Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of late Neandertals in North-Western Europe

The Late Pleistocene site Troisieme caverne of Goyet (Belgium) has yielded the broadest set of Neandertal remains in North-Western Europe and is associated with a rich and diverse large mammal assemblage. We reconstructed the dietary ecology at the site using stable isotope tracking (delta C-13 and delta N-15) of bone collagen. The delta C-13 and delta N-15 values of all species are consistent with those observed in other mammoth steppe sites. The relative contribution of potential prey species to the diet of carnivores (including Neandertals) was evaluated using a Bayesian model. The distribution of individuals from herbivorous species and carnivorous ones was determined through cluster analysis in order to identify ecological niches, regardless of the individual species attribution. The Neandertals within the predator guild and the mammoth and reindeer as representatives of the herbivores occupied the most specific and most narrow ecological niches. The Troisieme caverne of Goyet can be regarded as a key site for the investigation of Late Pleistocene Neandertal ecology north of the Alps. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.