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Hominin subsistence and site function of TD10.1 bone bed level at Gran Dolina site (Atapuerca) during the late Acheulean
Author(s) -
RodríguezHidalgo Antonio,
Saladié Palmira,
Ollé Andreu,
Carbonell Eudald
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.2815
Subject(s) - acheulean , taphonomy , geography , archaeology , subsistence agriculture , early pleistocene , olduvai gorge , ungulate , predation , pleistocene , ecology , biology , habitat , agriculture
ABSTRACT In a recent paper, Stiner reviewed certain trends in the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) economy and social behaviour, including most notably galvanization of the prime‐age ungulate hunting niche, and the intensification of occupations in the form of domestic–residential camps. However, the emergence of these trends is blurred when we observe the European archaeological record before Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7. Our aim in this paper is to test the validity of some key arguments related to subsistence and occupation to assess the Lower Palaeolithic roots of these MP trends, using the faunal record of the TD10.1 bone bed level (ca. 300 ka) at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca). The taphonomic results from this level indicate an assemblage composed almost exclusively of prime‐age ungulates. Anthropogenic marks are very abundant, reflecting a wide variety of domestic activities. Early primary access to the carcasses by hominins, indicated by the taxonomic and mortality patterns, suggests the procurement of animal carcasses by regular hunting. Red deer, accompanied in lower proportions by other prey species, reinforce the selective character of the hominin subsistence strategies at the Gran Dolina TD10.1 bone bed, expanding temporally and geographically our documentation of the MP hominin predatory niche. Taphonomy, together with other results from technology and archaeo‐stratigraphy, suggest that the bone bed accumulation reflects long‐term hominin use of the site as a residential base camp, suggesting deep roots for the observed MP subsistence and occupational patterns.