2001 Speth & Tchernov (Neandertal Hunting and Meat-Processing in the Near East Evidence from Kebara Cave Israel) (original) (raw)

Few would question the assertion that by the end of the Upper Paleolithic (about 10,000 years ago) humans were highly competent hunfers, going about (he business of hunting much as any modern forager would, and probably employing a broadly similar range of techniques, strategies and decision-making criteria. While much less is known about the foraging behavior of Plio-Pleistocene hominids, most would also probably agree that their behavior was quite unlike that of modem huntergatherers, differing not just because early hominids possessed a far more rudimentary technology, but also because they probably went about it in ways that have few analogues among contemporary foragers. Thus, we seem to have fairly clear notions about the nature of human foraging at eilher end of the Pleistocene--scav· enging and small·game hunting at the beginning, highly skilled large-game hunting by the end (see Bunn this volume).