Preliminary data on reindeer fossils from the Paleolithic site Raşcov-8 (Eastern Moldova) with remarks on systematics and evolution of Upper Pleistocene reindeer (original) (raw)
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Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 2012
Ab stract: The pa per deals with the morphometric anal y sis of re mains of the rein deer Rangifer tarandus Linnaeus, 1758 from 20 Late Pleis to cene cave lo cal i ties in Po land. In most of the lo cal i ties, the spe cies was the most abundant com po nent of the large mam mal fauna; the re mains came from in di vid u als, killed by pred a tors, in clud ing man. The mea sure ments of the re mains were com pared with those of rein deer from lo cal i ties in Ger many, Moldova, Ukraine and Rus sia. The mea sure ments of the rein deer from Po land were in ter me di ate be tween the smaller and more slen der rein deer from northwest ern Eu rope and the larger rein deer from south ern and east ern Eu rope; the ant lers from the lo cal i ties stud ied mainly rep re sented the tun dra form of Rangifer tarandus. The for est form of the spe cies was rep re sented by a few ant lers. With re spect to the ages of in di vid u als, the rein deer from the Pol ish sites be longed to the age classes of un der 2 years, 5-6 years and 6-7 years.
Reindeer during the Upper Palaeolithic in Poland: Aspects of variability and paleoecology
Quaternary International, 2015
This paper presents the results of morphometric, isotopic, and dental cementum analysis of reindeer remains from Upper Palaeolithic cave deposits in Poland. Morphometric analyses indicate the variability of population. Most of the antlers belonged to females and represented a tundra form of reindeer. Analysis of dentition also indicated adaptation to life in tundra. Dental cementum analysis of reindeer teeth from Bi snik Cave showed that death of all studied specimens occurred during cold periods. Results of stable isotopes analysis of reindeer teeth from Bi snik Cave revealed that the d 18 O C values were more related to the anatomical position of the tooth than to geochronological period. Isotopic differences between tooth types indicate the importance of weaning and weather in particular seasons when tooth enamel was formed. Teeth exhibit no significant change in d 13 C C values between reindeer from MIS 2 and MIS 3.
Materiale și Cercetări Arheologice (serie nouă), 2019
The Upper Palaeolithic site from Buda (Bacău County) has been known since 1952 for the large amount of animal bones discovered alongside Gravettian tools. The revision of the osteological material from the old excavations (1958-1960), as well as the study of newly discovered specimens excavated in the 2012-2014 field seasons was carried out. The faunal material is dominated by long bone epiphyses and elements of the distal limbs, suggesting that the site functioned, for a short period, as a butchery site where the steppe bison and reindeer carcasses were dismembered, long bones were cracked for marrow extraction and then the skeletal elements that presented no interest were abandoned. Based on the population structure and reindeer antler development, we estimate that the hunting expeditions took place at the beginning of the cold season.
Identification of semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus, Linnaeus 1758) and wild forest reindeer (R.t. fennicus, Lo¨nnberg 1909) from postcranial skeletal measurements Abstract Reindeer bones are common finds from archaeological sites from prehistoric and historic Fennoscandia. The interpretation of the reindeer bone finds, however, is often hindered by the difficulty to separate the different subspecies of reindeer using the postcranial skeletal morphology. In this paper, skeletal measurements of modern semidomesticated reindeer and wild forest reindeer are explored with multivariate statistical methods in order to find suitable methods for subspecies identification. The results are then applied to archaeological reindeer bone finds from Northern Finland and archaeological implications of the results are discussed.
Woerden, in the central part of The Netherlands, is a locality where the amateur-archaeologist Pieter Stoel collected several thousands of fossil mammalian remains of Pleistocene age. The stratigraphically-mixed assemblage includes a broad variety of taxa including species that are indicative of interglacial conditions such as Hippopotamus sp. as well as species that inhabited the area during glacial episodes e.g. Mammuthus primigenius and Coelodonta antiquitatis. The fossil remains have an early Middle Pleistocene – Late Pleistocene age. Rangifer tarandus is one of the species that is very well represented in the faunal assemblage from Woerden. Woerden yielded not only thousands of fossil bones but also Palaeolithic artefacts. A direct relationship between the reindeer bones and these artefacts could not be indicated. Most of the bones are complete and not a single reindeer bone or bone fragment shows traces of human interference such as clear impact or cut marks. This is remarkable considering the many European Palaeolithic sites where reindeer hunters left their traces. Detailed investigation of the reindeer remains indicates that the majority of the reindeer remains from Woerden represent one population with juvenile as well as adult individuals. The adult specimens show a female/male ratio of 2:1, which is characteristic for natural living reindeer populations. This ratio as well as the standard deviation of the size measurements suggests that the assemblage is one distinct population and not a mix of fossil assemblages with reindeer of different size and different geological ages. Further remarkable is that the dimensions of the limb bones indicate that the reindeer from Woerden were extremely slender; much more slender than the fossil Middle and Late Pleistocene reindeer assemblages from other localities in north-western and central Europe.
