Hunting Strategies and Game Exploitation Organization in the Magdalenian: An Integrated Approach Based on Mortality Profiles and Stable Isotopes at Chaves Cave (Huesca, Spain)

Abstract

Understanding hunting strategies in Upper Paleolithic contexts remains challenging due to the complex relationships between prey behavior, environmental conditions, and human decision-making. Addressing these dynamics requires integrating archeozoological, geospatial, and geochemical proxies capable of capturing demographic patterns, landscape accessibility, and seasonal environmental signals. This study examines the Magdalenian level 2b of Chaves Cave (Huesca, Spain), dated to ca. 15.7–15.0 ka cal BP, through a combined analysis of mortality profiles and stable isotope sequences (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) in Capra pyrenaica. Age-at-death profiles were reconstructed using multiple classification systems, while sequential isotopic analysis was conducted on third molars to investigate seasonality, diet, and mobility. Mortality profiles consistently show a predominance of late juveniles and young adults, together with the absence of neonates, indicating a seasonal bias in the accumulation. Isotopic results reveal sinusoidal δ¹⁸O patterns reflecting seasonal environmental variation and δ¹³C values consistent with a C3-based diet. Modeling of δ¹⁸O sequences indicates a restricted birth season, while the combined modeling of δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C sequences shows a consistent temporal offset between both signals, suggesting seasonal shifts in environmental and dietary conditions. Landscape accessibility analysis further evaluates the relationship between the site and surrounding topographic features potentially relevant to ibex movement. The integration of these proxies supports a model of recurrent hunting episodes structured within a restricted seasonal window, likely occurring after the birth season when herds included individuals of optimal age classes. The isotopic signal is consistent with short-range seasonal mobility along altitudinal gradients within a coherent ecological system. Together, these results indicate flexible but structured hunting strategies, closely linked to the seasonal dynamics of ibex populations and the topographic configuration of the pre-Pyrenean landscape. This study highlights the potential of combining mortality profiles and intra-tooth isotope analysis to refine interpretations of subsistence strategies, seasonality, and mobility in Paleolithic hunter-gatherer contexts.