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Dietary traits and habitats of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) during the Late Glacial of Northern Europe

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Abstract

Among other large mammals, the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is a species widely documented during the Late Glacial in Northern Europe. It is present at many archeological sites and has the potential to provide information about environmental conditions through analysis of the paleodiet. Among other techniques, tooth wear analyses allow for the inference of the dietary traits of a population and its habitat (and more largely the environmental context) at the time of death. In this study, tooth microwear and mesowear analyses were used to characterize the diet and habitat of the reindeer populations from Stellmoor and Meiendorf (Northern Germany) and Verberie (Paris Basin). We use tooth wear analyses to estimate the dependence of reindeer on lichen between the early Late Glacial interstadial (GI-1e) and the cold episode of the Younger Dryas (GS-1), which are both characterized by tundra vegetation. New radiocarbon dates were obtained on selected materials from the two northern sites in order to confirm the chronological attribution to either the GI-1e or the GS-1. We observed significant differences between the two periods, with an increase of lichen in the diet in the populations from the Younger Dryas. These fit with the results obtained on the collagen isotopic signature (δ13C, δ15N) of the reindeer from the same sites. The steppic cold conditions during the Younger Dryas created favorable conditions for greater lichen availability and permitted the return of the reindeer to Northern Europe.

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Acknowledgments

FR is grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for financial support for a research visit to the Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf. The research of FR is supported by projects 2017 SGR 836 from the Generalitat de Catalunya. We acknowledge Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle and Stéphane Madelaine (Musée national de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac) for access to the materials from Verberie. We equally thank Dr. I. Ulbricht for access to the material from Meiendorf and Stellmoor and Dr. J. Meadows for radiocarbon dating the samples from these sites (both Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf). Finally, we are thankful to the comments from two anonymous reviewers that helped to improve this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the European Social Fund and Ministry of Science, Research, and Arts of Baden-Württemberg, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen (Dr. I. Ulbricht, Dr. J. Meadows) and the PCR Paris Basin (dir. Dr. B. Valentin, L. Mevel, S. Griselin). Florent Rivals is supported by projects HAR2016-76760-C3-1-P from spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación, the project 2017SGR836 from the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, Barcelona, 08010, Spain

    Florent Rivals

  2. Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), Tarragona, 43007, Spain

    Florent Rivals

  3. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, Tarragona, 43002, Spain

    Florent Rivals

  4. Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany

    Dorothée G. Drucker

  5. Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, 24837, Germany

    Mara-Julia Weber

  6. UMR 7041 ArScAn (Ethnologie préhistorique), CNRS, Paris I-Paris X, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie René Ginouvès, 21 Allée de l’Université, Nanterre Cedex, 92023, France

    Françoise Audouze & James G. Enloe

  7. Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa, 247 Macbride Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242-1322, USA

    James G. Enloe

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  1. Florent Rivals
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  2. Dorothée G. Drucker
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Correspondence to Florent Rivals.

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Rivals, F., Drucker, D.G., Weber, MJ. et al. Dietary traits and habitats of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) during the Late Glacial of Northern Europe. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 98 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01052-y

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