Sep 23, 2017 - Neanderthal occupations and subsistence opportunities based on estimations of ungulate biomass production. Lutz Kindler1, Eduard Pop1, ...
7th Annual Meeting of the
European Society for the study of Human Evolution
21-23 September 2017 LEIDEN / THE NETHERLANDS
European Society for the study of Human Evolution
ESHE 7th Annual Meeting Leiden, The Netherlands, 21st-23rd Sept. 2017
Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution Vol. 6
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Cover image: Homo erectus holotype cranium and shell engraving, Trinil, Indonesia (Dubois Collection, Naturalis, Leiden, The Netherlands) Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution Vol. 6 Citation: PESHE 6, 2017 © 2017 European Society for the study of Human Evolution All rights reserved PESHE 6 compiled and designed by Mikaela Lui Cover and Logo Design by Joanne Porck ISSN 2195-0776 (Print) ISSN 2195-0784 (Online)
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Abstracts
Podium Presentation: Session 5, Fr (10:20)
The Last Interglacial (Eemian) lakeland of Neumark-Nord (Saxony-Anhalt, GER). Reconstructing Neanderthal occupations and subsistence opportunities based on estimations of ungulate biomass production Lutz Kindler1 , Eduard Pop1 , Alejandro García-Moreno1 , Sabine Gaudzonski-Windheuser1 , Wil Roebroeks2 , Geoff Smith1 1 - MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution · 2 - University of Leiden, Faculty of Archaeology Human diet in the Pleistocene was substantially based on ungulate hunting. Ungulate carrying capacity in past ecosystems must have been a key factor influencing human subsistence in terms of prey choice, mobility as well as social organization and population size. Thus, defining the past biocoenosis, from which a studied thanatocoenosis originates, is a major challenge in the study of human subsistence based on faunal analysis. For the last interglacial (Eemian) forested ecosystem on the Northern European Plain, rather unfavorable conditions for Neanderthal hunters were reconstructed compared to open mammoth steppe environments during glacial periods. Like modern-day temperate and tropical forests, the Eemian deciduous forests would have been characterized by a high primary production and high primary biomass. Most of this richness would have consisted of trees and vegetational resources relatively expensive to process and only available over short periods of time, while meat must have been a critical food source. In contrast to the open mammoth steppe environments, ungulate biomass in forested environments would have been significantly lower and more dispersed, complicating the detection, tracking, and killing of prey. Based on the faunal and palaeoenvironmental evidence from Neumark-Nord, Germany, we can qualify aspects of ungulate biomass and Neanderthal subsistence opportunities during the Eemian. Major determinants of the carrying capacity of an ecosystem are temperature and rainfall. Reconstruction of both parameters in the region of Neumark-Nord during the Eemian allows us to give estimates of ungulate carrying capacity and biomass production. At Neumark-Nord (two lake basins: NN1 and NN2) the remains of more than 500 larger mammal individuals were uncovered. The high-resolution palaeoenvironmental record of Neumark-Nord allows the definition of different thanatocoenoses attributed to the different pollen stages of the Eemian succession. For each thanatocoenosis we provide species composition, the rate of human involvement as well as calculations of overall body weight and caloric values. The combination of the calculated (theoretical) carrying capacity and the (factual) biomass of the death assemblages allows us to construct a frame of subsistence opportunities and to compare them with observed subsistence patterns at Neumark-Nord. This discussion circles around the following questions: 1. Could and did ungulate biomass at Neumark-Nord reach the Carrying Capacity? 2. What is the size of the “catchment area” of the ungulates deposited at Neumark-Nord? 3. How did ungulate biomass influence Neanderthal organization (i.e. mobility, group size) in the region of Neumark-Nord? 4. What can we say about prey choice at Neumark-Nord? 5. Can we measure an impact of Neanderthals on ungulate populations during the Eemian at Neumark-Nord?
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