Daniel Helmer

The identification of the exploitation of products from small domestic rumi- nants in prehistory is only possible through an archaeozoological and etholog- ical approach, as each type of exploitation implies particular culling strategies. Thus by establishing mortality profiles it is possible to infer the products sought. The advances made in archaeozoological techniques for the interpre- tation of culling profiles and for the determination of the seasonality of ani- mal husbandry practices have allowed us to interpret 49 culling profiles of Caprinae from the PPNB to the Early Bronze. These profiles are distributed among 24 sites, of which 5 are unpublished. The methods for age estimation to establish the culling profiles are those established by Helmer (1995, 2000a) and Vila (1998), and for the Ovis-Capra distinction, those of Helmer (2000b) and Halstead et al. (2002). The interpretations are based on statistics (Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis), on economic and ethnologi- cal data and on the biological constraints of Caprinae.

... Danielle STORDEUR, Daniel HELMER et George WILLCOX ... matiquement) et des r?gularit?s de style et de composition, peuvent ?tre consid?r?es comme des "picto graphies" dont le symbolisme ?voque un r?cit d'ordre ... Bar-Yosef O., Gopher A., Tchernov E. et KiSLEV .E. (1991 ...

The identification of domestication in ruminants is usually carried biometrical analysis and comparing the results with data from wild specimens. For cattle as well as other taxa, the major difficulty when one observes a reduction in size is to establish if this reduction is due to climatic factors, a cynegetic stress (over-hunting), a preferential hunting of females, or a result od domestication.  While in the first two cases, one must rely on other studies or even complementary disciplines, biometrical analysis is essential for sex differenciation which is fundamental for distinguishing between selective hunting of females and domestication. The methods regularly employed in archeozoology have a major drawback because it is not possible to determine the numbers, the mean or the standard deviation for each sex. Thus, we had used two new methods : the Kernel analysis and ther muxture analysis.
The recent excavation (Göbekli, Dja’de, Halula) and the study of material from Mureybet provide a significant sample from a relatively small region with comparable climatic conditions, where sites are separated by less than 150 km and range from PPNA to Middle PPNB. On condition that the distinction between male and female specimens is carried out, it is possible to provide evidence for cattle domestication in the region from the Early PPNB onwards.

A Mesolithic aurochs kill site (La Montagne, Senas, Bouches-du-Rhône). With its high frequencies of aurochs remains, both in number of remains and in individuals, the open-air site of La Montagne (Sénas, Bouches-du-Rhône) is an exception for the Mesolithic of south-east France. A study of the list of fauna and the distribution of the anatomical elements of the aurochs suggests that the site of La Montagne functioned as a kill site with in situ processing of the carcasses. The inhabitants practiced specialised aurochs hunting comparable to that of the Mousterian/Magdalenian sites or even American Indian kill sites. A new statistical study based on mixture analysis indicates that the inferior molars can be used to determine the sex ratio. This combined with age estimates, gives a tentative population structure for the aurochs killed.

This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set ‘package’ comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1).

The study of faunal remains from sites dated from the middle of the fourth to the early second millennium BC in south-eastern France reveals an economy based on herding and exploitation of animal products (meat, milk, strength, fleeces), comparable between regional Neolithic and Bell Beaker groups. However, the role of hunting and patterns of herd management indicate differences, the causes of which (technical and cultural traditions, social organisation, trading system) will be discussed. Within Bell Beaker groups, differences exist between sites, in terms of surplus animal products and evidence of trade of these products and animals, which also may indicate a new organisation of such groups. The analysis of the site of Les Calades in Orgon (Bouches-du-Rhone) reveals differences in practices (animal exploitation, eating habits and tool manufacture) within two different structures during the early phase of the site (different origin of individuals or social structure?). The question...

The extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) was a large type of cattle that ranged over almost the whole Eurasian continent. The aurochs is the wild progenitor of modern cattle, but it is unclear whether European aurochs contributed to this process. To provide new insights into the demographic history of aurochs and domestic cattle, we have generated high-confidence mitochondrial DNA sequences from 59 archaeological skeletal finds, which were attributed to wild European cattle populations based on their chronological date and/or morphology. All pre-Neolithic aurochs belonged to the previously designated P haplogroup, indicating that this represents the Late Glacial Central European signature. We also report one new and highly divergent haplotype in a Neolithic aurochs sample from Germany, which points to greater variability during the Pleistocene.
Furthermore, the Neolithic and Bronze Age samples that were classified with confidence as European aurochs using morphological criteria all carry P haplotype mitochondrial DNA, suggesting continuity of Late Glacial and Early Holocene aurochs populations in Europe. Bayesian analysis indicates that recent population growth gives a significantly better fit to our data than a constant-sized population, an observation consistent with a postglacial expansion scenario, possibly from a single European refugial population. Previous work has shown that most ancient and modern European domestic cattle carry haplotypes previously designated T. This, in combination with our new finding of a T haplotype in a very Early Neolithic site in Syria, lends persuasive support to a scenario whereby gracile Near Eastern domestic populations, carrying predominantly T haplotypes, replaced P haplotype-carrying robust autochthonous aurochs populations in Europe, from the Early Neolithic onward. During the period of coexistence, it appears that domestic cattle were kept separate from wild aurochs and introgression was extremely rare.

Cannibalism is a provocative interpretation put forth repeatedly for practices at various prehistoric sites, yet it has been so poorly supported by objective evidence that later, more critical reviews almost invariably reject the proposal. The basic data essential to a rigorous assessment of a cannibalism hypothesis include precise contextual information, analysis of postcranial and cranial remains of humans and animals, and detailed bone modification studies. Such data are available from the Neolithic levels of the Fontbrégoua Cave (southeastern France) where several clusters of human and animal bones have been excavated. The analysis of these bones strongly suggests that humans were butchered, processed, and probably eaten in a manner that closely parallels the treatment of wild and domestic animals at Fontbrbégoua.