Late and middle Pleistocene ungulates dietary diversity in Western Europe indicate variations of Neanderthal paleoenvironments through time and space |
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| Authors: | Florent Rivals Ellen Schulz Thomas M. Kaiser |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada;2. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany;3. Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;4. Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA;5. Institute for Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA;6. Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33400 Talence, France;1. IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, C/ Marcel·lí Domingo s/n., Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain;2. Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain;3. ICREA, Barcelona, Spain;4. Departament de Prehistòria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Lletres-Edifici B, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain;1. ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain;2. Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain;3. Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain;4. Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, Minist Culture & Com, LAMPEA, Aix-en-Provence, France;5. Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain;6. Centro UCM-ISCIII de Investigación sobre la Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Avda. Monforte de Lemos, 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain;7. UNIARQ - Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal |
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| Abstract: | Mesowear and microwear on enamel from 763 teeth of middle and late Pleistocene ungulates were analysed to infer the potential of dental wear analysis of faunal remains as a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxy in relation to climatic changes and diversity of vegetation available in the environment. Fossil localities including levels belonging to two glacial and two interglacial stages were selected in Germany, France, and Spain. At a temporal scale, results indicate that the dietary diversity in ungulates is higher during interglacial phases (MIS 5 and 3) than during pleniglacial phases (MIS 8 and 4). Dietary diversity is concluded to be related to climate-driven vegetation changes which during interglacials lead to increased variety of potential food items available to ungulates. At the geographical scale, during interglacials, changes in diet composition are evident along geographical gradients. The corresponding dietary gradients are proposed to be related to climate and vegetation gradients reflecting more arid climates in the Mediterranean area compared to North-Western Europe. Species consistently represented at all localities investigated are Cervus elaphus (Cervidae, Artiodactyla) and Equus ferus (Equidae, Perissodactyla). C. elaphus populations are found to consistently have less abrasive diets than E. ferus populations but dietary traits of both species varied largely, revealing a significant plasticity in the feeding adaptation of both species. Those traits are concluded to be related to differences in vegetation structure at each locality and complement the evidence that ungulates have broader dietary habits than what is usually assumed. |
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