Biogeologists have
shown how Gravettian people shared their food 30,000 years ago. About 30,000 years
ago Predmosti was inhabited by people of the pan-European Gravettian culture,
who used the bones of more than 1000 mammoths to build their settlement and to
ivory sculptures. Did prehistoric people collect this precious raw material
from carcasses -- easy to spot on the big cold steppe -- or were they the
direct result of hunting for food? Předmostí I is an exceptional prehistoric
site located near Brno in the Czech Republic. Around 30,000 years ago it was
inhabited by people of the pan-European Gravettian culture, who used the bones
of more than 1000 mammoths to build their settlement and to ivory sculptures.
Did prehistoric people collect this precious raw material from carcasses --
easy to spot on the big cold steppe -- or were they the direct result of
hunting for food? This year-round settlement also yielded a large number of
canids remains, some of them with characteristics of Palaeolithic dogs. Were
these animals used to help hunt mammoths?
To answer these two
questions, Tübingen researcher Hervé Bocherens and his international team
carried out an analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in human and
animal fossil bones from the site. Working with researchers from Brno and
Brussels, the researchers were able to test whether the Gravettian people of
Předmostí ate mammoth meat and how the "palaeolithic dogs" fit into
this subsistence picture.
They found that
humans did consume mammoth -- and in large quantities. Other carnivores, such
as brown bears, wolves and wolverines, also had access to mammoth meat,
indicating the high availability of fresh mammoth carcasses, most likely left
behind by human hunters. Surprisingly, the dogs did not show a high level of
mammoth consumption, but rather consumed essentially reindeer meat that was not
the staple food of their owners. A similar situation is observed in traditional
populations from northern regions, who often feed their dogs with the food that
they do not like. These results also suggest that these early dogs were
restrained, and were probably used as transportation helpers.
These new results
provide clear evidence that mammoth was a key component of prehistoric life in
Europe 30,000 years ago, and that dogs were already there to help.
Citation
Bocherens H, Drucker
DG, Germonpré M, Lázničková-Galetová M, Naito YI, Wissing C, JBrůžek J, Oliva M.
2014. Reconstruction of the Gravettian food-web at Předmostí I using
multi-isotopic tracking (13C, 15N, 34S) of bone collagen. Quaternary
International, 2014; DOI:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.09.044
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