Chasse au mammouth et autres proboscidiens

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Mammoth hunting strategies during the Late Gravettian in Central Europe as determined from case studies of Milovice I (Czech Republic) and Kraków Spadzista (Poland) [Abstract]
Wilczynski et al.
Quaternary science reviews, 2019

The hunter-gatherers at both sites had a mammoth-hunting focus, although they used different sized lithic weapon tips for hunting and thus probably had different strategies for procuring prey. The mammoth mortality profiles are significantly different at the two sites. At Milovice I, mid-life adults dominate the profile, while juveniles greatly dominate at Kraków Spadzista.

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This study examines the archaeological evidence of proboscidean hunting during Paleolithic times, and provides a review of ethnographic and ethno-historical accounts, demonstrating a wide range of traditional elephant-hunting strategies. We also discuss the rituals accompanying elephant hunting among contemporary hunter-gatherers, further stressing the importance of elephants among hunter-gatherers. Based on the gathered data, we suggest that early humans possessed the necessary abilities to actively and regularly hunt proboscideans; and performed this unique and challenging task at will.

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Isotopic analyses suggest mammoth and plant in the diet of the oldest anatomically modern humans from far southeast Europe [Texte]
Drucker et al.
Nature scientific reports, 2017

The inferred human trophic position values point to terrestrial-based diet, meaning a significant contribution of mammoth meat, in addition to a clear intake of plant protein.

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Early human presence in the Arctic: Evidence from 45,000-year-old mammoth remains [Abstract]
Pitulko et al.
Science, 2016

Archaeological evidence for human dispersal through northern Eurasia before 40,000 years ago is rare. In west Siberia, the northernmost find of that age is located at 57°N. Elsewhere, the earliest presence of humans in the Arctic is commonly thought to be circa 35,000 to 30,000 years before the present. A mammoth kill site in the central Siberian Arctic, dated to 45,000 years before the present, expands the populated area to almost 72°N. The advancement of mammoth hunting probably allowed people to survive and spread widely across northernmost Arctic Siberia.

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A taste of an elephant: The probable role of elephant meat in Paleolithic diet preferences [PDF]
Hagar Reshef & Ran Barkai
Quaternary International, 2015

We suggest that early hominins might have had taste preferences and that elephant meat played a significant role in their diet, when available. Furthermore, the archaeological evidence coupled with ethnographic observations and the study of frozen mammoths suggest that juvenile elephants were specifically a delicacy and were hunted intentionally since their specific meat and fat composition seems to have had a better taste and a better nutritional value.

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Not the brain alone: The nutritional potential of elephant heads in Paleolithic sites [PDF]
Agam & Barkai
Quaternary international, 2015

The presence of elephants, and specifically of elephant head remains, is well demonstrated in many Paleolithic sites in Europe, Africa, and Asia. However, the possible mechanisms for the exploitation of this enormous body part are rarely discussed, and it is often suggested that elephants’ heads were exploited specifically for the extraction and consumption of the brain. In this paper, we discuss the nutritional potential that lies within elephants’ heads as implied by ethnographic and zoological literature, and present archaeological evidence from Paleolithic sites for the exploitation of proboscideans’ heads. The data show that the prevailing view should be re-evaluated, and that the nutritional potential within the elephant’s head extends far beyond the brain. We suggest that organs such as the temporal gland, the trunk, the tongue, the mandible and the skull itself were exploited routinely as an integral part of early humans’ diet. The nutritional potential of the elephant head provides a parsimonious explanation for the investment early humans put into transporting and exploiting this specific body part at open-air sites but particularly at cave sites, and serves as a significant beacon in understanding Paleolithic human behavior in relation to proboscidean remains.

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Strong reliance on mammoth meat was found for the human of the site, similarly to previously analyzed individuals from other Gravettian sites in Moravia. Interestingly, the large canids interpreted as “Palaeolithic dogs” had a high proportion of reindeer/muskox in their diet, while consumption of mammoth would be expected from the availability of this prey especially in case of close interaction with humans. The peculiar isotopic composition of the Palaeolithic dogs of Předmostí I may indicate some control of their dietary intake by Gravettian people, who could have use them more for transportation than hunting purpose.

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two hunting strategies have been identified in the Pavlov Hills area: one affecting subadults and adults, and the second one affecting young and subadult individuals. Chronology and the physical condition of the mammoth population are not convincing arguments to explain such a difference. Human behaviour was involved, and we suggest economic goals related to mammoth resources were the reasons for such a hunting selection.

