The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in an Iberian refugium : a comparative study of the subsistence strategies and ecology of Neanderthal and modern human populations at Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar, in the wider context of Iberia
Recent research has associated differences in foraging behaviours between Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans to differences in cognitive abilities. In South Africa Middle Stone Age populations are considered unspecialised hunters, favouring to hunt medium-sized and abundant prey, in favour of large, dangerous animals, which were regularly exploited by the Late Stone Age populations. In Europe, the Neanderthals are described primarily as big game hunters, with a correspondingly narrow diet, which in places included sessile or slow-moving small animals, such as molluscs and tortoises. It is claimed that it was only during the Upper Palaeolithic with the arrival of Anatomically Modern Humans that large-scale exploitation of fast-moving small game is observed. Upon review, most of the European research was conducted in areas of poor resource diversity. This made it difficult to establish whether the observed discrepancies in foraging behaviours were due to differing cognitive abilities between human populations, or adaptations to living in resource-poor environments. This thesis undertook to reconstruct the foraging behaviour of Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans in the diverse, resource-rich
Brown, K.
The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in an Iberian refugium : a comparative study of the subsistence strategies and ecology of Neanderthal and modern human populations at Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar, in the wider context of Iberia. Recent research has associated differences in foraging behaviours between Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans to differences in cognitive abilities. In South Africa Middle Stone Age populations are considered unspecialised hunters, favouring to hunt medium-sized and abundant prey, in favour of large, dangerous animals, which were regularly exploited by the Late Stone Age populations. In Europe, the Neanderthals are described primarily as big game hunters, with a correspondingly narrow diet, which in places included sessile or slow-moving small animals, such as molluscs and tortoises. It is claimed that it was only during the Upper Palaeolithic with the arrival of Anatomically Modern Humans that large-scale exploitation of fast-moving small game is observed. Upon review, most of the European research was conducted in areas of poor resource diversity. This made it difficult to establish whether the observed discrepancies in foraging behaviours were due to differing cognitive abilities between human populations, or adaptations to living in resource-poor environments. This thesis undertook to reconstruct the foraging behaviour of Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans in the diverse, resource-rich
middle_upper_palaeolithic transition iberian comparative_study subsistence_strategy ecology neanderthal modern_human population cave wider_context iberia recent associate difference behaviour neanderthals modern humans difference cognitive_ability south africa middle stone_age population consider hunter favour hunt medium_sized abundant prey favour large dangerous animal regularly exploit late stone_age population europe neanderthals describe primarily big game hunter correspondingly narrow diet place include slow moving small animal mollusc claim upper_palaeolithic arrival modern humans large_scale exploitation fast moving small game observe upon review european conduct area poor resource diversity make_difficult establish_whether observed discrepancy behaviour due differ cognitive_ability human_population adaptation live resource poor environment undertook reconstruct behaviour neanderthals modern humans diverse resource rich