0000000000178019
AUTHOR
Rainer Hutterer
Mandible morphology, dental microwear, and diet of the extinct giant rats Canariomys (Rodentia: Murinae) of the Canary Islands (Spain)
An ecomorphological approach of mandible shape through Fourier analyses combined with a paleodietary analysis of dental microwear patterns is used to reconstruct the diet of the extinct endemic Canariomys bravoi Crusafont, Pairo & Petter, 1964 and Canariomys tamarani Lopez-Martinez & Lopez-Jurado, 1987. These two large rodents, respectively, lived on Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the central islands of the Canarian Archipelago. Mandible shape and dental microwear respectively inform us on the volume of vegetal matter and on the presence of grass in the diet. Both Canariomys, which are of similar size, possess relatively similar mandible outlines and microwear patterns. For each species, a diet…
Human occupation and environmental change in the western Maghreb during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Late Glacial. New evidence from the Iberomaurusian site Ifri El Baroud (northeast Morocco)
With the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), hunter-gatherers of the so-called Iberomaurusian techno-complex appeared in what is now the Mediterranean Maghreb. During a period of about seven thousand years, these groups left sandy occupation layers in a limited number of archaeological sites, while at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GI) 1, the sudden shift towards the deposition of shell-rich sediments and the increase in number of sites document clear changes in subsistence strategies as well as occupation density. It is highly likely that these shifts in human behaviour are related to paleoenvironmental changes in the area, which, so far, are poorly documented in geological …
Pots, plants and animals: Broad-spectrum subsistence strategies in the Early Neolithic of the Moroccan Rif region
Abstract The transition from hunter-gathering to food-producing societies in the Mediterranean zone of north Africa was complex and variable, likely influenced by local ecological conditions as well as the socio-economic origins of the population. The adoption of domestic plants and animals was piecemeal, with hunting and gathering continuing as an important part of local subsistence strategies. Here, we investigate the timing and extent of the adoption of agricultural practices, namely herding and cultivation, in three diverse coastal and inland Early Neolithic sites in the Mediterranean Maghreb region, namely Ifri Oudadane, Ifri n’Etsedda and Hassi Ouenzga. Results from absorbed lipid res…