List of Figures ................................................ xi
List of Tables ............................................... xvii
List of Appendices ............................................ xxi
Prologue .................................................... xxiii
1 The Research Problem ......................................... 1
Framing the Problem: Did Neandertals and Early Modern
Humans Differ in Terms of Foraging Behaviors? ................ 2
Organization of the Book ..................................... 4
2 Human Origins and the Problem of Neandertals ................. 5
Twentieth-Century Thought and the Emergence of the
Replacement Model ............................................ 5
Saint-Césaire and the Upper Paleolithic Neandertals .......... 7
Current Issues in the Modern Human Origins Debate ........... 10
Early Modern Human Fossils in Europe ..................... 10
Geographic Origin of the Aurignacian ..................... 11
Early Modern Human versus Neandertal Behaviors ........... 12
Genetic Evidence for a Population Expansion .............. 13
Formulation of a Test Applicable to Archaeological Remains .. 16
The Demic Expansion Hypothesis and Its Ecological
Implications ............................................. 16
Assumptions Underlying the Archaeological Test ........... 18
3 Foraging Theory and the Archaeological Record ............... 19
The Prey Choice Model ....................................... 21
The Patch Choice Model ...................................... 22
The Marginal Value Theorem .................................. 23
Central Place Foraging Models ............................... 25
Problems in Archaeological Applications ..................... 27
The Body Size Rule ....................................... 27
Abundance Indices ........................................ 37
Currency and Foraging Goals in Humans .................... 38
Operationalizing the Test of the Intensification
Hypothesis .................................................. 39
A Problem of Equifinality: Climate as a Cause of Diet
Widening ................................................. 39
Faunal Implications with Respect to Prey Choice ............. 41
Prey Choice at the Individual Level ...................... 47
Selection of Marrow and Bone Grease Elements ............. 51
Why Saint-Cesaire? ....................................... 51
Summary of the Predictions .................................. 52
4 Saint-Cesaire ............................................... 54
The Site Stratigraphy ....................................... 57
Morphology of the Deposit ................................... 60
Chronology of the Occupations ............................... 61
Human Remains ............................................... 62
Paleoecological Setting ..................................... 63
5 The Fauna ................................................... 65
Samples and Methods ......................................... 65
Estimating Abundance in the Faunal Samples ............... 66
Refitting ................................................ 69
Analysis of the Specimens ................................ 70
Statistical Methods ...................................... 73
Presentation of the Faunal Samples .......................... 73
Taxonomic Composition of the Assemblages .................... 75
Bison or Aurochs? ........................................ 77
Other Faunal Remains ..................................... 80
Skeletal Part Representation at Saint-Cesaire ............... 83
6 Taphonomy ................................................... 93
The Chronological Grain at Saint-Cesaire .................... 93
Recovery Methods ............................................ 94
Specimen Fragmentation ...................................... 95
Patterns of Preservation .................................... 98
Types of Damage ......................................... 104
Agents of Accumulation ..................................... 105
Retouchers .............................................. 108
Carnivores .............................................. 110
The Impact of Identification Filters on the Assemblages .... 113
Differential Identification of Skeletal Elements ........ 113
Differential Identification of Long Bone Shafts ......... 118
Effects of Counting Methods on Head Representation ...... 120
Scalar Effects in Species Identification ................ 122
Burning .................................................... 125
Conclusions on Taphonomy ................................... 131
7 Seasonality ................................................ 132
Biology of the Main Ungulate Species at Saint-Cesaire ...... 132
Reindeer ................................................ 132
Bison and Horse ......................................... 133
Synchrony of Birthing in Reindeer, Bison, and Horse ........ 134
Seasonality Patterns in Pleistocene Assemblages from
France .................................................. 135
Methods Used at Saint-Cesaire for Deriving Seasonality
Data .................................................... 137
Dental Remains .......................................... 137
Antler Development and Cycle ............................ 139
Bone Fusion ............................................. 144
Fetal Bones ............................................. 145
Incorporating Variation in Birth Synchrony in Fetal
Age Estimates ........................................... 145
Seasons of Procurement in the Assemblages .................. 146
Conclusions on Seasonality Patterns at Saint-Cesaire ....... 159
8 Transport Decisions and Currency Analysis .................. 162
Methodological Notes on the Study of Skeletal
Representation ............................................. 162
Results of the Inter-Assemblage Rank-Order Correlations .... 164
Selection of a Currency .................................... 166
Transport Decisions in the Reindeer Assemblages ......... 167
Transport Decisions in the Bison Assemblages ............ 170
Transport Decisions in the Horse Assemblages ............ 174
Summary of the Currency Analysis ........................... 179
9 Testing the Hypotheses ..................................... 180
Encounter Rates with High-Return Prey Taxa ................. 181
Bison Availability ...................................... 181
Horse Availability ...................................... 181
Age Structure Analysis ..................................... 184
Juvenile and Old Adult Representation in the Reindeer
Assemblages ............................................. 184
Conclusions about Reindeer Age Structure ................ 185
Transport of Bison and Reindeer Parts ...................... 186
Cranium Transport ....................................... 186
Digit Transport ......................................... 190
Long Bone Transport ..................................... 192
Conclusions on Transport Strategies ..................... 198
Prey Choice at Saint-Cesaire ............................... 200
Exploitation of Fast Small-Sized Taxa in the Dry Land
Patch ................................................... 200
Prey Choice in the Wetland and Freshwater Patches ....... 206
Intensity of Bone Processing ............................... 207
Bone Grease Rendering ...................................... 209
Summary and Discussion ..................................... 210
10 Diet Breadth at the Regional Level ......................... 212
Grotte du Renne (Arcy-sur-Cure) ............................ 212
The Faunal Assemblages .................................. 213
Transport Decisions ..................................... 213
Fast Small-Bodied Taxa .................................. 214
Bone Processing ......................................... 216
Abri Pataud ................................................ 218
The Faunal Assemblages .................................. 218
Transport Decisions ..................................... 218
Fast Small-Bodied Taxa .................................. 219
Bone Processing ......................................... 221
Summary of Diet Breadth in Western France .................. 221
Diet Breadth in Other Regions of Europe and Southwest
Asia ....................................................... 221
The Northeastern Plains ................................. 224
Iberia .................................................. 226
Mediterranean France .................................... 230
Italy ................................................... 231
The Eastern Mediterranean ............................... 234
Discussion ................................................. 236
Conclusions on Diet Breadth in Europe and Western Asia ..... 242
11 An Alternative Look at the Middle to Upper Paleolithic
Transition ................................................. 247
How General Was the Shift toward Reindeer Dominance in
the Early Aurignacian? ..................................... 248
Results of the Reindeer Dominance Analysis ................. 250
Revisiting Mellars's Reindeer Specialization Hypothesis .... 250
The Relationship between Human Density and Mammal Species
Diversity .................................................. 253
Environmental Carrying Capacity in Late Pleistocene
France ..................................................... 257
The Time Series ......................................... 260
Reindeer Peaks and Millennial-Scale Climatic Events ..... 263
The Early Upper Paleolithic "Anomaly" ...................... 267
Demographic and Genetic Implications ....................... 268
12 Concluding Thoughts ........................................ 272
Appendices ................................................. 275
References ................................................. 311
Index ......................................................... 357
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