Middle Paleolithic Culture 197tools facilitated more effective use of food resources and
enhanced the quality of clothing and shelter.
With the Mousterian cultural traditions, members of
the genus Homo could cope with the nearly Arctic condi-
tions that supervened in Eurasia as the glaciers expanded
about 70,000 years ago. People likely came to live in cold
climates as a result of a slow but steady population in-
crease during the Pleistocene. Once there, they had little
choice but to adapt as climates turned even colder.
Population expansion into previously uninhabited
colder regions was made possible through a series of cul-
tural adaptations to cold climate. Under such cold condi-
tions, vegetable foods are only rarely or seasonally available,
and meat becomes a critical staple. In particular, animal
fats, rather than carbohydrates, become the chief source of
energy. Energy-rich animal fat in the diets of cold-climate
meat eaters provides them with the extra energy needed
for hunting, as well as for keeping the body warm.
An abundance of associated animal bones, often
clearly showing cut marks, indicates the importance of
meat to Mousterian toolmakers. Frequently, the remains
consist almost entirely of very large game—wild cattle (in-
cluding the European bison known as the aurochs), wild
horses, and even mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses.
At several sites evidence indicates that particular species
were singled out for the hunt. For example, at one site in
the French Pyrenees, well over 90 percent of the faunal as-
semblage (representing at least 108 animals) consists of
large members of the wild cattle family. These bones ac-
cumulated at the foot of a steep riverside escarpment, over
which the animals were evidently stampeded. Evidence of
similar cliff-fall hunting strategy is also found at La Quina
in southwestern France and at a site in the Channel Islands
just off the northwest coast of France.
Clearly, the Neandertals were not merely casual or
opportunistic hunters but engaged in carefully planned
and organized hunting of very large and potentially
dangerous game.^31 The standardization of Mousterian
hunting implements compared to household tools also
reflects the importance of hunting for these ancient
peoples. At the same time, the complexity of the tool kit
needed for survival in a cold climate may have decreased
the users’ mobility. Decreased mobility is suggested by
the greater depth of deposits and thus longer habita-
tion at Mousterian sites compared with those from the
earlier Lower Paleolithic. Such sites contain evidence of
long production sequences, resharpening and discard-
ing of tools, and large-scale butchering and cooking of
game. Pebble paving, construction of simple walls, and
the digging of post holes and artificial pits show how
the inhabitants worked to improve living conditions in
some caves and rock shelters. This evidence suggests that
Mousterian sites were not simply stopovers in people’s
constant quest for food.
In addition, evidence suggests that Neandertal social
organization had developed to the point of providing
care for physically disabled members of the group. For
the first time, the remains of old people are well repre-
sented in the fossil record. Furthermore, many elderly
Neandertal skeletons show evidence of treatment for
trauma, with extensive healing of wounds and little or no
infection.^32
One particularly dramatic example is Shanidar Cave
in Iraq, which includes the remains of a partially blind
man (the eye socket indicates serious injury) with a with-
ered upper arm indicating loss of the arm from the elbow
on down. Remains of another individual found at Krapina
in Croatia suggests the possibility of surgical amputation
of a hand. In La Chapelle, France, fossil remains indicate
prolonged survival of a man badly crippled by arthri-
tis. The earliest example comes from a 200,000-year-old
site in France, where a toothless man was able to survive
probably because others in his group processed or pre-
chewed his food so he could swallow it. Whether this evi-
dence indicates true compassion on the part of these early
people is not clear, but it is certain that cultural factors
helped ensure survival, allowing individuals to provide
care for others.The Symbolic Life of Neandertals
Indications of a rich symbolic life of Neandertals exist. For
example, several sites contain clear evidence for deliberate
burial of the dead. This is one reason for the relative abun-
dance of reasonably complete Neandertal skeletons. The
difficulty of digging an adult-sized grave without access to
metal shovels suggests how important a social activity this
was. Moreover, intentional positioning of dead bodies,
whatever the specific reason may have been, constitutes
evidence of symbolism.^33
To date, at least seventeen sites in Europe, South
Africa, and Southwest Asia include Middle Paleolithic
burials. For example, at Kebara Cave in Israel, around
60,000 years ago, a Neandertal male between 25 and 35
years of age was placed in a pit on his back, with his arms
folded over his chest and abdomen (Figure 8.12). Some
time later, after complete decay of attaching ligaments, the
grave was reopened and the skull removed (a practice that,(^31) Mellars, P. (1989). Major issues in the emergence of modern humans.
Current Anthropology 30, 356–357.
(^32) Conroy, G. C. (1997). Reconstructing human origins: A modern synthesis
(p. 427). New York: Norton.
(^33) Schepartz, L. A. (1993). Language and modern human origins. Yearbook
of Physical Anthropology 36, 113.