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The identification of anthropogenically-modified carnivoran bones in archaeological sites is rare in Pleistocene contexts, especially in the most ancient periods. Neanderthal groups have clearly shown a great variety of subsistence activities and the use of carnivoran resources, until rare, is also present in some archaeological sites. However, the identification of the bone surface modifications (BSM) that allow us to infer the presence of anthropogenic marks in faunal remains are usually difficult to be differentiate among other BSM. Recently, several statistical and computing techniques have been developed to differentiate among different types of BSM in an objective way. To date, the most powerful approach is the use of Convolutional Neural Networks, which are the essential part of what is referred to as Deep Learning. In this work, ResNet50 and Inception V3 models are used through transfer learning. The algorithm architecture reaches an accuracy of >96.3% when differentiating among experimental trampling, cut and tooth marks. Once the transfer models were re-trained with the experimental BSM, they were used to classify several archaeological BSM previously identified as cut marks by human analysts. These BSM have been found on a bear ulna and on a hyena phalanx, both recovered at the Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter (Madrid, Spain). The BSM located on the hyaena phalanx have been identified as cut marks with a high probability while marks on the bear ulna are non-anthropogenic. This bone adds to the existing sample of anthropogenically-modified carnivoran elements by Neanderthal populations and hint to use of carnivore pelts by Neanderthals. • Computer vision allows correct analysis of Neanderthal cut marks on a hyena phalanx. • Computer vision also allows to interpret correctly trampling marks on a bear ulna. • These cut marks are clearly related to skinning activities of the hyena pelt. • This evidence is the first related to skinning of a hyena in the Pleistocene record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The study of cut marks in archaeological contexts is of great importance for understanding the subsistence strategies of past human groups. Many authors have indicated differences to exist between the cut marks produced by different tools and when the same types of tool have been made from different raw materials. The present work examines the cut marks made during the experimental butchering of a red deer (Cervus elaphus) using simple quartz flakes, with those found on fossilised animal remains at the Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter site (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid, Spain) likely to have been made with similar flakes. The methodology followed was that of Domínguez-Rodrigo et al. (2009), which was originally designed to differentiate between cut marks and trampling marks, but which here was tested as a method of distinguishing between the raw materials from which cutting tools were made. The results were also compared to those made with other types of tool/raw material reported in the literature. The present results confirm the above ideas: the marks made experimentally by the quartz flakes are very similar to those seen on the faunal remains from the level F of Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter site, but different to those made by other tools or by flakes made from other materials. They also show, however, that different cut mark morphologies are largely independent of the size of the animal butchered, and of the anatomical element on which they appear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interior of the Iberian Peninsula has few Middle Palaeolithic sites, especially when compared to other areas of the Mediterranean Basin and the northern Spanish region. Few in number too are the zooarchaeological and taphonomic studies that throw light on the relationships between Neanderthal groups, their environment, and the use they made of it. The present work examines, both zooarchaeologically and taphonomically, the faunal remains of levels F and D of the Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid, Spain) - the largest collection of such remains ever studied from the Iberian interior. The results allow this site to be interpreted as a Neanderthal hunting camp where occupations were short-term. Neanderthal people were the main agents that accumulated the site's faunal remains - largely those of large bovids and to a lesser extent medium-sized cervids. The activity of carnivores was also identified, but these animals mostly left behind the remains of small prey or fed upon carcasses abandoned at the camp by human hunters. • Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter has been interpreted as a Neanderthal hunting camp. • All phases of butchery were identified, along with the extraction of bone marrow. • Bovines and cervids are the more common taxa in the assemblage. • There is a low degree of competition between hominins and large carnivores. • The faunal assemblage was little affected by post-depositional processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]