Late Paleolithic whale bone tools reveal human and whale ecology in the Bay of Biscay

Abstract

Reconstructing how prehistoric humans used the products obtained from large cetaceans is challenging, but key to understand the history of early human coastal adaptations. Here we report the multiproxy analysis (ZooMS, radiocarbon, stable isotopes) of worked objects made of whale bone, and unworked whale bone fragments, found at Upper Paleolithic sites (Magdalenian) around the Bay of Biscay. Taxonomic identification using ZooMS reveals at least five species of large whales, expanding the range of known taxa whose products were utilized by humans in this period. Radiocarbon places the use of whale products ca. 20–14 ka cal BP, with a maximum diffusion and diversity at 17.5–16 ka cal BP, making it the oldest evidence of whale-bone working to our knowledge. δ13C and δ15N stable isotope values reflect taxon-specific differences in foraging behavior. The diversity and chronology of these cetacean populations attest to the richness of the marine ecosystem of the Bay of Biscay in the late Paleolithic, broadening our understanding of coastal adaptations at that time.