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Neanderthals and Cave Hyenas: Co-existence, Competition or Conflict?

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Zooarchaeology and Modern Human Origins

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Neanderthals and their predecessors co-existed with a number of large carnivores. Hence, the Neanderthal predatory niche was shaped by their co-existence with carnivores exploiting the same categories of prey. Here, I analyze cave hyena prey deposits and Neanderthal bone assemblages dating to MIS 3 and 4 to determine the degree of niche overlap between Neanderthals and large carnivores. The results suggest that although the exploited species overlap between Neanderthals and cave hyenas, the emphasis of exploitation was on different animal groups.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For the hyena assemblages from Bois Roche, Les Plumettes and Rochers-de-Villeneuve, bones identified to herbivore size classes were included in the ∑NISP; this may lead to a slight underestimation of hyena assemblage diversity relative to the Mousterian assemblages.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant no. 360-60-050) and the National Research Foundation, through a South African National Research Foundation postdoctoral fellowship granted by Professor Christopher Henshilwood. I thank Jamie Clark and John Speth for inviting me to contribute to the ICAZ session “Variability in human hunting behavior during Oxygen Isotope Stages (OIS) 4/3: implications for understanding modern human origins”. Jerome Reynard provided help regarding the construction of graphs. Kristian Carlson advised on the statistics. Eugene Morin and Michel Lenoir kindly clarified some issues regarding a number of hyena sites. Emmanuel Discamps cordially provided me with advice and work that had not been published at the time of writing. Arne Wossink, Aurore Val, Geeske Langejans and Luc Amkreutz helped me get hold of important literature. Marco Langbroek and two anonymous reviewers provided important comments on how to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, PO 2050 WITS, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Gerrit L. Dusseldorp

  2. Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Gerrit L. Dusseldorp

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Arkansas, USA

    Jamie L. Clark

  2. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    John D. Speth

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Dusseldorp, G.L. (2013). Neanderthals and Cave Hyenas: Co-existence, Competition or Conflict?. In: Clark, J., Speth, J. (eds) Zooarchaeology and Modern Human Origins. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6766-9_12

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