%0 Journal Article %A Daujeard, C. %A Vettese, D. %A Britton, Kate %A Béarez, P. %A Boulbes, N. %A Crégut-Bonnoure, E. %A Desclaux, E. %A Lateur, N. %A Pike-Tay, A. %A Rivals, F. %A Allué, E. %A Chacón, M. G. %A Puaud, S. %A Richard, M. %A Courty, M.-A. %A Gallotti, R. %A Hardy, B. %A Bahain, J. J. %A Falguères, C. %A Pons-Branchu, E. %A Valladas, H. %A Moncel, M.-H. %+ Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society %T Neanderthal selective hunting of reindeer? The case study of Abri du Maras (south-eastern France) : %U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0003-2AAE-B %R 10.1007/s12520-017-0580-8 %D 2019 %* Review method: peer-reviewed %X Monospecific exploitation of reindeer by Neanderthals is a common behaviour in the Upper Pleistocene of Western Europe. However, reindeer-dominated assemblages have largely been reported from regions of northern Germany and south-western France, with few examples noted in south-eastern France, where faunal assemblages yield most of the time a variety of other large ungulates such as red deer, horse and diverse bovids. Here, we present multi-strand (bio- and eco-) archaeological datasets from the site of Abri du Maras (level 4.1), situated at the mouth of the Ardèche and Rhône rivers, a new example of a reindeer-dominated Neanderthal site in south-eastern France. Dated to the beginning of the MIS 3, the zooarchaeological assemblage is dominated by reindeer (88% of the NISP, representing 16 individuals) but also includes horse, bison, giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus), red deer, ibex and lagomorphs. The combination of zooarchaeological, cementochronological and tooth microwear analyses evidence a single species-dominated spectrum, with catastrophic mortality and repeated autumnal deaths. This integrated approach provides an extensive picture of human subsistence behaviour, pointing to short-term hunting episodes of reindeer herds in an exceptional context of a quasi-exclusive Neanderthal accumulation. The high number of individuals and selective butchery may correspond with a cooperative and planned mass hunting strategy. The multidisciplinary approach undertaken here also incorporating paleontological, charcoal, ecological and isotopic analyses places the archaeological and zooarchaeological data within a broader regional palaeoenvironmental framework, providing valuable landscape-contextual information. The zooarchaeological data suggest a subsistence behaviour different from other Neanderthal reindeer-dominated assemblages often connected with specialised butchery or hunting sites. %J Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences %V 11 %N 3 %& 985 %P 985 - 1011 %I Springer %@ 1866-9565