Late Neandertals and the intentional removal of feathers as evidenced from bird bone taphonomy at Fumane Cave 44 ky B.P., Italy

2011/02/22 by Marco Peresani, Ivana Fiore, Monica Gala +2 · 6 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Evolution and Paleontology Studies

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.1016212108

openalex publication_date 2011/02/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

A large and varied avifaunal bone assemblage from the final Mousterian levels of Grotta di Fumane, northern Italy, reveals unusual human modifications on species that are not clearly relatable to feeding or utilitarian uses (i.e., lammergeier, Eurasian black vulture, golden eagle, red-footed falcon, common wood pigeon, and Alpine chough). Cut, peeling, and scrape marks, as well as diagnostic fractures and a breakthrough, are observed exclusively on wings, indicating the intentional removal of large feathers by Neandertals. The species involved, the anatomical elements affected, and the unusual type and location of the human modifications indicate an activity linked to the symbolic sphere and the behavioral modernity of this European autochthonous population.

Citations

• New dates for the Grotte du Renne at Arcy-sur-Cure and their implications for the evolution of symbolic behaviour.
• A Howiesons Poort tradition of engraving ostrich eggshell containers dated to 60,000 years ago at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa

Cited by

• The Uluzzian in the north of Italy: insights around the new evidence at Riparo Broion
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• Early evidence for symbolic behavior in the Levantine Middle Paleolithic: A 120 ka old engraved aurochs bone shaft from the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel
• The Vulture in the Sky and the Hominin on the Land: Three Million Years of Human–Vulture Interaction
• Modern human incursion into Neanderthal territories 54,000 years ago at Mandrin, France
• Marco Peresani [wikipedia]