Were Neandertals the Original Snowbirds? Zooarchaeological Evidence from Greece

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Peninsular Southern Europe Refugia during the Middle Paleolithic" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Compared to other parts of Eurasia, the southern Balkan Peninsula had a relatively stable climate during the Late Pleistocene. Zooarchaeological materials from the Asprochaliko Rockshelter in northwestern Greece provide evidence for hominin subsistence strategies in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. In this study, we employ taxonomic abundance and diversity indices to investigate hominin prey choice, while taphonomic observations provide further information on resource exploitation and site use. We discuss these lines of evidence in relation to data on environmental productivity and site occupation, relying on ungulate evenness and mortality profiles to assess the relationship between hominin subsistence practices and climate. We complement our results with published faunal studies from Klissoura 1, Lakonis 1, and Kalamakia caves in southern Greece. We examine changes in the faunal composition of the four sites in an attempt to identify the extent to which climate influenced resource availability and diversity in the region, stimulating shifts in hominin subsistence. Additional evidence for seasonal variation in site use allows us to evaluate the region’s character as a refugium during MIS 5d-3.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Peninsular Southern Europe Refugia during the Middle Paleolithic

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24110