Located in the northernmost part of Central Asia, the western foothills of the Altai Mountains (Western Siberia) represent to date the easternmost known boundary of Neanderthal distribution, far from their main cultural areas currently known in Western Eurasia. This geographic situation suggests the possibility of distinct cultural and biological traits in Altai Neanderthals. In this region, Chagyrskaya Cave contains the most substantial paleoanthropological collection, with 75 remains, including 20 craniodental elements attributed to at least eight individuals of varying ages (22 permanent teeth and four deciduous teeth), dating to between approximately 59 and 51 ka BP. Previous paleogenetic analyses suggest several individuals from this site are closely related. Our study is the first to comprehensively analyze the morphology of the entire set of dentognathic elements. In this study, we document the phenotypic variability of the Chagyrskaya's individuals by examining the dimensions and proportions of the crown and root tissues, the nonmetric traits of the outer enamel surface, and the enamel-dentine junction of the 26 teeth from this site and by comparing them to published data of both fossil and more recent material. Furthermore, we explore aspects related to their lifestyle and behavior describing the antemortem lesions affecting their dentognathic elements. Our results show that the dental traits of these human remains fall within the known Neanderthal phenotypic variability while also presenting certain specificities, the origins of which we discuss. In addition, the identification of several lesions on some of these fossils allows us to document their oral health and the use of their teeth for paramasticatory activities.

The use of bone tools in contexts predating the Upper Paleolithic of Homo sapiens in Eurasia is no longer subject to debate. However, the recent evidence highlighting significant Neanderthal bone industries demonstrates that this phenomenon has been largely underestimated. A re-evaluation of each assemblage through a systematic search for bone artifacts is now a necessary prerequisite for accurately assessing the nature and variability of bone production over time and across past humanities. Such an approach should precede any attempt at a broader understanding of the mechanisms underlying their emergence and development. With this in mind, we initiated an investigation in Central Asia, a key region for Middle Paleolithic human settlements, where the potential for bone artifacts has remained weakly tested until now. Here, we present the preliminary results from Obi-Rakhmat (Uzbekistan). Dated to 90-40 ka BP, it is one of the few multilayered sites in the region to have yielded human remains. The original composition of the set of bone artifacts, which reflects that of the lithic assemblage, confirms our expectations and opens new avenues for research on this emerging topic.

The article examines the hunting strategies employed by Neanderthals at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia) through a comprehensive taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of Bison priscus remains from Upper Pleistocene deposits. The research focuses on prey selection — specifically, the age and sex composition of hunted individuals and the preferential transportation of specific carcass segments to the cave. Taphonomic evidence confirms that the majority of bison bones in layers 6a, 6b, and 6c result from anthropogenic accumulation. Zooarchaeological data reveal the butchery of at least 18 bison, with a predominance of prime-aged adults (3–6 years). The presence of adult individuals and the predominance of females suggest that Neanderthals primarily targeted matriarchal (mixed) bison herds typical of winter-spring, when post-rut herds are dominated by females, juveniles, and a limited number of males. Among the hunted bison, at least two were 3–4 months pregnant, which indicates an episode of hunting in winter and extends evidence for multi-seasonal cave occupation. If Bison priscus exhibited seasonal altitudinal migrations Neanderthals may have strategically occupied Chagyrskaya Cave to intercept migratory herds, suggesting a seasonal or follow-the-herd hunting mobility pattern. Estimations of minimal meat yield, calibrated against the approximate caloric requirements of a Neanderthal group (~15 individuals), suggest that it could sustain the group for approximately 70 days, excluding contributions from fat. Quantitative spatial analysis of skeletal elements, conducted via QGIS plug-in de­monstrates a selective transport bias toward meat-rich long bones, with diaphyseal fragments dominating the assemblage. The lack of epiphyses likely reflects anthropogenic processing or carnivore scavenging.

