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Studying Pleistocene Neanderthal and cave hyena Dietary Habits: Combining Isotopic and Archaeozoological Analyses

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Abstract

Stable isotope analysis is increasingly used to gain insight in the configuration of Pleistocene ecosystems. The application of isotope analysis to Neanderthal and cave hyena bone assemblages has led to hypotheses about the niche differentiation between these species. Comparing isotopic data with archaeozoology analyses shows discrepancies between the results of both analytical methods. Here, the results of all northwest European stable isotope studies on Neanderthals are reviewed. The emphasis of the analysis is on a sample of sites from MIS 4-3 in southwest France. Causes of the discrepancy between archaeozoological and stable isotope results are discussed and hypotheses reconciling the data are proposed. Recommendations for further research will allow testing of the hypotheses and increase our understanding of the functioning of Pleistocene ecosystems.

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Notes

  1. Sorensen and Leonard (2001) estimate that a Neanderthal needed 1.85 kg of meat per day. The meat and organs of a female mammoth are estimated to weigh about 2,476 kg (Jones 1990). This would mean that one mammoth would provide enough food for a Neanderthal to survive 1,338 days.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; grant no. 360-60-050) and by Christopher Henshilwood who granted an NRF postdoctoral fellowship through his SARCHI chair. Stephane Madelaine kindly provided information on the faunal assemblage from La Berbie. Welmoed Out spent much effort procuring literature that would otherwise have been unavailable to me. This paper benefited immensely from discussions with Raymond Corbey, Adam Jagich, Hylke de Jong, Geeske Langejans, Brian Kuhn, Marlize Lombard, Kathy Macdonald, Wil Roebroeks and Alexander Verpoorte. The anonymous reviewers also provided very helpful suggestions.

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

    Gerrit Leendert Dusseldorp

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

    Gerrit Leendert Dusseldorp

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Dusseldorp, G.L. Studying Pleistocene Neanderthal and cave hyena Dietary Habits: Combining Isotopic and Archaeozoological Analyses. J Archaeol Method Theory 18, 224–255 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-010-9099-3

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