An open-air site in Austria occupied by humans during the coldest part of the last glacial period may have been dedicated to hunting reindeer for pelts, showing how people adapted to extreme temperatures in Europe.
The site, called Kammern-Grubgraben, was heavily occupied from around 24,000 to 20,000 years ago and contains the largest abundance of tools, ornaments, artefacts and stone structures in Europe during the cold and unforgiving most recent glacial maximum. At this time, the mean annual temperature at the site is estimated at -3.5掳C.
Kammern-Grubgraben was primarily inhabited during the winter, and may have provided refuge from the surrounding difficult environment.
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Prior research at the site unearthed a large quantity of reindeer remains (Rangifer tarandus), in contrast with earlier and nearby occupations where mammoth bones predominate.
To better understand what the remains reveal about how humans adapted to the cold climate, at Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany and her colleagues scrutinised the bones, teeth and antlers and studied how reindeer pelts were used by Indigenous communities in the Arctic.
鈥淯nfortunately, direct evidence of fur use is often not available due to the conditions under which organic material is preserved,鈥� says Pasda, so scientists must use multidisciplinary approaches to properly understand our history.
The reindeer skulls at Kammern-Grubgraben still possessed their antlers, which shows they died in winter before shedding season. Reindeer and caribou hides are distinctive in that their fur is highly specialised to repel water and withstand extreme cold, says Pasda. Ethnographic accounts of Arctic groups indicate that hunting reindeer for fur was sometimes more important than obtaining their meat, she says.
鈥淭his research illustrates a growing recognition among archaeologists that the technologies and economic strategies of prehistoric humans were not always exclusively 鈥� or even primarily 鈥� devoted to obtaining food resources,鈥� says at the University of Sydney, Australia, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the study.
Among the artefacts discovered were an inordinate number of eyed sewing needles, which were used to tightly stitch together clothing.
鈥淢aterials and technologies for making clothes became more crucial as humans migrated beyond the tropics and were exposed to colder environments,鈥� says Gilligan. 鈥淧alaeolithic eyed needles would help with more intricate sewing involved in making tailored garments that offered superior protection from cold and wind chill.鈥�
In the future, Gilligan would like to see more data on winter temperatures at the site to better understand the clothing needs of these ancient humans.
Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology
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