Quentin GOFFETTE

Title

L’exploitation des oiseaux par les groupes humains du Paléolithique moyen et supérieur en Wallonie : apports de deux siècles de collections archéologiques et de l’expérimentation

Co-supervisor

Dr. C. LEFÈVRE (MNHN, France)

Summary

Quentin Goffette is carrying out a PhD thesis at ULiège under the direction of Dr. Veerle Rots and Dr. Christine Lefèvre (MNHN). His research aims to document the exploitation of birds during prehistoric times. To this end, he is analysing the bone remains of birds from six Belgian Palaeolithic sites, which include the open-air site of Maisières-Canal (Gravettian) and the cave sites of Trou de Chaleux, Trou des Nutons, Trou du Frontal (all three with Magdalenian material), Scladina cave and Walou cave (both with occupations from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic). In addition to identifying the taxa and skeletal elements present in the various deposits, he is looking for and describing the traces present on the surface of the bones to identify the agents responsible for the accumulation of the various assemblages. He has also conducted experiments involving the manipulation and cutting of bird carcasses with lithic tools at the TraceoLab, with the aim of better understanding the methods of exploitation by man during the Palaeolithic.

The study of bird remains from the Trou de Chaleux revealed the exploitation during the Magdalenian of species such as geese, snowy owls, ravens and ptarmigans for food purposes, but also for the recovery of large feathers, for the use of bones as raw material for craft and for the use of parts of certain specimens, such as raptors claws, for non-utilitarian purposes.

Maisières-Canal yielded a small but particularly well-preserved assemblage of bird bones associated with the Gravettian occupation. Ptarmigans were exploited for food, snowy owl bones were used for craft and a unique set of duck radiuses either reflects an accumulation of raw material and/or is associated with a specific production of dry duck wings.