Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 108, Issue 10, Pages 3888-3893Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1016212108
Keywords
cut marks; raptors; symbolism; Middle Paleolithic
Categories
Funding
- Culture Ministry, Veneto Archaeological Superintendency
- public institutions (Lessinia Mountain Community, Regional Natural Park, Department for Cultural Heritage of the Veneto Region, Fumane Municipality)
- private institutions and companies (Cariverona Foundation, Roberto Gardina C. sas
- Albino Armani Vinegrowers
- Lessinia Mountain Community
- Ferrara University
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A large and varied avifaunal bone assemblage from the final Mousterian levels of Grotta di Fumane, northern Italy, reveals unusual human modifications on species that are not clearly relatable to feeding or utilitarian uses (i.e., lammergeier, Eurasian black vulture, golden eagle, red-footed falcon, common wood pigeon, and Alpine chough). Cut, peeling, and scrape marks, as well as diagnostic fractures and a breakthrough, are observed exclusively on wings, indicating the intentional removal of large feathers by Neandertals. The species involved, the anatomical elements affected, and the unusual type and location of the human modifications indicate an activity linked to the symbolic sphere and the behavioral modernity of this European autochthonous population.
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