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The Late Pleistocene site “Troisieme caverne” of Goyet (Belgium) has yielded the broadest set of Neandertal remains in North-Western Europe and is associated with a rich and diverse large mammal assemblage. We reconstructed the dietary ecology at the site using stable isotope tracking (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) of bone collagen. The δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of all species are consistent with those observed in other “mammoth steppe” sites. The relative contribution of potential prey species to the diet of carnivores (including Neandertals) was evaluated using a Bayesian model. The distribution of individuals from herbivorous species and carnivorous ones was determined through cluster analysis in order to identify ecological niches, regardless of the individual species attribution. The Neandertals within the predator guild and the mammoth and reindeer as representatives of the herbivores occupied the most specific and most narrow ecological niches. The “Troisieme caverne” of Goyet can be regarded as a key site for the investigation of Late Pleistocene Neandertal ecology north of the Alps.

Karstic systems have preserved abundant archaeological records with well-represented faunal remains due to their sedimentological and topographical features. These particular localities were intensely exploited and occupied by Neanderthal groups. We focus here on Middle Palaeolithic settlements from the Last Glacial Period (MIS 5d-3), which is characterized by marked climatic variability with colder episodes alternating with more temperate periods. The Ardeche region in south-eastern France and the Meuse Basin in Belgium have recently been the focus of regional studies combining archaeological, geological and chronological data in order to bring to light human land-use and subsistence strategies. These two areas comprise multiple rock shelters and caves with Neanderthal occupations dating from MIS 5d to 3. As well as the obvious traces of occupation by Neanderthals, most sites provide evidence of carnivore occupations (e.g., cave bears, cave hyenas or wolves). Each of these habitation sites presents a specific topography and type of occupation and most of them reveal behavioural homogeneity within their sequences. By comparing data from faunal accumulations in these two related areas, separated by a distance of about one thousand kilometres, we attempt to gain a better understanding of the driving forces behind Neanderthal and animal occupations of karstic networks. Do regional land-use patterns exist in different European karstic localities or can we perceive common features related to the geography and topography of the sites?

Efforts to identify Paleolithic dogs or incipient dogs have been based mainly on examination of complete or nearly complete crania. Complete skulls are, however, very rare in the archaeological record. Because canid mandible are far more frequently found in Pleistocene assemblages, the objective of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to differentiate these jaws by metric and osteomorphological methods in two morphotypes: Paleolithic dogs and Pleistocene wolves. This paper is mainly based on the very rich canid assemblage from the Gravettian Předmosti site in the Czech Republic, but also includes a few mandible from several other European Paleolithic sites. This study provides additional evidence of the existence at Předmosti of the two canid morphotypes. The metric data indicate that the mandible of the Paleolithic dogs are shorter than those from Pleistocene wolves in all tested measurements of length, and the carnassial crown length is shorter in Paleolithic dogs compared with the length of this tooth in Pleistocene wolves. Furthermore, in eight of nine indexes, the Paleolithic dogs differ significantly from the Pleistocene wolves. The mandible of Paleolithic dogs differ also in non-metric features from the Pleistocene wolves: they present a high frequency of crowded premolars and backwards-oriented apex of the coronoid. This paper furthermore confirms that Paleolithic dogs occur at two late Upper Paleolithic sites (Eliseevichi, Verholenskaya) where previous studies had indicated their presence. In addition, we document the presence of Paleolithic dogs at another Gravettian site, Kostenki-8.

The Gravettian site of Předmosti I in the central Moravian Plain has yielded a rich and diverse large mammal fauna dated around 25–27,000 14 C years BP (ca. 29,500–31,500 cal BP). This fauna includes numerous carnivores (cave lion, wolf, brown bear, polar fox, wolverine) and herbivores (reindeer, large bovine, red deer, muskox, horse, woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth) whose trophic position could be reconstructed using stable isotopic tracking (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 34 S) of bone collagen ( n = 63). Among large canids, two morphotypes, “Pleistocene wolves” and “Palaeolithic dogs”, were considered, and two human bones attributed to the Gravettian assemblage of Předmosti I were also sampled. The trophic system around the Gravettian settlement of Předmosti I showed the typical niche partitioning among herbivores and carnivores seen in other mammoth-steppe contexts. The contribution of the analyzed prey species to the diet of the predators, including humans, was evaluated using a Bayesian mixing model (SIAR). Lions included great amounts of reindeer/muskox and possibly bison in their diet, while Pleistocene wolves were more focused on horse and possibly mammoth. Strong reliance on mammoth meat was found for the human of the site, similarly to previously analyzed individuals from other Gravettian sites in Moravia. Interestingly, the large canids interpreted as “Palaeolithic dogs” had a high proportion of reindeer/muskox in their diet, while consumption of mammoth would be expected from the availability of this prey especially in case of close interaction with humans. The peculiar isotopic composition of the Palaeolithic dogs of Předmosti I may indicate some control of their dietary intake by Gravettian people, who could have use them more for transportation than hunting purpose.

Cave bears are among the most well known extinct Pleistocene mammals. Their biogeography and taxonomy, along with the factors that led to their extinction, have been subject to long-standing controversy. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeography as well as the temporal and spatial population dynamics of cave bears across their range using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from 77 published as well as 65 new cave bear samples, Our analyses reveal a dramatic loss of genetic diversity in cave bear populations after 30,000 years before present and provide evidence for a range decline from east to west towards the onset of the last glacial maximum. Our results also suggest that the three major haplogroups within cave bears, which may correspond to distinct species, were previously more widespread, with relict populations in remote and alpine areas still harbouring haplotypes that have disappeared from most of their previous range. Applying a phylogenetic dating approach, we estimated the age of the oldest of our samples, originating from the Yana River region in north-eastern Siberia, to be around 178,000 years, which confirms a previous estimate of a Middle Pleistocene age based on its stratigraphic position. Our results extend our knowledge about the evolutionary history of cave bears, but they also show that to unravel the complexities of cave bear evolution future ancient DNA studies on this Pleistocene species will need to go beyond short mitochondrial DNA fragments, including full mitochondrial genomes as well as nuclear DNA sequences.

Spy, a Belgian cave site famous for its Neanderthal remains, contains a wide spectrum of Pleistocene species. Horse, cave hyena, woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer are the primary taxa. The Spy cave was used alternately by prehistoric humans and Pleistocene carnivores. This study considers whether prehistoric humans or carnivores are responsible for the large number of mammoth remains at the site. It is argued, on the basis of the frequency distribution of the skeletal elements of the mammoth, the age distribution of the mammoth molars, and the diet of the large carnivores and of the prehistoric humans, that the mammoth assemblage of Spy accumulated at the site through the activities of prehistoric humans. On the basis of AMS dates, the stratigraphic position of a number of mammoth molars and the absence of red ochre on the mammoth molars, it was concluded that these prehistoric humans were Neanderthals rather than Anatomically Modern Humans.