Multidisciplinary studies of Neanderthal hunting  

Congrès, colloques, réunions - Appel à contributions / Call for papers

 

septembre 2020 - décembre 2020
Virtual seminar series

 

Neanderthals successfully hunted large ungulates, such as bovids, equids and cervids.

However, many questions still surround the exact processes underlying Neanderthal hunting events. Stone tools and animal remains form the bulk of archaeological material from Middle Palaeolithic sites but how can these be used to characterise Neanderthal hunting behaviour?

 

More specifically:
- How can hunting weaponry be identified within the stone tool record?
- Which animals from the associated faunal assemblages were hunted, transported, butchered and consumed?

 

This seminar series aims to highlight a broad spectrum of multidisciplinary approaches to answer these questions, ranging from studies of Middle Palaeolithic weaponry (incl. manufacture method, use and discard) to studies of Neanderthal subsistence (incl. diet, prey selection and processing practices).

 

We aim for methodological diversity and especially welcome papers using state-of-the-art methodologies, including, but not limited to:
- lithic use wear
- edge damage distribution
- geometric morphometries
- experimental studies
- changes to bone microstructure
- studies on burning, heating, grease rendering
- biomolecular approaches, incl. proteomics, aDNA, isotopes

 

We welcome both general papers detailing a relevant methodology and its potential to study Neanderthal hunting, as well as specific applications to Middle Palaeolithic case study sites.

 

Live presentations (ca. 30 minutes) will be broadcasted to registered participants, followed by an interactive Q&A session. We aim to have bi-weekly presentations September-December 2020 and presented papers will have the opportunity to be published as a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal or monograph series.

 

If you are interested in presenting your work, please send an abstract (max. 300 words) by August 1st 2020 to the organisers:

Karen Ruebens

Karen_Ruebens@eva.mpg.de
and

Geoffrey Michael Smith
GeoffreLSmith@eva.mpg.de

 

Via Dr Geoff M Smith
 

@geoffreymsmith