MAMMAL FAUNA FROM THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITE OF RAŞCOV-8 (REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA)
Ursus
The fossil mammal remains and archaeological context from the multilayered Upper Paleolithic site Raşcov-8 are rendered in the present paper. The Paleolithic stone implements belong to Epigravettian and Epiauregnacian cultures (21,000 -18,000 years B. P.). The most abundant teeth and bones belong to reindeer -Rangifer tarandus constantini and horse -Equus caballus ssp. that shows morphological affinities with E. cf. transilvanicus from Romania. Some scarce remains belong to brown bear -Ursus arctos, wolf -Canis lupus, and mammoth -Mammuthus primigenius. The composition of the mammal assemblage from Raşcov-8 suggests that ancient hunters preferred as prey vulnerable juvenile and senile individuals of large sized mammal species.
MAMMAL FAUNA FROM THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITE OF RAŞCOV-8
The fossil mammal remains and archaeological context from the multilayered Upper Paleolithic site Raşcov-8 are rendered in the present paper. The Paleolithic stone implements belong to Epigravettian and Epiauregnacian cultures (21,000 – 18,000 years B. P.). The most abundant teeth and bones belong to reindeer - Rangifer tarandus constantini and horse - Equus caballus ssp. that shows morphological affinities with E. cf. transilvanicus from Romania. Some scarce remains belong to brown bear - Ursus arctos, wolf - Canis lupus, and mammoth - Mammuthus primigenius. The composition of the mammal assemblage from Raşcov-8 suggests that ancient hunters preferred as prey vulnerable juvenile and senile individuals of large sized mammal species.
Mammal fauna from Upper Paleolithic site of Raşcov-8 (Moldova)
2011
The fossil mammal remains and archaeological context from the multilayered Upper Paleolithic site Raşcov-8 are rendered in the present paper. The Paleolithic stone implements belong to Epigravettian and Epiauregnacian cultures (21,000 -18,000 years B. P.). The most abundant teeth and bones belong to reindeer -Rangifer tarandus constantini and horse -Equus caballus ssp. that shows morphological affinities with E. cf. transilvanicus from Romania. Some scarce remains belong to brown bear -Ursus arctos, wolf -Canis lupus, and mammoth -Mammuthus primigenius. The composition of the mammal assemblage from Raşcov-8 suggests that ancient hunters preferred as prey vulnerable juvenile and senile individuals of large sized mammal species.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2020
Reindeer herding probably developed during the Late Iron Age onwards and is still an important part of the subsistence and culture of many peoples in northern Eurasia. However, despite the importance of this husbandry in the history of these Arctic people, the period and place of the origin as well as the spread of domestic reindeer is still highly debated. Besides the existence of different breeding methods in these territories, identifying domesticated individuals in the archaeological record is complicated because reindeers are considered to still be in the early phases of the domestication process. Indeed, the traditional morphological markers used in zooarchaeology to decipher the domestication syndrome are hardly perceptible in these early stages. In this work, we propose solutions for identifying domestic reindeer bones using 3D geometric morphometrics on isolated elements from the long bones of the forelimb (i.e. humerus, radio-ulna and metacarpal). These bones are important to understand both the feeding behaviour and the mobility of reindeer, and the potential effect of load-carrying or draught in the case of domestic reindeer. We analysed 123 modern specimens from Fennoscandia, including the two interbreeding subspecies currently present in these territories: mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) and forest reindeer (R.t. fennicus); and where the sex and the lifestyle were known (i.e. free-ranging, racing or draught and captive individuals). A good level of discrimination between the size and shape variables of the bones of the forelimb was found among both subspecies and sexes. Moreover, individuals bred in captivity had smaller bone elements and a thinner and more slender morphology than free-ranging individuals. This demonstrates that the long bones of the forelimb can provide information on changes in feeding and locomotor behaviour prompted by the domesti-cation process, like control and/or reduction of mobility and food of individual reindeer by humans. This also demonstrates that analysis in 3D geometric morphometrics is useful in detecting reindeer incipient domestication markers. Our results can be used by archaeologists to trace the early stages of domestication from fossil reindeer remains, and aid in reconstructing the socioeconomic changes of past Arctic populations over time.
Paleobiology as a clue for Paleolithic taphonomy: the case of reindeer hunting in Moldova
Quaternaire, 2018
The article proposes an interpretation of hunting strategy of Late Paleolithic hunters from Moldova based on demographic structure of reindeer remains (sex ratio and proportion of juvenile remains) and reindeer paleobiology and ecology. The obtained results demonstrate a flexible strategy of game procurement of Paleolithic hunters ensuring the optimal energy investment/ food gain ratio. The hunting strategy was influenced by prey ecology, seasonal biological cycle, paleogeographic conditions, prey availability, cultural traditions, and available human resources. LA PALÉOBIOLOGIE COMME CLEF EN TAPHONOMIE PALÉOLITHIQUE : L'EXEMPLE DE LA CHASSE AU RENNE EN MOLDAVIE. Cet article propose une reconstitution des stratégies de chasse au Paléolithique supérieur en Moldavie, fondée sur la démogra phie des populations de renne fossile (sexratio et nombre de restes de jeunes) en relation avec la paléobiologie et l'écologie de cette espèce. Les résultats indiquent des stratégies flexibles dans l'acquisition de ce gibier permettant un rapport optimisé entre inves tissement énergétique et gain alimentaire. Les stratégies de chasse sont influencées par l'écologie du gibier, leur cycle saisonnier et leur disponibilité, les conditions paléogéographiques et les traditions culturelles des groupes humains et leurs autres ressources.