Noisetier Cave
Basic information
Sample name: Noisetier Cave
Reference: S. Costamagno. 2013. Bone grease rendering in Mousterian contexts: The case of Noisetier Cave (Fréchet-Aure, Hautes-Pyrénées, France). In Zooarchaeology and Modern Human Origins (eds. J. Clark, J. Speth), pp. 209-225 [ER 3712]
Geography
Country: France
State: Occitania
Coordinate: 42° 55' 40" N, 0° 22' 14" E
Time interval: Late Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.042
Min Ma: 0.0315
Age basis: radiocarbon (uncalibrated)
Geography comments: Noisetier Cave is a small cavity located in the Pyrenees Mountains, in the Fréchet-Aure commune of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.
Radiocarbon dates obtained from wood charcoal fragments and bone remains range from approximately 42,000 ± 3,100 BP to 31,500 ± 600 BP. "These dates must be considered with caution, as they are at the limit of the radiocarbon method. All of the levels can nonetheless be attributed to MIS 3".
Radiocarbon dates obtained from wood charcoal fragments and bone remains range from approximately 42,000 ± 3,100 BP to 31,500 ± 600 BP. "These dates must be considered with caution, as they are at the limit of the radiocarbon method. All of the levels can nonetheless be attributed to MIS 3".
Environment
Lithology: not described
Taphonomic context: carnivore accumulation,cave,human accumulation
Archaeology: hearths,stone tools
Habitat comments: "The site is situated within a limestone cliff at an altitude of 825 m above sea level, and contains a relatively complex stratigraphic sequence approximately 3 m thick".
"All of the levels of this sequence have yielded a Mousterian industry characterized by an association of discoid and Levallois debitage, and some Neanderthal human remains".
"Taphonomic analyses have shown that a large portion of the bone assemblage has a non-human origin: the chamois remains are mostly natural, although the red deer remains are anthropogenic, and the ibex remains are of a mixed origin". It's possible that the site was "a cuon den alternating with human occupations", with dholes having "accumulated the majority of the chamois remains".
"All of the levels of this sequence have yielded a Mousterian industry characterized by an association of discoid and Levallois debitage, and some Neanderthal human remains".
"Taphonomic analyses have shown that a large portion of the bone assemblage has a non-human origin: the chamois remains are mostly natural, although the red deer remains are anthropogenic, and the ibex remains are of a mixed origin". It's possible that the site was "a cuon den alternating with human occupations", with dholes having "accumulated the majority of the chamois remains".
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,rodents,ungulates,other small mammals
Sampling methods: quarry,screenwash
Sample size: 1741 specimens
Sampling comments: "The site was first excavated in the late 1980s, with a full research excavation conducted beginning in 2004".
During the latter excavations, "all artifacts were systematically recorded and the sediments were water-sieved through a 1.6 mm mesh. Once dry, the sieved sediments were sorted to extract the lithic, faunal, and human remains".
The register below corresponds to the remains uncovered from the 2004 excavations, and do not include the upper levels found in the back of the cave (US0 to US IV)".
During the latter excavations, "all artifacts were systematically recorded and the sediments were water-sieved through a 1.6 mm mesh. Once dry, the sieved sediments were sorted to extract the lithic, faunal, and human remains".
The register below corresponds to the remains uncovered from the 2004 excavations, and do not include the upper levels found in the back of the cave (US0 to US IV)".
Metadata
Sample number: 3934
Contributor: Benjamin Carter
Enterer: Benjamin Carter
Created: 2022-03-28 14:17:34
Modified: 2022-03-28 03:20:30
Abundance distribution
14 species
2 singletons
total count 1741
geometric series index: 18.6
Fisher's α: 2.080
geometric series k: 0.5807
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5205
Shannon's H: 1.1773
Good's u: 0.9989
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Ursus spelaeus | 5 | |
| Panthera pardus | 3 | 33 kg carnivore |
| Canis lupus | 5 | 43 kg carnivore |
| Cuon alpinus | 12 | 14 kg carnivore |
| Vulpes vulpes | 33 | 5.3 kg carnivore-insectivore |
| also 17 Canidae indet. | ||
| Mustela putorius | 1 | 681 g carnivore |
| "Putorius putorius" | ||
| Bovinae indet. | 28 | |
| Capra pyrenaica | 162 | |
| "Capra ibex pyrenaica" | ||
| Rupicapra rupicapra | 1170 | 27 kg browser-grazer |
| also 32 Caprinae indet. | ||
| Cervus elaphus | 221 | 104 kg |
| Capreolus capreolus | 1 | 22 kg browser |
| also 4 Cervidae indet. | ||
| Equus ferus | 2 | 422 kg |
| "Equus caballus" : not domesticated | ||
| Lepus sp. | 20 | |
| Marmota marmota | 78 | |