New insights from the application of ZooMS to Late Pleistocene fauna from Grotta di Castelcivita, southern Italy

Abstract

Abstract The Middle to Upper Paleolithic cave site of Grotta di Castelcivita (Campania, Southern Italy) contains a key archaeological sequence exhibiting Late Mousterian occupation followed by the Uluzzian techno-complex and an Aurignacian sequence (Protoaurignacian and Early Aurignacian). Abundant faunal remains are found throughout the sequence with variations in taxa present in each period. Previous studies of the morphologically identifiable faunal remains have provided valuable information on species abundance and diversity to reconstruct subsistence behaviour. However, like in many Pleistocene sequences, much of the faunal assemblage is fragmented and unidentifiable. Here we focus on these unidentified fragmentary bones to add greater dimension to the observed patterns. The application of collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (or Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry; ZooMS) on 1263 unidentified bones revealed distinct changes in ZooMS NISP values in the Uluzzian and Protoaurignacian periods where equids and bovids nearly doubled in quantity compared to the original morphologically identified macrofaunal assemblage. New ZooMS identifications of rhinoceros, bear, and canids were made in layers deeper than previous recorded zooarchaeological analyses, extending the presence of these taxa at the site. The unexpectedly high level of collagen preservation in the bones from the cave confirms the potential for further applications of biomolecular approaches to Pleistocene bones from southern Italy.