Eels, beavers, and horses: Human niche construction in the European Late Upper Palaeolithic
Eels, beavers, and horses: Human niche construction in the European Late Upper Palaeolithic
This paper examines interactions between co-occupants of riverine niches in north-west Europe during the Late Upper Palaeolithic using both ecological and archaeological data. It is argued that consideration of both the Lateglacial record and autecology of eel, beaver and horse supports a reinterpretation of some famous but enigmatic panels of Magdalenian mobiliary art as representations of eel fishing, along with horse and beaver exploitation in disturbed riverine habitats. It is further suggested that this constitutes a humanly co-constructed niche in ecological, nutritional, and symbolic terms, which was also particularly advantageous for human well-being and social development in this time and place.
niche construction theory, Magdalenian, nutrition, mobiliary art, sedentism
Brown, Antony
c51f9d3e-02b0-47da-a483-41c354e78fab
Basell, Laura
7e102abc-e158-4bc2-a6ab-890baa7141bb
Farbstein, Rebecca
54cac522-b7f7-4f5f-9ac1-7d6db126e8e2
9 December 2017
Brown, Antony
c51f9d3e-02b0-47da-a483-41c354e78fab
Basell, Laura
7e102abc-e158-4bc2-a6ab-890baa7141bb
Farbstein, Rebecca
54cac522-b7f7-4f5f-9ac1-7d6db126e8e2
Brown, Antony, Basell, Laura and Farbstein, Rebecca
(2017)
Eels, beavers, and horses: Human niche construction in the European Late Upper Palaeolithic.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.
(doi:10.1017/ppr.2017.6).
Abstract
This paper examines interactions between co-occupants of riverine niches in north-west Europe during the Late Upper Palaeolithic using both ecological and archaeological data. It is argued that consideration of both the Lateglacial record and autecology of eel, beaver and horse supports a reinterpretation of some famous but enigmatic panels of Magdalenian mobiliary art as representations of eel fishing, along with horse and beaver exploitation in disturbed riverine habitats. It is further suggested that this constitutes a humanly co-constructed niche in ecological, nutritional, and symbolic terms, which was also particularly advantageous for human well-being and social development in this time and place.
Text
Eels beaver horse Paper v13 Edited with Figs
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 19 July 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 October 2017
Published date: 9 December 2017
Keywords:
niche construction theory, Magdalenian, nutrition, mobiliary art, sedentism
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 415641
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/415641
ISSN: 0079-497X
PURE UUID: 9a3f84e6-2e65-454d-b525-21035d34c2b5
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Date deposited: 16 Nov 2017 17:32
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:44
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Author:
Laura Basell
Author:
Rebecca Farbstein
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