and key species of the so-called mammoth steppe ecosystem between ca. 110,000 and 12,000 years ago. Its contribution to human subsistence during the Gravettian period as source of raw material was documented in southwestern France and southwestern Germany, with some evidence of active hunting in the latter region. However, decreasing genetic diversity and increasing indications of nutritional stress point to a likely decline of this megaherbivore. The specificity of the ecological niche occupied by the woolly mammoth is clearly reflected by their collagen 13C and 15N abundances (δ13Ccoll and δ15Ncoll), measured on skeletal remains of the typical mammoth steppe. The abundances of carbon-13 in mammoth collagen are comparable to those of other grazers like horse (Equus sp.), while the nitrogen-15 abundances are significantly higher (about 3‰) than in the other herbivores, either horse or reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). During the Aurignacian and Gravettian occupation at Geißenklösterle in the Ach Valley (Germany), the mammoths had the expected stable isotope signature, but the nitrogen-15 of horses showed an unexpected overlap with those of the mammoth. This unusual pattern was already occurring during the Aurignacian, while the oxygen-18 abundances in bone phosphate (δ18Obp) of horse and reindeer were unchanged between Aurignacian and Gravettian periods, which rules out significant change in environmental and climatic conditions. Thus, we hypothesize that during the Aurignacian and Gravettian, the ecological niche of mammoth was intact but not occupied intensively by mammoths due to a decline in their population. This decline could be tentatively explained by human pressure through hunting. In Dordogne (France), decreasing horse and reindeer δ15Ncoll values coeval to decreasing horse δ18Obp values between the Aurignacian and the Early Gravettian periods reflected a clear change in the environment, while no contrast in δ15Ncoll values was observed between the Early and Final Gravettian at the Abri Pataud. The mammoth of Dordogne yielded slightly higher δ15Ncoll values than expected, probably as a consequence of the nursing effect since all the analyzed samples were ivory instead of bone. The direct dating and sulphur-34 measurement on the ivory of the Early Gravettian at Pataud showed that almost all of them were of contemporaneous and local origin. Significant contrasts in δ34Scoll values were found between the Dordogne and the Ach Valley for the same herbivores species, which confirms the potential of sulphur-34 in collagen as a mobility tracker.