The Altai mountains contain a number of cave and rockshelter sites that have given crucial information about human evolution in Asia. Most of these caves are located in the Gornyi Altai of Siberia, while the southern flank of the range remains much less known. Bukhtarma Cave was a karstic cave located near the former village of Peshchera, on the banks of the Bukhtarma River running through the foothills of the southern (Kazakh) Altai mountains. The Soviet East Kazakhstan Archaeological Expedition carried several excavation campaigns in the cave in the early to mid 1950s, discovering Paleolithic stone tools as well as animal bones. The collections were split between the East Kazakhstan Regional Museum of Local History in Öskemen (the lithic and part of the faunal collection) and the Zoological Institute in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) (most of the fauna). Subsequently, the site was flooded by the construction of the Bukhtarma Reservoir in 1958, such that further fieldwork is impossible. However, in 2020, we reanalyzed the zooarchaeological collections and obtained several 14C dates. Based on the excavation documentation and the newly obtained dates exclusively taken from cut marked and carnivore-modified bone, we reconstruct at least three Paleolithic archaeological horizons, spanning the time between ca. 47–30 ka cal BP and exhibiting Middle and Upper Paleolithic characteristics, as well as the remains of several Holocene occupations, the latest of which dates to the Bronze Age. We present here a summary of the lithic and faunal assemblage and draw general conclusions about the site’s placement within the regional Paleolithic.

Hunting strategies in the Paleolithic period represent a significant and complex challenge, influencing the lifestyles of early human populations dependent on the seasonal activity of herds. Varying seasonally, a composition of a herd caused changes in the speed of animals movements, their aggressiveness, hides and the fatness and flavor of their meat. The morphological criteria for determining grazer sex and age have long been established in zooarchaeology. However, many traits associated with bison sex are poorly defined for archeozoological collections due to the fragmented and scattered nature of the bone remains. The objective of presented study was to demonstrate the potential utility of proteomic tooth enamel analysis detecting the AmelX and AmelY peptide fragments for prey-sex determination in cases where morphological criteria did not work. In the study, the tooth enamel samples from 18 animals were analyzed, including eight modern specimens of known sex, and ten Pleistocene specimens of unknown sex from four different Paleolithic sites. A blind test conducted for the modern collection yielded a 100

In order to track diachronic changes in archaeological sequences, researchers typically partition time into stratigraphic layers defined during fieldwork, which serve as the framework for ensuing analyses. These analytical units have a significant impact on archaeological inference, defining its resolution, and influencing both the study of cultural assemblages and the reconstruction of past environments. However, field layers are seldom re-evaluated after excavation despite the fact that archaeological deposits are now commonly recognised as often containing material ‘mixed’ together by site formation processes, excavation techniques, or analytical practices. Although the analysis of intra-site spatial data clearly offers a means to overcome these issues, our literature review of 192 journal articles revealed the potential of this data (notably vertical projections of piece-plotted artefacts) to be under-exploited in prehistoric archaeology. Here, we advocate for the development of a more spatially informed framework for interpretation that we refer to as post-excavation stratigraphy or PES. After proposing a definition for PES, we attempt to develop a framework for theoretical considerations underlying their implication, importance, and potential. Three main benefits of PES are highlighted: ensuring assemblage reliability, increased chronological and spatial resolution, and more reliable interpretations based on a multi-stratigraphic approach. We contend that the stratigraphy defined during fieldwork is insufficient and potentially misleading. By providing a different “stratigraphic view” of the same sequence, each specialist can contribute data that, when combined, produces a better understanding of interactions between changes in, for example, technological or cultural traditions, subsistence strategies, or paleoenvironments.

