Ambienti ed economia nel Paleolitico medio della Puglia: lo studio delle faune

For the Apulian Middle Palaeolithic the available archaeozoological data of macrofauna for palaeoenvironmental and prey exploitation analyses rely upon four sites. Three of these, Grotta del Cavallo (Nardò - LE), Riparo l’Oscurusciuto (Ginosa - TA), and Grotta di Santa Croce (Bisceglie - BT), only display evidence for anthropic occupation. At the fourth site, layer 1 of the External Area at Paglicci (Rignano Garganico - FG), carnivores appear to alternate humans in settling in the same area. During MIS 3, 4 and 5, ungulate associations from these sites indicate the presence of dry and cold climatic phases – with the spread of horse and auroch in steppe and forest steppe environments – alternating to temperate phases which abound in fallow deer and red deer. Skeletal exploitation was characterized by a high fragmentation of bones, for extracting marrow, and by the destruction of epiphyses and tarsal and carpal bones, which were possibly used as fuel or food. Unlike the Apulian Upper Palaeolithic sites, phalanxes are generally absent in these Middle Palaeolithic assemblages. Most probably these anatomical parts were destroyed and/or abandoned in the kill sites.