A study in seasonality.

Fossil hominid morphology, archaeology, and genetics indicate that in Europe 30,000-40,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans and their Upper Paleolithic industries replaces Neandertals and the Middle Paleolithic tools. Neandertals had thrived for hundreds of thousands of years, so why were they replaced? One possibility is that modern humans were able to extract more resources from the environment. This dissertation tests this explanation by assessing variation present in ancient hunting practices and investigating the relationship between Late Pleistocene hominids, tool industries, and hunting. I examined the hunting of one species, red deer (Cervus elaphus), through time and across spaceusing prey age-at-death as an indicator of hunting strategy. In the process, I evaluated the ability of the Quadratic Drown Height Method to accurately assign age-at-death; compared how well histograms, boxplots, and triangular graphs reconstruct mortality proflies from fossil assemblages; and developed a novel method for statistically comparing samples on triangular graphs. My results show that Neandertals and modern humans did not differ significantly in their ability to hunt prime-age red deer. None of the mortality distributions from the archaeological samples resemble the distribution constructed from eld killed by wolves in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Like other carnivores, wolves usually take young, old, and infirm prey. Nevertheless, the samples included in this study show a shift in prey age-at-death durin gthe Middle Paleolithic approximately 5- kya. Young adult prey are more abundant in recent assemblages than in more ancient assemblages. Over 25 archaeological samples from western European contribute to these conclusions, making this dissertation the most comprehensive study of Pleistocene hunting to date. More well-dated samples are needed, however, to confirm these results. Because red deer skeletal and tooth size fluctuated across my samples, I investigated the relationship between clime and C. elaphus size to determine if body size could indicate paleoclimates. In modern North American specimens, distal metatarsal bredth has a good relationship with climate, and tooth breadth has a similar but weaker relationship. The modern European data do not relate clearly to climate. Fossil red deer are larger during glacials than interglacials, but additional data are needed to better define patterns.

Good books on Neanderthals have been a pleasing feature of the last few years; especially notable being The Neanderthals (Trinkhaus and Shipman 1994) and the prize-winning, In Search of the Neanderthals (Stringer and Gamble 1994).

Lithic Materials and Paleolithic Societies provides a detailed examination of the Paleolithic procurement and utilization of the most durable material in the worldwide archaeological record. The volume addresses sites ranging in age from some of the earliest hominin occupations in eastern and southern Africa to late Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene occupations in North American and Australia. The Early Paleolithic in India and the Near East, the Middle Paleolithic in Europe, and the Late Paleolithic in Europe and eastern Asia are also considered. The authors include established researchers who provide important synthetic statements updated with new information. Recent data are reported, often by younger scholars who are becoming respected members of the international research community. The authors represent research traditions from nine countries and therefore provide insight into the scholarly present as well as the Paleolithic past. Attempts are frequently made to relate lithic procurement and utilization to the organization of societies and even broader concerns of hominin behaviour. The volume re-evaluates existing interpretations in some instances by updating previous work of the authors and offers provocative new interpretations that at times call into question some basic assumptions of the Paleolithic. This book will be invaluable reading for advanced students and researchers in the fields of palaeolithic archaeology, geoarchaeology, and anthropology.