Descripción del proyecto
Un análisis biomolecular revela estrategias de caza de la Edad de Piedra
Hasta la fecha, faltan datos de presas basados en el sexo de la mayoría de las colecciones de huesos del Pleistoceno, una información clave para estudiar la habilidad de planificación de los cazadores neandertales. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos IBERHUNT realizará análisis biomoleculares avanzados en sedimentos y conjuntos dentales de ungulados de seis yacimientos ricos en fauna del Paleolítico medio y superior situados en la parte oriental de la península Ibérica. El objetivo es utilizar las secuencias de proteínas obtenidas del análisis del esmalte dental para determinar el sexo de los restos de los ungulados e identificar biomarcadores paleoambientales a partir de las proporciones de isótopos específicos de compuestos de muestras de sedimentos. Los resultados del proyecto proporcionarán datos cuantificables de alta resolución sobre la eficiencia humana en la búsqueda de alimentos en el Pleistoceno, incluidas las adaptaciones al cambio climático, y contribuirán a los nuevos métodos de investigación arqueológica.
Objetivo
Recent zooarchaeological analyses have suggested that Neanderthals were skilled hunters. Yet, there is still a vivid debate on whether Middle Palaeolithic human groups were also capable of more effective, and diverse, sophisticated food-processing behaviours, in particular through specialised hunting. Traditionally, archaeologists have relied on the osteological analysis of bone assemblages to determine prey mortality patterns, where species variability, age and seasonality data are calculated. Although this approach has yielded a great deal of important information about the Pleistocene hominin hunting strategies, there is a considerable lack of sex-based prey data for most Pleistocene bone assemblages, a key information that has direct implications for hominin planning depth, anticipatory abilities, mobility and land use.
IBERHUNT project will conduct advanced biomolecular analyses in ungulate dental assemblages and sediments from six rich-faunal Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in the eastern Iberian Peninsula. The anthropic occupation deposits range Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5 to 3, making them exemplary case studies for comparative-based research.
We aim to address 1) the determination of the biological sex of ungulate remains, by reading protein sequences through the analysis of tooth enamel amelogenin, and 2) the identification of palaeoenvironmental biomarkers, by the analysis of sediments’ compound-specific isotope ratios. This combination of state of the art techniques will provide contextualised and quantifiable high-resolution data on Pleistocene human foraging efficiency, allowing to re-evaluate Neanderthal predatory economics through an optimal foraging perspective that includes climate adaptations.
IBERHUNT results will bring the discussion of evolutionary relationships between Neanderthals and modern humans in a broader perspective, and will contribute to the development of new methods for archaeological research.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
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Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
38200 SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA
España