Neanderthals Among Bird Accumulators on French Mediterranean Coasts: The Case of Les Ramandils Cave (Port‐la‐Nouvelle, Aude, Southern France)

ABSTRACT Over the last few decades, taphonomic analyses of micro‐ and mesovertebrate remains have demonstrated that the procurement of small, agile prey including birds by hominins began long before the Upper Paleolithic. It is now well established that Neanderthals exploited birds as food but also for nonedible (e.g., aesthetic, symbolic, or utilitarian) purposes. However, clarification is needed regarding the frequency of such practices in relation to the geographical and chronological framework. Les Ramandils Cave, located on the French Mediterranean coast, recorded Middle Paleolithic layers dated to MIS 5 and provided a rich archaeological assemblage that includes lithic tools, butchered faunal remains, and human bones. Hundreds of avian remains were also recovered. The aim of this paper is to determine the origin of the bird accumulation by applying commonly used zooarchaeological analysis methods to an assemblage of more than 900 unstudied bird bones, including microscopic observation of the bone surface modifications produced by any potential accumulator agent. Our results show that birds were brought inside the cave by various predators, including humans. Neanderthals exploited several families of birds for food but also for raw material collection, as suggested by cut marks located on inedible elements, among which is an ungual phalanx of a large bird of prey (accipitrid).