Integrating Morphology and ZooMS-Identified Fauna Provides Insights Into Species Diversity and Neanderthal - Carnivores Interactions in Shared Landscapes: Evidence from Picken's Hole, Britain

Reconstructing the faunal palaeoecology of landscapes occupied by Neanderthals and their competitors is essential for better understanding their ecological niche, decisions, and behaviors. Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages in Britain are highly fragmented with interpretations relying on the morphologically identifiable portion of the assemblage and the indeterminate bone fragments often dismissed. This paper applies two methodologies (taphonomic analysis and zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS)) to extract data from morphologically indeterminate bone fragments recovered from the late Middle Palaeolithic contexts of Picken’s Hole, Somerset, and integrate this new data with the extant zooarchaeological study of the morphologically identifiable faunal specimens. 2205 indeterminate bone fragments from Unit 3 were categorized to mammal class size and broad element type, taphonomic observations recorded (weathering, carnivore bone surface modification, etc.). Then 708 samples were selected for ZooMS. The ZooMS-identified faunal spectrum agrees with Scott’s (2018) study of the morphologically identifiable portion, indicating an open cool steppe tundra environment. The faunal proportions differ greatly between identification method, however, especially when dentition is removed. Woolly rhinoceros, mammoth and horse have the lowest ZooMS to Morph identification ratios (high ZooMS-NISP and low morph-NISP), while grey wolf/arctic fox and reindeer have the highest (low ZooMS-NISP and high morph-NISP). In addition, while the morphology-identified portion is dominated by dentition and foot bones, the ZooMS-identified portion includes more rib and long bone fragments. Weathering levels overall are low and do not appear to be a primary cause of fragmentation, while carnivore gnawing and evidence of digestion are observed across most species and fragment sizes, with carnivore digestion responsible for most fragmentation. The exception is grey wolf/arctic fox which display no evidence of predation activity, suggesting that they and Neanderthals may have used the site intermittently alongside repeated use by large carnivores.  This paper underscores the significance of extracting and integrating information from indeterminate bone fragments to offer insight into Neanderthal behavior and interactions with prolific carnivores operating in a shared landscape.