The residential occupation of the Gruta da Aroeira (Almonda, Portugal) cave site: shedding light on hunting and subsistence practices in the Middle Pleistocene of western Eurasia

IF 2.1 2区地球科学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Pub Date : 2024-08-03 DOI:10.1007/s12520-024-02026-0

Montserrat Sanz, Joan Daura, Florent Rivals, João Zilhão

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Abstract

The Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal), with evidence of human occupancy dating back ∼ 400,000 years, is one of very few Middle Pleistocene cave sites to provide a fossil hominin cranium in association with Acheulean bifaces and the by-products of fire usage. Zooarchaeological, taphonomic and tooth-wear analyses suggest that the accumulation of the faunal remains and their modification are anthropogenic. Large game constituted the basis of subsistence, with equids and cervids being preferentially targeted. Woodland and open landscapes formed the ecosystems supporting the populations of the mammals that were preyed upon by the inhabitants of the site. Most of the animal carcasses were carried to, and fully butchered at the site, which was used as a residential base camp. The features of the Aroeira faunal assemblage foreshadow the subsistence strategies developed by the hunter-gatherers of the Middle and the Upper Palaeolithic and testify to their very ancient roots.

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Gruta da Aroeira（葡萄牙阿尔蒙达）洞穴遗址的居住：揭示欧亚大陆西部中更新世的狩猎和生存习俗

Gruta da Aroeira（葡萄牙托雷斯诺瓦斯）有证据表明人类居住的历史可追溯到 40 万年前，是中更新世洞穴遗址中极少数能提供人类头盖骨化石的遗址之一，这些化石与阿契莱安人的长方体和用火的副产品有关。动物考古学、陶器学和牙齿磨损分析表明，动物遗骸的堆积及其改变是人为的。大型动物是人类赖以生存的基础，马科动物和鹿科动物是首选目标。林地和开阔地构成了该遗址居民捕食哺乳动物的生态系统。大部分动物尸体都被运到该遗址，并在遗址内被完全宰杀，该遗址曾被用作居民大本营。阿罗埃拉动物群的特征预示了旧石器时代中、上古时期狩猎采集者的生存策略，并证明了他们非常古老的根源。

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来源期刊

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

18.20%

发文量

199

期刊介绍： Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences covers the full spectrum of natural scientific methods with an emphasis on the archaeological contexts and the questions being studied. It bridges the gap between archaeologists and natural scientists providing a forum to encourage the continued integration of scientific methodologies in archaeological research. Coverage in the journal includes: archaeology, geology/geophysical prospection, geoarchaeology, geochronology, palaeoanthropology, archaeozoology and archaeobotany, genetics and other biomolecules, material analysis and conservation science. The journal is endorsed by the German Society of Natural Scientific Archaeology and Archaeometry (GNAA), the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry (HSC), the Association of Italian Archaeometrists (AIAr) and the Society of Archaeological Sciences (SAS).