Human Prey Choice during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in Southwestern France

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Donald Grayson will analyze archaeological fauna recovered from the site of Grotte VXI, la rock shelter which overlooks the Ceou River in Southwestern France. Ongoing excavation at the site has revealed a stratified series of cultural remains: the most recent dates to the Magdalenian, ca. 13,000 years ago while the lowest Mousterian levels are possibly over 100,000 years in age. The bottom of the deposits has not yet been reached. The sequence is significant because it includes the boundary which marks the appearance of biologically modern Homo sapiens in Europe. While Neanderthals, the bearers of Mousterian culture, fall within the modern human species, they are physically enough distinct to be accorded subspecific status; both biologically and in the stone tool assemblages produced they are clearly separated from their later Upper Paleolithic counterparts. Archaeological evidence indicates that modern humans replaced Neanderthals in Europe ca. 40,000 years ago and scientists wish to gain insight into this process. Neanderthals existed in Ice Age Europe for well over a hundred thousand years and were therefore well adapted to this environment. In their attempt to understand this transition researchers analyze archaeological remains of both groups to gain insight into cultural practices and Dr. Grayson's work falls into this tradition. He will study the faunal remains from the Mousterian and multiple Upper Paleolithic traditions represented at Grotte XVI and on this basis reconstruct subsistence practices. Most, although not all, faunal from the site represent food remains - the result of human hunting and scavenging. In particular Dr. Grayson will examine the question of diet breadth since it reflects underlying aspects of hunter gatherer strategy. A study of this type is complicated by the fact that multiple factors, including sample size and differential bone preservation, affect observed patterns and it is difficult to tease out a clear human signal. Dr. Grayson has developed techniques to do this. This research addresses an important anthropological question and should shed light on the process which led to the emergence of biologically and behaviorally modern humans. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. The analytic techniques developed by Dr. Grayson should have wide utility in a number of archaeological situations.