Honor among thieves: a zooarchaeological study of Neandertal ecology

Abstract

This study uses ecological niche theory to analyze and interpret several Middle Palaeolithic archaeological and palaeontological sites in southern Europe. The hunting, scavenging and foraging behaviour of Neandertals is compared and contrasted with the subsistence behaviour of other large predators living in the region at the time - lions, hyenas and wolves, for example - and with how Neandertal subsistence behaviour related to the behaviour of the anatomically modern humans who subsequently came to dominate the area in the Upper Paleolithic. Her conclusion, broadly stated, is that Neandertals entered the Middle Palaeolithic in direct and successful competition with lions, hyenas and wolves, but ended the period in unsuccessful struggle for the ecological niche that modern humans came to occupy with more advanced technology and slightly more sophisticated ambush hunting strategies and techniques.