Evidence for the catalytic role of humans in the assembly and evolution of European Late Pleistocene scavenger guilds

Abstract

The evolving role of past human populations in broader ecosystem processes is an important frontier in palaeoecological research yet remains notoriously difficult to systematically address on a pan-European scale. This paper develops a macro-archaeological approach grounded in newer developments in niche construction theory, carrion ecology, and community ecology to reveal long-term predator-scavenger dynamics and the changing status of humans in Late Pleistocene scavenger communities. We analyse a filtered dataset of zooarchaeological observations from Europe between MIS 6 to MIS 3 sourced from the dynamic ROCEEH Out of Africa Database to chart scavenger promotion at human habitation sites through time. This analysis reveals that humans have long been integral to the functioning of Late Pleistocene scavenger communities and that human behaviour likely spurred an important transition in scavenging dynamics within MIS 3, increasingly favouring smaller bodied paleo-synanthropic animals such as foxes and some birds, at the expense of larger bodied confrontational scavengers such as hyenas and cave lions. We argue that this interpretation is consistent with other lines of archaeological evidence pointing to the emerging keystone role of Late Pleistocene foragers in tailoring ecosystem relations.