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Analysis of bird remains can inform the frequency of site occupation by Homo neanderthalensis

12 March 2016

A team of Palaeoanthropologists compare the Middle Palaeolithic sites of Gibraltar and Zafarraya in southern Iberia.

Bioclimatic model of souther Iberia - Cool and dry phase We use birds as indicators of environmental quality and demonstrate huge differences between coastal and inland, mountain, sites separated by less than 150 km. They conclude that the Gibraltar sites represented locations of repeated occupation by Neanderthals over tens of millennia whereas Zafarraya represents a site of sporadic visits for particular prey. This is in response to very different climatic conditions. Their results show how important ecological quality is in understanding Palaeolithic sites and metapopulations and how birds are particularly informative in our understanding of the ecology of such sites.

Using birds as indicators of Neanderthal environmental quality: Gibraltar and Zafarraya compared

Clive Finlayson, Stewart Finlayson, Francisco Giles Guzman, Antonio Sanchez Marco, Geraldine Finlayson, Richard Jennings, Francisco Giles Pacheco, Joaquin Rodriquez Vidal

DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.031