Thin on the mountainous landscape: The Late Pleistocene zooarchaeology of the southern Caucasus, Zagros, and Alborz

Only a handful of examples speak for Middle and Upper Paleolithic adaptations to mid-latitude highlands. Mountainous southwest Asia, consisting of the southern Caucasus (including the Armenian Plateau) and the Zagros and Alborz ranges, is arguably the richest, featuring numerous Late Pleistocene (ca. 130–12 ka) archaeological records. The region's long zooarchaeological research history and especially the data gathered during the last two decades are now sufficient to support a study of Neanderthal and modern human subsistence and mobility patterns. In this paper, I present a synthesis of the available zooarchaeological data from the southern Caucasus and the Zagros/Alborz. Using abundance indices of animal groups and taphonomic variables, I test the null hypothesis that humans hunted the available game proportionally to its abundance on the landscape. To this end, the natural abundance baselines were extrapolated from bioclimatic variables and nonhuman-generated Pleistocene faunas. Taphonomic and taxonomic patterns that pertain to site-occupation intensity were evaluated against a pertinent external reference, the well-studied zooarchaeological record of the southern Levant, representing a warmer and more habitable region. The null hypothesis was only partially confirmed, enabling the identification of prey choice patterns, hunting specialization, and diversification. While acknowledging the region's archaeological variability, the study showed that the Middle and Upper Paleolithic habitations in the southern Caucasus and Zagros/Alborz were primarily ephemeral, attesting to low site habitation intensity and little, if any, population growth. It seems that all groups inhabiting the region could afford to practice highly selective game procurement strategies, exploiting vast territories and occupying many short-term camps, some strategically positioned to intercept migrating game. Both Middle and Upper Paleolithic populations consisted of small and highly mobile groups that sporadically inhabited the rugged landscape; they lived under harsh climatic conditions well under the environmental carrying capacity. This scenario contributes to viewing mountainous southwest Asia as a geographic cul-de-sac during the Pleistocene; it demonstrates that regardless of their biological and cultural backgrounds, human groups adopted similar behaviors in accordance with the regions' natural conditions. • Zooarchaeological meta-analysis of the southern Caucasus and the Zagros/Alborz. • Identification of prey choice patterns, hunting specialization, and diversification. • All proxies suggest small, mobile groups inhabiting the rugged landscape. • Mountainous southwest Asia was a geographic cul-de-sac during the Pleistocene. • Different populations adopted similar behaviors in this environment.