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(Middle Pleistocene)

Elephants at the Middle Pleistocene Acheulian open-air site of Revadim Quarry, Israel
Rabinovich et al.
Quaternary international, 2012

The unprecedented quantity of elephant remains at the site is accompanied by large and rich lithic assemblages. Of special interest are several elephant bones with cut marks, and the earliest appearance in the southern Levant of bones that seem to have been shaped to resemble tools. The site bears testimony to complex exploitation of proboscideans.

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Elephants and subsistence. Evidence of the human exploitation of extremely large mammal bones from the Middle Palaeolithic site of PRERESA (Madrid, Spain) [Texte]
Yravedra et al.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2012

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The relationship between mammoths and humans deserves discussion. The coexistence of mammoth fossils and human remains or artifacts in many Paleolithic sites of Eurasia since the Pleistocene indicates that mammoths and humans inhabited the same biozone for a long time. For example, the coexistent interval of steppe mammoths and humans was at least 0.6 Ma in the Nihewan Basin of North China. The interval between the age of Majuangou site and Donggutuo site both including M. trogontherii fossils and artifacts was 1.7–1.1 Ma [16]. At the Majuangou site, one recovered rib of M. trogontherii with distinct chopping and scraping traces demonstrates mammoth-hunting by humans. There is synchronization between mammoth speciation and human evolution. The emergence of Australopithecus afarensis, Homo rudolfensis/Homo habilis, Homo erectus,and Homo heidelbergensis may correlate with the evolution of M. rumanus (3.5–3.0 Ma), M. meridionalis (2.6–2.5 Ma), M. trogontherii (1.8 Ma), and M. primigenius (0.8 Ma). On the other hand, the appearance of new species of mammoth, as many other terrestrial mega-mammals, closely follows palaeomagnetic reversal or global climatic events.

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Pas de certitudes quant à la chasse, mais boucheries des différentes parties de l’animal, dont organes, suggérant une acquisition de carcasses entières ou presque (« early acces »). Paléolithique moyen, Acheuléen.

Cut marks on the Middle Pleistocene elephant carcass of Áridos 2 (Madrid, Spain) [PDF]
Yravedra et al.
Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 2010

Cut marks have been found on the scapula and one rib of the
elephant at Áridos 2, indicative of butchery and involving both
defleshing and evisceration. This is suggestive of early access to the
carcass by hominins. Haynes (2005) shows that viscerae disappear
fast in the consumption of elephant carcasses by carnivores. This is
also indicative of large carcass consumption during the Middle
Pleistocene by hominins, not solely restricted to the Upper Pleis-
tocen.

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The combination of the homogeneous weathering rate of the mammoth bones, the isolated state of most of the skeletal elements, the restricted spatial range of the carnivore gnawing traces, the breakage pattern of the skulls and long bones, the sex ratio, the small body size of the adult mammoths, the age profile (with an important frequency of prime-aged cows), and the large number of individuals, suggest that the bone complexes at Yudinovo were constructed from body parts and bones that were extracted from freshly killed mammoths and that mammoth hunting was practised at this site during the Epigravettian.

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High levels of variability in each of the isotope systems at Clovis sites suggest that all of the sites examined represent time-averaged accumulations of unrelated individuals, rather than the mass deaths of family groups.

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Grandes proies ou petites proies ?

Deconstructing Hunting Returns: Can We Reconstruct and Predict Payoffs from Pursuing Prey?
Morin et al. (Bliege Bird)
Journal of archeological method and theory, 2021

We find that body size is a poor predictor of on-encounter return rate, while prey characteristics and behavior, mode of procurement, and hunting technology are better predictors. Although prey body size correlates well with processing costs and edibility, relationships with pursuit time and energetic value per kilogram are relatively weak.

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Brain expansion in early hominins predicts carnivore extinctions in East Africa
Faurby et al.
Ecology letters, 2020

hunting hominins are likely to behave in similar ways to other carnivores (Carbone et al. 1999) by focussing on relatively large prey (i.e. species of approximately the same body mass as themselves), selecting a few large prey items, rather than many small, and therefore competing more with large than with small carnivores.

