The Mousterian fauna from Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France

Grotte XVI考古遗址位于法国西南部的多尔多涅地区，包含了一系列人类活动，这些活动始于7万年前，一直持续到大约1万年前的冰河时代结束。这个洞穴最初是由尼安德特人居住的，但后来的居住者在各方面都是现代人，两者之间的过渡被认为发生在大约3万年前。不仅格罗特十六世的考古序列跨越了至少6万年，而且大型哺乳动物的骨骼和牙齿保存得非常好，而且被认为代表最新的尼安德特人（“查特佩隆人”）和最早的现代人类（“奥里尼亚纪”）的考古组合也得到了很好的代表。该遗址有丰富的大型有蹄类动物的遗骸，如驯鹿、马鹿、野山羊和马，所有这些都提供了该遗址居民饮食的信息，以及法国西南部这部分哺乳动物的历史。此前由美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）支持的对这些动物群的研究表明，该遗址的Chtelperronian居民（可能是尼安德特人）的饮食与紧随其后使用该遗址的人（可能是生物学和行为上的现代人）的饮食没有显著差异。这一证明与欧洲其他地区的研究一起表明，如果现代人真的取代了尼安德特人，那么动物资源的不同使用可能并不是导致这种情况发生的主要原因。事实上，ChAtelperronian和Aurignacian大型哺乳动物群之间唯一重要的区别就是洞熊。这些巨大的食肉动物在ChAtelperronian时期（以及更早的时期）很常见，但此后很快就消失了，似乎后尼安德特时代对洞穴的日益密集使用可能加速了这些非凡动物的灭绝。此外，对大约3.6万到1.2万年前格罗特16号大型哺乳动物历史的分析表明，驯鹿（在北美被称为北美驯鹿）的丰度随着夏季气温的上升和下降而上升：夏季较暖时，驯鹿的数量要少得多。最终，在冰河时代末期，夏季气温变得非常温暖，驯鹿在这里灭绝了。这种对驯鹿历史的长期观察表明，目前北美北部的驯鹿种群可能特别容易受到全球气候变暖的影响。虽然我们对人类饮食和大型哺乳动物历史的详细描述目前可以追溯到大约36000年前，但Grotte XVI序列包括丰富的莫斯特组合，清楚地反映了尼安德特人对该遗址的使用，可追溯到大约65000年前（该遗址的不太详细的记录更早）。美国国家科学基金会的支持也将允许对这些早期材料进行研究。这一分析将让我们知道早期尼安德特人的饮食是否与后来的沉积物中所代表的饮食不同，也将告诉我们夏季温度和驯鹿丰度之间的关系是否存在于冰河时代这么深的时期。

The Grotte XVI archaeological site, located in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, contains a sequence of human occupations that began prior to 70,000 years ago and that continued until the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. The cave was first occupied by Neandertals, but the later occupants were modern in all ways, with the transition between the two presumed to have occurred around 30,000 years ago. Not only does the archaeological sequence at Grotte XVI span at least 60,000 years, but the preservation of the bones and teeth of large mammals is excellent, and the archaeological assemblages assumed to represent the latest Neandertals-the "Chatelperronian"-and the earliest modern peoples-the "Aurignacian"-are well-represented. The site is rich in the remains of such large ungulates as reindeer, red deer, ibex, and horse, all of which provide information on the diets of the residents of the site, and on the mammal history of this part of southwestern France. Previous work on these faunal assemblages, supported by the National Science Foundation, has shown that the diet of the Chtelperronian residents of the site (presumably Neandertals) did not differ in significant ways from that of the people (presumably modern in biology and behavior) who used the site immediately after them. This demonstration joins work from other parts of Europe in suggesting that if modern peoples truly replaced Neandertals, the differential use of animal resources may not have played a major role in allowing this to occur. In fact, the only important difference between the ChAtelperronian and Aurignacian large mammal assemblages involves cave bears. These huge carnivores were common in the ChAtelperronian level (as well as in earlier ones), but disappear soon thereafter, and it appears that increasingly intense use of caves in post-Neandertal times may have hastened the extinction of these remarkable animals. In addition, analysis of the history of the large mammals that occur at Grotte XVI between about 36,000 and 12,000 years ago has shown that the abundances of reindeer (known in North America as caribou) rose and fell in concert with summer temperatures: reindeer were far less abundant when summers were warmer. Ultimately, at the end of the Ice Age, summer temperatures became so warm that reindeer became extinct here. This long-term view of reindeer history suggests that current caribou populations in northern North America may be particularly vulnerable to global climate warming. Although the detailed picture that we have of human diet and large mammal history currently goes back to about 36,000 years ago, the Grotte XVI sequence includes a rich Mousterian assemblage, clearly reflecting Neandertal use of the site, that dates to about 65,000 years ago (less detailed records from the site are older yet). Support from the National Science Foundation will allow this earlier material to be studied as well. This analysis will let us know whether earlier Neandertal diets differed from those represented in later deposits, and will also tell us whether the relationship between summer temperatures and reindeer abundances existed this deeply into the Ice Age.