Accumulations of Bones of Lagopus in Late Pleistocene Sediments. Are they Caused by Man or Animals?

This paper examines sites with bones identified as Lagopus (willow grouse and/ or ptarmigan), medium-sized species of Galliformes, which occur in Central Europe since the Middle Pleistocene. The number of sites and the amount of material recovered increases dramatically in the Late Pleistocene, particularly in association with Magdalenian sites. These large accumulations of Lagopus bones have been interpreted as evidence for intensive hunting of this species by man. This can however only be proven conclusively by the presence of cut marks and traces of burning. These are, however, almost never present. Using the example of the Kartstein site (Ahrensburgian) in the Rhineland, this paper shows that the recovered spectrum of skeletal parts of Lagopus allows the distinction whether such bone accumulations are the result of hunting by man or predation by raptors, such as e.g. the snowy owl.