Recent research on Neanderthal subsistence strategies in southwestern Europe identify the development, at the end of the Middle Paleolithic, of task specific locations dedicated to the capture of a large number of prey (Delagnes et Rendu, 2011). One of the main characteristics of these sites is their monospecific faunal spectrum centered on large mammals. However, it has been proposed that these task specific locations evidence the emergence of specialized hunting (Costamagno et al. , 2006) at the end of the Mousterian era (starting during MIS4). Earlier specialized faunal spectra have been identified in the region (Jaubert et al. , 2005 ; Discamps et al. , 2011; Discamps et Royer, 2017) and the question of the development of such hunting specialization in earlier periods of the Middle Paleolithic can be raised. In this context, the site of La Borde (Livernon, France) is of prime interest to discuss the development of specific hunting strategies by Neanderthal populations. Localized in the Quercy and excavated by M. Lorblanchet in the 70's, La Borde is a skinhole, which yielded a large faunal assemblage almost exclusively composed of aurochs remains associated with a denticulate Mousterian (Jaubert et al. , 1990). The carcass accumulation was interpreted as resulting from communal hunting conducted by Neanderthal on the large bovine (Jaubert and Brugal, 1990). However, very limited zooarchaeological data were available, limiting our perception of the hunting strategies developed by the Neanderthals. Thus, we propose here a reevaluation of the site based on a combine taphonomic and zooarchaeological approach. The study was realized in two steps: firstly, the collection of La Borde stored at PACEA (CNRS - Bordeaux University) was analyzed in the framework of a Master 2 thesis (Rivi & egrave;re, 2018). This collection was constituted of identified bones selected by Slott -Moller (1990) for his paleontological analysis. A selection of the Cabrerets collection, which includes the faunal remains considered as unidentifiable, was included to the analysis in order to precise the faunal spectrum and to correct the MNI. During our study, 5770 bones remains and 497 teeth were analyzed. The aurochs largely dominates the faunal spectrum (with a % NISP of 95 % ), which is characterized by a high rate of identification (28 % ) due to the over -representation of large remains, a direct consequence of the excavation strategies. New species were identified in our revision with the discovery of a hyena canine and five remains of bear. Based on the faunal spectrum and its association with the denticulate Mousterian (Jaubert, 1990), an attribution of the site to the MIS7 is proposed. The absence of digested bones, the scarcity of carnivores and the absence of their young individuals conducted to reject these agents for the origin of the bone accumulation. On the opposite, the human modifications on the material associated with the large number of silex, sustain the hypothesis of a human accumulation. The taphonomic analysis of the material confirms the important alteration of the cortical surface of the bone mainly due to the weathering and some calcite depositions. However, these modifications seem to have only a limited impact on the representation of the human modifications and cannot explain their relative scarcity. The reexamination of the aurochs bone assemblage leads to a large increase of the previously proposed MNI to now 63 individuals (based on the second upper molar). The skeletal profile has been largely biased during the rescue excavation and no significant correlation were identified between the frequency of the anatomical parts and their density or their nutritive utility (tested by the FUI and the MUI). The skull and the belts are over -represented compared to the long bones. The phalanges are found complete with no evidence of human intervention. The limited human impact (8,1 % of the remains of the Bordeaux collection) is characterized by cut marks, notches and retouchers. Disarticulation and filleting are attested but bone fragmentation for recovery of the marrow and grease was limited. It results from it a limited number of green fractures (observable on only 54 % of the remains) and the prevalence of long bone articular extremities attests that they were not exploited for the extraction of grease. Simultaneously, the phalanges are found complete with no evidence of human intervention. All these elements suggest a limited investment of the butchery activities. The seasonal indication obtained by Slott -Moller (1990) based on tooth eruption sequence indicate multiple periods of death around the year. Based on our results and by taking into account the age profile established by Brugal (1995), we conclude that the accumulation is the consequence of multiple events of mass slaughtering of aurochs resulting from a specialized hunting on this animal. The site would have been secondarily scavenged by carnivores. Thus, our study brings some quantify data confirming the first interpretation of the site made by Jaubert and colleagues (1990), but simultaneously it adds some nuances. The hunters of La Borde aurochs took advantage of the topography of the landscape to bring down and trap the animals, and then processed the carcasses to obtain the resources they needed. The limited human impact on the carcasses supports the hypothesis of their large number and a quantity of food to process larger than what the group needed or was able to transport. The presence of all skeletal elements but in imbalance proportion and the low rate of butchery marks could correspond to one of the following exploitation modalities: 1) either the carcasses were only slightly or not at all invested, the first individuals that fell in the trap being neglected because they were buried under their fellow animals, or 2) some animals may have been the object of a more selective exploitation. The site was probably used recurrently during the year (Slott -Moller, 1990), and no evidence of differed consumption have been identified. Thus, the question of a residential mobility may be here raised. The topography characteristic of the site and the possible presence of aurochs in large number all along the year is probably the reasons why humans decided to invest this specific location, finding there the assurance to have always at their disposition a large resource of food. The conclusion of our study highlights the originality of La Borde in the Middle Paleolithic record of Western Europe with a monospecific faunal spectrum resulting in the slaughter of a large number of aurochs at least 130 ky ago. This study helps to document the diversity of the subsistence strategies developed by Neanderthal during the Pleistocene.

