On Neanderthal Subsistence in Last Interglacial Forested Environments in Northern Europe

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about Neanderthals’ capacities to survive in interglacial environments, especially the last interglacial, the Eemian, and this paper starts with a short review of that debate. The evidence for Neanderthal subsistence during the Eemian suggests that Neanderthal hunting activities may have had a strong focus on large mammals, possibly as a result of the high exploitation costs for smaller sized prey in these interglacial environments. Using recent studies of Neanderthal energetic requirements and their possible implications for Neanderthal behavior, we develop an explanation for the character of the Eemian archeological record from our working area, northwestern and central Europe.