El papel de las pequeñas presas en la dieta humana del Paleolítico medio y superior. Una visión diacrónica desde el valle del Ródano al arco mediterráneo.

Identifier:  TDX:2756

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2756

Authors:  Rufà Bonache, Ana

Abstract:
The incorporation of small prey in human diets has been a wide topic of discussion. Multiple authors have attempted to identify when the systematic consumption of small prey began and to explain its regular intake, especially in the Late Upper Pleistocene. The present PhD thesis tackles these issues through the diachronic study of five archaeological assemblages containing small prey (leporids and birds): Payre, Abri des Pêcheurs, Grotte des Barasses II, Teixoneres Cave, and Molí del Salt. Using methods based on zooarchaeology and taphonomy, small prey remains were evaluated to demonstrate the involvement of human and non-human predators in these places and thereby to identify the possible exploitation patterns of small prey. The results show that ecology plays an important role in the representation of certain taxa and that the environmental changes during the Upper Pleistocene may have altered faunal populations, promoting the exploitation of other taxa that had previously been less significant to the human diet, such as small prey. However, these circumstances are not exclusive, because factors such as temporality or seasonality of occupation, functionality or objectives, local conditions, and other socio-cultural factors may have also affected the dietary spectrum independent of chronology.