Stable isotopes

Abstract

Carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances of fossil bone collagen reflect those of the average diet, and they can be preserved for tens of thousands of years under favourable conditions. Spy Neandertals offer a favourable case for the use of the isotopic approach to reconstruct their diet and ecology. The collagen preservation in Late Pleistocene Belgium caves is extremely good. The new radiocarbon dates obtained on Neandertal and faunal specimens from Spy allow relevant comparison between contemporaneous organisms, from Spy or nearby caves, such as Scladina and Goyet. Comparisons of prey selection patterns based on isotopic results were made between Spy Neandertals and animal predators, such as hyaenas and cave lions. Prey selection of Spy Neandertals was oriented on megafauna, such as woolly mammoths and woolly rhinoceros, while hyaenas were more opportunistic and cave lions more oriented on reindeer. The results obtained on Spy Neandertals were compared with those obtained on other Belgian Neandertals (Scladina, Engis), other European Neandertals (Saint-Césaire, Les Pradelles), and with those of early Holocene hunter-gatherers from Belgium. The focus of late Neandertals from Spy on megafauna was also visible on the late Neandertal from Saint-Césaire. The carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of Spy Neandertals are not found in any analysed Holocene modern humans from Belgium.