A key question in human evolution relates to behavioural differences between Neanderthals and early modern humans and to what extent these may have contributed to the eventual extinction of Neanderthals in Eurasia ca. 40,000 years ago. Past hypotheses have emphasised the importance of distance hunting and a broadening of the diet as key factors in the global success of modern humans. In order to understand this requires the detailed data on differences in subsistence practices and diet through the identification and analysis of fragmented animal bones from Palaeolithic sites.
Typically, these studies focus on morphologically identifiable bones, representing only 10-30% of a faunal assemblage and on visible and well documented bone surface modifications. Since 2009, zooarchaeology has benefitted from the development of biomolecular methods, especially Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS). ZooMS provides taxonomic identifications of morphologically unidentifiable bone fragments. With a success rate of 95%, ZooMS greatly increases the number of taxonomically identified bones at a site. Alongside biomolecular advances there has been a renewed focus on the analysis of the microscopic alteration to bone (histotaphonomy), which can have direct behavioural implications. Results can illustrate whether bones entered the archaeological record butchered or fully fleshed (complete carcass burial or natural death), though these have, largely, focused on human remains from more recent time periods.
BACBONE is the first large-scale histotaphonomic study of Palaeolithic bone assemblages, combining taxonomic identifications through ZooMS with hard tissue histology and the high-throughput capacity of high-resolution microtomography (micro-CT) for non-destructive virtual histology. BACBONE cross-compares the histotaphonomic signature of various animal species (e.g. butchered herbivore vs natural carnivore death) with available human remains to facilitate an unparalleled comprehensive reconstruction of bone deposition and processing patterns. The project has developed a unique methodology, which has identified histotaphonomic characteristics using both non-destructive virtual histology and hard-tissue histology. These methods were applied to a wide range of materials from sites of different time periods and producing exciting results and a clear methodological pathway for future development and application.