Understanding Palaeolithic hominin subsistence strategies requires the comprehensive taxonomic identification of faunal remains. The high fragmentation of Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages often prevents proper taxonomic identification based on bone morphology. It has been assumed that the morphologically unidentifiable component of the faunal assemblage would reflect the taxonomic abundances of the morphologically identified portion. In this study, we analyse three faunal datasets covering the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) and Les Cottés and La Ferrassie (France) with the application of collagen type I peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS). Our results emphasise that the fragmented component of Palaeolithic bone assemblages can differ significantly from the morphologically identifiable component. We obtain contrasting identification rates between taxa resulting in an overrepresentation of morphologically identified reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) and an underrepresentation of aurochs/bison ( Bos/Bison) and horse/European ass ( Equus ) at Les Cottés and La Ferrassie. Together with an increase in the relative diversity of the faunal composition, these results have implications for the interpretation of subsistence strategies during a period of possible interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens in Europe. Furthermore, shifts in faunal community composition and in carnivore activity suggest a change in the interaction between humans and carnivores across the MUPT and indicate a possible difference in site use between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens . The combined use of traditional and biomolecular methods allows (zoo)archaeologists to tackle some of the methodological limits commonly faced during the morphological assessment of Palaeolithic bone assemblages.

Here we present stable carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotope ratios of collagen extracted from Rangifer , Equus and Bison bone ( n = 128) from different stratigraphic levels at the chronologically well-constrained Middle and Upper Palaeolithic site of Les Cottés, France. Samples were taken from five phases of site use (US08, US06, US04 [upper and lower], and US02; ~ 45.8–35.3 ka cal BP) to explore the dietary and spatial palaeoecology of these ungulate species during MIS 3, and the contemporary climate. Temporal trends in δ 15 N values of all species broadly align with other climatic indicators at the site and the lowest values in US04 correspond to the Heinrich 4 cooling event, reflecting changes in the composition of soil/plant nitrogen at this time. Rangifer collagen is 13 C-enriched compared to the other species throughout, consistent with lichen consumption. However, this isotopic niche partitioning between Rangifer and Equus / Bison is most extensive during US04, indicating plasticity in reindeer feeding behaviour, and potentially overall increased lichen biomass during this cooler/more arid phase. Rangifer δ 34 S values are consistently lower than Equus and Bison , which could be indicative of their more extensive spatial ranges incorporating greater inland areas. Equus and Bison demonstrate a significant decrease in δ 34 S values through time, which may be linked to contemporary climatic decline.

Did Neanderthal produce a bone industry? The recent discovery of a large bone tool assemblage at the Neanderthal site of Chagyrskaya (Altai, Siberia, Russia) and the increasing discoveries of isolated finds of bone tools in various Mousterian sites across Eurasia stimulate the debate. Assuming that the isolate finds may be the tip of the iceberg and that the Siberian occurrence did not result from a local adaptation of easternmost Neanderthals, we looked for evidence of a similar industry in the Western side of their spread area. We assessed the bone tool potential of the Quina bone-bed level currently under excavation at chez Pinaud site (Jonzac, Charente-Maritime, France) and found as many bone tools as flint ones: not only the well-known retouchers but also beveled tools, retouched artifacts and a smooth-ended rib. Their diversity opens a window on a range of activities not expected in a butchering site and not documented by the flint tools, all involved in the carcass processing. The re-use of 20% of the bone blanks, which are mainly from large ungulates among faunal remains largely dominated by reindeer, raises the question of blank procurement and management. From the Altai to the Atlantic shore, through a multitude of sites where only a few objects have been reported so far, evidence of a Neanderthal bone industry is emerging which provides new insights on Middle Paleolithic subsistence strategies.

During the MIS 4 in Southwestern France, Quina Neanderthal from the north of the Aquitaine was characterized by a hunting specialization on the reindeer and the lack of diversity in their diet. They developed task-specific locations dedicated to the capture, the butchery, and the consumption of reindeer, and the whole society seems, in this region, to be dependent on this food resource. In this context, the site of Chez-Pinaud at Jonzac (France) occupies a specific place. First, interpreted as a reindeer kill and butchery site, the recent recovery of the site underlines the importance of the large ungulate (horse and bison) to the faunal spectrum (30% of the NISP). Considering the quantity of meat and grease that these species can provide to hunters, the new zooarchaeological analyses suggest that at least the horse may have played a major role in the diet of the Neanderthal population. Since Jonzac is one of the largest sites for this period, these results relativize the importance of reindeer specialization of the Quina population and the lack of diversityl in their diet.

