Evidence of diverse animal exploitation during the Middle Paleolithic at Ghar-e Boof (southern Zagros).

Autor: Mata-González M; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany. mario.mata-gonzalez@student.uni-tuebingen.de.; Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Unit 1176, 354 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA. mario.mata-gonzalez@student.uni-tuebingen.de., Starkovich BM; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany., Zeidi M; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany., Conard NJ; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP), Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2023 Nov 03; Vol. 13 (1), pp. 19006. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Nov 03.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45974-8
Abstrakt: Although Middle Paleolithic (MP) hominin diets consisted mainly of ungulates, increasing evidence demonstrates that hominins at least occasionally consumed tortoises, birds, leporids, fish, and carnivores. Until now, the MP zooarchaeological record in the Zagros Mountains has been almost exclusively restricted to ungulates. The narrow range of hominin prey may reflect socioeconomic decisions and/or environmental constraints, but could also result from a research bias favoring the study of large prey, since archaeologists have undertaken no systematic taphonomic analyses of small game or carnivores in the region. Here, we report on the first comprehensive taphonomic analysis of an MP faunal assemblage from Ghar-e Boof (∼ 81-45 kyr), a Late Pleistocene site in the southern Zagros of Iran. Anthropogenic bone surface modifications point to hominins as the main agent of accumulation. Hominins preyed primarily on ungulates, particularly wild goat. However, we also found evidence for MP hominin exploitation of carnivores and tortoises at the site. Although small game represents only a minor portion of the diet, our results suggest that the hunting behavior of MP hominins in the Zagros was more diverse than previously thought, similar to what we find elsewhere in Eurasia.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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