Alternating carnivore and Neanderthal activities at Escoural Cave - insights from thetaphonomic and machine learning analysis of leporid remains

Aug 5, 2026

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Exploring the varied subsistence strategies and cave occupation patterns of Neanderthals clarifies their behavioral complexity and ecological adaptation. Small-game consumption, particularly rabbit assemblages, serves as an indicator of interactions with prey and potential competition with carnivores. This study presents a detailed taphonomic analysis of rabbit remains from Escoural Cave, integrating zooarchaeology, multivariate statistics, and machine learning to infer accumulation origin and implications for Neanderthal cave use.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Neanderthal subsistence strategies and small game

Rabbit assemblages and taphonomic indicators

Study aim and approach

TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 25 October 2024 DOI 10. 3389/fearc.2024.1473266 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Nelson J. Almeida, Uniarq-Centre for Archaeology of the University of Lisbon, Portugal REVIEWED BY Palmira Saladie, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Spain Jose Yravedra, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain *CORRESPONDENCE Lucía Cobo-Snchez [lcsanchez@ualg.pt](lcsanchez@ualg.pt) RECEIVED 30 July 2024 ACCEPTED 30 September 2024 PUBLISHED 25 October 2024 CITATION Cobo-Snchez L, Rufà A and Cascalheira J (2024) Alternating carnivore and Neanderthal activities at Escoural Cave: insights from thetaphonomic and machine learning analysis of leporid remains. Front. Environ. Archaeol. 3:1473266 . doi: 10.3389/fearc.2024.1473266 COPYRIGHT © 2024 Cobo-Snchez, Rufà and Cascalheira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Alternating carnivore and Neanderthal activities at Escoural Cave: insights from thetaphonomic and machine learning analysis of leporid remains Lucía Cobo-Snchez1*, Anna Rufà1,2 and Joo Cascalheira1 1 ICArEHB – The Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro, Portugal, 2 UMR 5199 – De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, Pessac, France Exploring the varied subsistence strategies and cave occupation patterns of Neanderthals is key to understanding their complex behaviors and ecological adaptations. Small game consumption, in particular, is considered a relevant indicator of their behavioral complexity. Rabbit assemblages from Pleistocene cave sites provide valuable insights into Neanderthal interactions with small prey and potential competition with carnivores. Here, we present the ﬁrst detailed taphonomic analysis of faunal remains from Escoural Cave (Portugal), where a European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) assemblage was found alongside Middle Paleolithic stone tools and some macromammal remains. This study combines traditional zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the rabbit remains with multivariate statistics and machine learning methods to establish the origin of the accumulation, and the implications for Neanderthal subsistence and cave use. Results from the taphonomic analysis show no evidence of human consumption but abundant evidence of small terrestrial carnivore activity, primarily from lynxes. This could indicate a sequential occurrence of Neanderthal and carnivore activities in the cave, with Neanderthal activities likely related to something other than rabbit consumption. Our study contributes to characterizing Iberian carnivore fossil accumulations and di􀀀erentiating between faunal assemblages accumulated by carnivores and those by hominins. Additionally, we show that the use of machine learning analysis provides a robust and objective method for identifying and classifying taphonomic signatures, enhancing the accuracy and reliability of our interpretations. Future work will focus on analyzing additional faunal collections from both past and new excavations at Escoural, to test whether carnivores and Neanderthals focused on di􀀀erent prey types and how they shared the cave space. KEYWORDS hominin-carnivore interactions, rabbit, zooarchaeological analysis, Middle Paleolithic, southern Portugal Frontiersin Environmental Archaeology 01 [frontiersin.org](frontiersin.org) 1 Introduction In recent years, our understanding of Neanderthal complex behavior has sig

FAQs

What question does the study address about Escoural Cave assemblages?

The study investigates whether the accumulation of rabbit remains at Escoural Cave reflects Neanderthal activities, carnivore activity, or both, and what that implies for cave use and subsistence.

What do the taphonomic results indicate about human involvement?

The taphonomic analysis shows no evidence of human consumption, while providing abundant evidence of small terrestrial carnivore activity, primarily from lynxes.

How does machine learning contribute to the study’s conclusions?

Machine learning analysis offers a robust and objective way to identify and classify taphonomic signatures, increasing the accuracy and reliability of interpretations.

Aug 5, 2026

Upload by Oliver