Upper Paleolithic rabbit exploitation and landscape patchiness: The Dordogne vs. Mediterranean Spain

In inland France, diets dominated by the wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) enter the archaeological record around the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, whereas zooarchaeological faunas from Mediterranean Spain typically contain rabbit in abundance much earlier in the Upper Paleolithic. This paper compares data from these two times and places, drawing particularly on faunal data from the Soultrean site of Cueva de Ambrosio (Almeria Province, Spain) and the Magdalenian site of Moulin du Roc (Dordogne, France), to consider biogeographic, environmental, and cultural factors that might contribute to the development of rabbit-dominated diets in southwestern Europe. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.