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The role of small prey in hunter–gatherer subsistence strategies from the Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene transition site in NE Iberia: the leporid accumulation from the Epipalaeolithic level of Balma del Gai site [Texte]
Rosado-Mendez et al.
Archeological and anthropological science, 2019

certain assumptions about energy return balances and the difficulty of a mass capture of individuals without a minimum of appropriate technology for exploitation to be economically profitable call into question that there is a specialized exploitation of this type of prey before the emergence and expansion of anatomically modern humans

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Les paléoanthropologues lient la capacité de Néandertaliens à chasser le lapin à l’acquisition de « stratégies de chasse avancées » :

The exploitation of rabbits for food and pelts by last interglacial Neandertals [Texte]
Pelletier et al.
Quaternary science review, 2019

The capture of such a hight number of this small mammal potentially required sophisticated acquisition techniques formerly known only from Upper Palaeolithic contexts. […] In fact, despite the typically low return rates compared to ungulates (Speth and Spielmann, 1983; Ugan, 2005), the socio-economic potential of leporids is also reflected by the fact that both their bones and pelts can be exploited. The regular incorporation of small game in subsistence strategies during earlier periods, particularly the Middle Paleolithic, has been questioned by some researchers who argue that Neandertals, unlike modern humans, lacked the cognitive capacity and/or a sufficiently well-developed technology for regularly exploiting small game. […] The pattern of Middle Palaeolithic rabbit exploitation documented at Pié Lombard currently finds no equivalent in Europe for this period and provides indirect evidence for the development of advanced hunting strategies by Neandertals during MIS 5-4 as well as their advanced cognitive capacities.

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These data challenge the idea that prey body size can be used as a proxy for profitability and rank in zooarchaeological analyses. Prey profitability, especially for large-sized and costly taxa, is strongly influenced by prey characteristics relative to existing dispatch technology and the range of nonconsumptive benefits associated with hunting certain megafauna. Nonconsumptive rewards associated with these opportunities can only be gained by certain individuals and are not broadly available to everyone. We suggest that the idea of ‘big game’ specialization needs to be reframed in archaeology.

En rentabilité pure de la chasse, les proies de 100 à  500kg, en gros semblent les plus rentables. Si on ajoute les coûts de traitement (dépeçage, fumage, par exemple), la rentabilité s’équilibre. Néanmoins, la chasse devrait à mon sens être considérée comme l’acte le plus difficile, qui conditionne le reste. De plus, ce graphique est valable avec les armes récentes (arc…), mieux adaptées aux petites proies. Les chasseurs étudées récemment, de plus, tendent à chasser souvent individuellement, ce qui n’était pas forcément le cas au paléolithique. Une autre limitation est sans doute la disponibilité des proies, les grandes proies étant nettement plus rares aujourd’hui qu’au paléolithique, même si les espèces n’ont pas disparu. Un autre point à considérer est la présence d’éléments particulièrement intéressant présents sur certains animaux : fourrures ou peaux, ivoire, corne, taux de masse graisseuse, etc.

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Il a été supposé que Néandertal aurait été moins capable de s’adapter à la chasse de petites proies, et, lorque la biomasse des grosses a diminué, cela lui aurait été fatal. On suppose désormais qu’il avait lui aussi la capacité technique de chasser des petites proies.

Rabbits and hominin survival in Iberia [Extraits]
Fa et al.
Journal of human evolution, 2013

We suggest that hunters that could shift focus to rabbits and other smaller residual fauna, once larger-bodied species decreased in numbers, would have been able to persist. From the evidence presented here, we postulate that Neanderthals may have been less capable of prey-shifting and hence use the high-biomass prey resource provided by the rabbit, to the extent AMH did.

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Paleolithic nutrition:what did our ancestors eat?
Brand-Miller et al, 2009

Table 2 shows the energy return rates for a variety of plant and animal foods that were known components of hunter-gatherer diets. Clearly, animal foods yield the highest energy return rates, and larger animals generally produce greater energy returns than smaller animals. Although the potential food mass would be similar between a single deer weighing 45 kg and 1,600 mice weighing 30 g each, foraging humans would have to expend significantly more energy capturing the 1,600 mice than a single deer. Hence, the killing of larger animals increases the energy capture/energy expenditure ratio not only because it reduces energy expenditure, but because it in-creases the total energy captured.

Divers

Recent elephant-carcass utilization as a basis for interpreting mammoth exploitation
Haynes, 2015
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618213009749

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