Neanderthal prey: elephant teeth preserve 125,000-year-old record of movement and diet
Fossil teeth can preserve remarkable information, much like a biological identity card with data about the lives of individuals tens of thousands of years ago. By analyzing teeth, a new study published in Science Advances reconstructed the life history of four straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), the largest terrestrial mammals of prehistoric Europe. These animals lived during the last interglacial period around 125,000 years ago and were hunted by Neanderthals.
Tracing movement
‘Tooth enamel grows slowly and records, layer by layer, information about the environment in which the animal lived,’ explains Elena Armaroli, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy), and first author of the paper. ‘Thanks to isotopic analyses, we can trace the movements of elephants almost as if we had a diary of their journeys, preserved in their teeth for over one hundred thousand years.’
Diverse movement patterns
Using an innovative approach that combines isotopic analysis and paleoproteomics, the researchers reconstructed the mobility, diet, and the sex of several individuals. Strontium isotope analyses conducted along sections of molars revealed movements on a sub-seasonal scale, extending over several years of the animals' lives. Two individuals appear to have lived locally, spending years around the Neumark-Nord lakes. In contrast, two adult males had chemical signatures showing they originated in geologically distinct regions, likely mountainous areas up to 300 kilometers away. These elephants traveled long distances across forests and open woodlands before arriving at Neumark-Nord, where they were ultimately killed and processed by Neanderthals.
Dietary evidence shows that all elephants fed on C3 plants typical of temperate Europe, but with important differences. Elephants that came from farther afield appear to have lived in denser, more forested environments, while local individuals fed in more open landscapes around the lakes. Oxygen isotope data also suggest differences in water sources, climate, and possibly elevation between the regions the elephants occupied.
Seasonal climate variation
Leiden co-author Wil Roebroeks, one of the leaders of the Neumark-Nord project: ‘This study is the latest in a series of analyses of the find material from Neumark-Nord, with more to come this year. And just a few weeks ago, Quaternary Sciences Review published a paper written by Leiden Research Master student Marissa Vink, now a PhD-candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry at Mainz, one of our cooperation partners.’
Marissa reconstructed seasonal climate variation at a sub-annual scale during ~500 years of the Neanderthal occupation of this lake area. She analyzed oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel of 14 serially sampled horse molars, while stable carbon and mineral bound nitrogen isotopes were also measured in the same enamel samples to assess seasonal influences on diet.
Former lake landscape
The research focuses on the Last Interglacial site of Neumark-Nord in northeastern Germany, a former lake landscape rich in archaeology, unearthed during brown coal quarrying, and excavated by an international team including many dozens of Leiden archaeology students and staff. The fossil remains of more than 70 elephants have been discovered there, accumulated as a result of Neanderthal hunting and butchering activities. This exceptional number makes the site a unique window into the relationship between these large animals and Pleistocene humans.
Neanderthals as flexible foragers
Published and ongoing analyses of the excavated sites and assemblages by a Monrepos/Leiza-Leiden University team provides a broader picture of Neanderthals as flexible foragers operating within a productive lakeside ecosystem. The site preserves evidence of spatially organized carcass processing, including large-scale grease rendering from large mammals, as well as plant foods such as hazelnuts and acorns. The lakes likely acted as ecological gathering points, attracting animals from across the region. Neanderthals appear to have taken advantage of this predictable resource, repeatedly hunting and processing large numbers of prey animals in a landscape they may have actively shaped using fire and where they may have operated within larger groups than commonly inferred.