Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal Open-Air Camp and Hyena Den Westeregeln (D)—Competition for Prey in a Mammoth Steppe Environment of Northern Germany (Central Europe)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15801857 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cajus G Diedrich (0000-0003-0964-3611, Halle Zoo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 52-52 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quaternary (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2571-550X • E-ISSN: 2571-550X |
| Publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3390/quat8040052 |
| OpenAlex | W4414472170 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
A gypsum karst sinkhole at Westeregeln (north-central Germany) was filled during the Late Pleistocene, first by fluvial flooding, then by solifluctation, and finally with wind-transported loess. Pleistocene mollusks and bones of snakes, birds, micro- and macromammals, and hyena coprolites were accumulated, often mixed in gravel or sand layers with Middle Paleolithic artifacts, whereas ice wedges reach deep into the sinkhole. The high amount of small flint debris prove on-site tool production by using 99% local Saalian transported brownish-to-dark Upper Cretaceous flint, which could have been collected from the Bode River gravels near-site. Only a single quartzite and one jasper flake prove other local gravel sources or importation. A large bifacial flaked knife of layer 4 dates to the early/middle Weichselian/Wuermian (MIS 5-4), similar to two triangular handaxes in the MTA tradition and an absolutely dated woolly rhinoceros bone (50,310 + 1580/−1320 BP). A cold period of Late Pleistocene glacial mammoth steppe megafauna is represented, but the material is mostly strongly fragmented and smashed by humans. Neanderthal camp use on the gypsum hill is indicated also by small charcoal pieces, burned bone fragments, and fire-dehydrated flint fragments. Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss) hyenas are well known from Westeregeln, with an open-air commuting den site, which was marked with feces
Crocuta crocuta · Glacial period · Hyena · Mammoth · Megafauna · Middle Paleolithic · Moraine · Neanderthal · Pleistocene · Taphonomy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
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Specialized horse killers in Europe
Late Pleistocene Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) clans as prezewalski horse hunters and woolly rhinoceros scavengers at the open air commuting den and contemporary Neanderthal camp site Westeregeln (central Germany)
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |