Neanderthal hunting grounds: the case of Teixoneres Cave (Spain) and Pié Lombard rockshelter (France)

The study of Neanderthal-Environment interactions very often lacks precise data that match the chronogeographical frame of human activities. Here, we reconstruct Neanderthals' hunting grounds within three distinct habitats using dental microwear analysis combined with zooarchaeological data. The predation patterns toward ungulates are discussed in term of frequency (NISP/MNI) and potential meat intake (MAM). Unit IIIa of Teixoneres Cave (MIS 3, NE Spain) corresponds to a mosaic landscape, Unit IIIb was more forested, and, in the "Ensemble" II of Pie Lombard (MIS 4, SE France), forest cover dominated. At Pie Lombard, Neanderthals rely on a high diversity of taxa from closed and semi-open hunting grounds, mostly two ungulate species as well as rabbits and several bird taxa. At Teixoneres Cave, mainly open areas are exploited in summer with a predation mostly focused on large gregarious ungulates. The larger size of ungulate herds in open spaces may have allowed Neanderthals to restrict their subsistence behaviour only to very few species, in specific hunting strategies. In Unit IIIa, they do not appear to have made any selection within the most abundant species, while in Unit IIIb, they focused on aurochs and also opportunistically and heavily on newborn red deer. Neanderthal subsistence strategies seem, therefore, only partially linked to the hunting grounds they had access to. While it impacted the diversity of the prey they selected, Neanderthal groups were able to develop distinct hunting strategies within similar environments.