In Search of the Broad Spectrum Revolution in Paleolithic Southwest Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Paleolithic People, Paleolithic Landscapes

   • Emily Lena Jones

   Pages 1-8

3. Big Game, Small Game: Why It Matters

   • Emily Lena Jones

   Pages 9-22

4. Climate and Environment in Late Paleolithic Southwest Europe

   • Emily Lena Jones

   Pages 23-35

5. Human Subsistence and the Archaeofaunal Record of Late Paleolithic Southwest Europe

   • Emily Lena Jones

   Pages 37-60

6. Archaeofaunal Diversity and Broad Spectrum Diets in Late Paleolithic Southwest Europe

   • Emily Lena Jones

   Pages 61-78

7. Was There a Broad Spectrum Revolution in Southwest Europe?

   • Emily Lena Jones

   Pages 79-84

8. Back Matter

   Pages 85-91

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The people who inhabited Southwest Europe from 30,000 to 13,000 years ago are often portrayed as big game hunters – and indeed, in some locations (Cantabrian Spain, the Pyrenees, the Dordogne) the archaeological record supports this interpretation. But in other places, notably Mediterranean Iberia, the inhabitants focused their hunting efforts on smaller game, such as rabbits, fish, and birds. Were they less effective hunters? Were these environments depleted of red deer and other large game? Or is this evidence of Paleolithic people’s adaptability?

This volume explores these questions, along the way delving into the history of the “bigger equals better” assumption; optimal foraging theory and niche construction theory; and patterns of environmental and subsistence change across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.

• Broad Spectrum Revolution and human population growth
• Optimal foraging theory
• Pleistocene environments and refugia
• Prey Choice Model
• Site location and faunal analysis
• The Pleistocene-Holocene environmental transition

• Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA

  Emily Lena Jones

Emily Lena Jones is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of New Mexico. A zooarchaeologist and environmental archaeologist, her research focuses on human-environment interactions, particularly human responses to climate change and landscape variability. She has worked in the Paleolithic of Southwestern Europe for over fifteen years.

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