Herbivore teeth are a valuable source of information for inferring the hunting season of past hunter-gatherers, the spatial–temporal organization of their activities, their socio-economic organization, and their adaptation to the seasonal fluctuation of the resources. Numberless of studies have been conducted on Neanderthals across Eurasia, but only few of them rely on the application of cementochronology and tooth wear analyses combined to obtain information about the ungulate paleodiet, paleoenvironments, and the time range of the mortality events. In this study, we present the results achieved though the combination of these two high-resolution techniques applied to large and medium-sized herbivore teeth yielded by two Middle Paleolithic sites in the north-east of Italy. We combined the two methodologies with the aim to overcome any possible lack of information, due to the use of a single method. This study addressed to analyze the material coming from two caves in the Venetian region, De Nadale and San Bernardino, and to produce data supporting the interpretation of the origin of the two archaeofaunal assemblages as a result of seasonal hunting events that took place mainly in winter. In this specific geographic and environmental context, our data gain a better understanding of Neanderthal subsistence strategies and occupational patterns.

The activities’ spatial organization of Neanderthal’s territory is often explored by studying stone tool production and use, and its economy, but not their hunting behavior. Consequently, the hypothesis that Neanderthals lacked planning potential or complex land-use strategies during the Mousterian, such as collaborative hunting and food storage, has been questioned. A cementochronology analysis of reindeer in Quina and Discoidal Denticulate in four neanderthal sites in southwestern France suggests a repeated use of specific sites at a precise time of the year for similar hunting purposes scheduled according to a year-round pattern. The development of landmark sites during the late Middle Paleolithic used every year, at the same moment, indicates that the predation system began to structure the activity’s organization within the territory in time and space and that the preys’ behavior directly impacted the social organization of the hunting groups.

For human dental cementum research, sample preparation protocol is now widely tested, validated, and standardized, thanks to the low variability in teeth morphology. For non-human mammals, posterior teeth are typically preferred. However, the taxa diversity implies a significant variation in morphology or specific characteristics for certain species (equids, suids), leading to multiple unstandardized protocols. This work aims to improve protocols for producing a thin section by optimizing the parameters, minimizing the risk of errors, and offering an easily reproducible quality of thin-sections. The result of 26 experiments and 124 analyses during stages of consolidation (embedding), cutting, gluing, and finishing (grinding) allowed the co-authors' combined experience from multiple laboratories to propose standardized humans and ungulates (large teeth) protocols for the systematic analysis of dental research collections.

Acellular cementum anchors the root to the alveolar socket via the periodontal ligament and grows in layers continuously throughout life, unlike enamel and dentin. Increments are deposited in a biannual light-dark pattern correlated to age and season at death in transmitted light microscopy. This study investigates the still debated structure of individual acellular increments using x-ray fluorescence and x-ray diffraction mapping with synchrotron radiation microbeams on reindeer, red deer, cattle, and human samples. Results show that Ca or Zn x-ray fluorescent intensities and cAp diffracted intensity reveal cementum band structure. Average crystallographic texture (of cAp nanoplatelets’ orientation and collagen fibril orientations) is constant for each specimen. Microtextural variation is also present across individual bands, demonstrating that the overall collagen fibril orientation undergoes subtle changes with season. Patterns of “feast or famine” and concomitant changes in amount and intensity of PDL loading might produce altered collagen (and cAp) orientations between the “good” and the “bad” seasons for ungulates but maybe not for modern human populations.

Neanderthal subsistence strategies were considered for a long time through the lens of the duality of selection versus opportunism, mostly as a comparison to the hunting behaviours developed in later periods. Based on some examples from the literature, this chapter proposes a review to discuss the presence of selection and opportunism in the different stages of the predation chaîne opératoire developed by Neanderthal populations in Eurasia. We underline the existence of a continuum between these two options and the impossibility of using this duality to evaluate the Mousterian subsistence strategy. We conclude that long-term organisation is at the centre of the Neanderthal subsistence and is strongly connected with the adaptation of Neanderthals to the opportunity offered by their territory.