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Isotope evidence for the diet of the Neanderthal type specimen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Michael P. Richards
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103, Leipzig, Germany and Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road Durham, DH1 3LE, UK (Email: Richards@eva.mpg.ed)
Ralf W. Schmitz
Affiliation:
Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Abteilung ältere Urgeschichte und Quartärökologie, Universität Tübingen, Schloß Hohentübingen, D-72070, Tübingen, Germany

Extract

Stable isotopes extracted from two hominins and a range of animals from the original Neanderthal site shows these Middle Palaeolithic people to have been hunters predominately on a meat diet. Comparison with other specimens further south suggests this diet – deer, but no fish or plants – to be something of a behavioural norm, whatever the latitude and plant cover.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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