Beavers and marmots in a Neanderthal cave palimpsest: small-prey consumption at Valdegoba Cave (Burgos, Spain)
Large rodents occupy a poorly explored gap in Neanderthal subsistence research, between the well-documented exploitation of small ungulates and small-bodied prey such as lagomorphs and tortoises. Here we present a zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of an unusually rich large-rodent assemblage from Valdegoba Cave (northern Iberia), a Middle Palaeolithic site associated with Neanderthal occupations during the late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 – early MIS 5 transition. Far from representing a single accumulation event, the Castor fiber (Eurasian beaver) and Marmota marmota (alpine marmot) assemblage at Valdegoba reveals a complex palimpsest shaped by carnivore activity, natural mortality, post-depositional processes and occasional Neanderthal exploitation, directly attested by cut marks on both taxa. Most notably, the cut-marked marmot provides rare evidence for Neanderthal exploitation of this taxon and extends the record of marmot processing beyond the better-documented Late Pleistocene examples. These findings broaden the known spectrum of animal resources occasionally exploited by Neanderthals and highlight the importance of disentangling multiple accumulation agents when assessing medium-sized prey.
