Using ZooMS to Reconstruct Neanderthal Faunal Exploitation in the Early Sequence of Crvena Stijena, Montenegro

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Late Middle Paleolithic in the Western Balkans: Results from Recent Excavations at Crvena Stijena, Montenegro" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Crvena Stijena is one of the most significant Paleolithic sites in southeastern Europe. Although scientific excavations conducted here in the 1950s, 1960s, and since 2004 have uncovered several Middle Paleolithic faunal assemblages, the results of the early excavations were not quantified, while the latter has not yet reached the deeper levels. To better comprehend the Neanderthal paleodiet during the past 80,000 years, it is preferable to increase the sample size for the older layers where the number of faunal remains is small. Unidentifiable bone fragments sampled from the south and east profiles in Crvena Stijena were therefore analyzed using ZooMS (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry). This study applies paleoproteomic techniques to ancient archaeological specimens of varying preservation conditions in order to shed further light on patterns of faunal exploitation at the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Late Middle Paleolithic in the Western Balkans: Results from Recent Excavations at Crvena Stijena, Montenegro   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36097.0