Biogeologie

From Ornaments to Ecosystems

Exploring Hominin-Mammoth Interactions in the Late Pleistocene of the Swabian Jura (Southern Germany)

The goal of this project is to analyze changes in hominin-mammoth interactions in the late Middle Paleolithic through Gravettian (ca. 60,000 to 30,000 cal BP) of the Swabian Jura, within the context of sites in the Meuse-Rhine-Danube Corridor. To do so, we will apply a multidisciplinary approach to test potential ecological and social/cultural feedback loops in the relationship between the two species. The core of our study will involve building a database of mammoth remains, zooarchaeological case studies, isotope analyses, and technological studies of artifacts made on mammoth bone and ivory, augmented by radiocarbon dating and Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS). In testing an ecological feedback loop, we examine whether the hominin exploitation of mammoth might have impacted mammoth ecology, and if the subsequent shift in mammoth abundance might have changed the conditions of access to mammoth meat and raw materials. Specifically, we will reconstruct mammoth ecology using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, and mammoth foraging ranges and mobility patterns based on stable sulfur and strontium isotope ratios, respectively. We will also determine whether hominins hunted or scavenged mammoths by analyzing mammoth demographic profiles, and if the abundance of mammoth decreased through time at archaeological sites, with mammoths from later periods displaying pathologies or signs of nutritional stress. Within a social/cultural feedback loop, we will examine the idea that the planning involved in procuring a mammoth – through hunting or scavenging – is profound, as are decisions about how to use mammoth meat, bones, and ivory. The social ties necessary to undertake such an endeavor would have been reinforced by the social opportunities from exploiting such a large resource package. We will analyze the social/cultural feedback loop by establishing which mammoth elements were transported to archaeological sites in our study region during the Middle Paleolithic through Gravettian periods. In doing so, we will attempt to understand the transport goals of past foragers (e.g., meat, fat, tusks, or bones used as raw materials), with a focus on the over-representation of certain bone or tusk elements in the archaeological assemblages. We will then conduct a technological analysis involving elements commonly used for raw materials (e.g., ivory and ribs), byproducts of osseous tool manufacture, and formal tools and ornaments, to reconstruct the chaîne-opératoire of artifact production. The final step in our project will be synthesizing the results of the parallel components, to understand the full suite of hominin-mammoth interactions diachronically in a period that was critical to the evolutionary outcomes of both species. 

Principle Investigator (PI)

Team & Collaborators

Manhon Mouhat Borquard

Senckenberg HEP, PhD Student

  • Stable isotope of mammoths
Josh London

Senckenberg HEP, PhD Student

  • Ornaments
Dr. Alex Pryor

University of Exeter, Department of Archaeology, Laver Building, North Park Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QE, United Kingdom

  • Strotium analysis of mammoth teeth

 

Funding

Project funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Research Foundation)

Publications

Public Outreach