Elsevier

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volume 227, 1 January 2020, 106032
Quaternary Science Reviews

Dietary niche partitioning among Magdalenian canids in southwestern Germany and Switzerland

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106032Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A significant niche partitioning is reflected in isotopic composition.

  • Magdalenian people controlled the diet of dogs.

  • First indications that foxes were already commensal in Magdalenian.

  • New baseline for investigating canid-human interactions in Paleolithic contexts.

Abstract

Fox (Vulpes vulpes and Vulpes lagopus), wolf (Canis lupus) and dog (Canis lupus familiaris) remains are commonly found in the faunal assemblages of Magdalenian sites in Central Europe. However, little is known about their ecology in terms of food preference and niche partitioning. We hypothesize that domestication leads to a new trophic niche for dogs and even for commensal animals, such as foxes, compared to their wild counterparts (i.e. wolves and wild non-commensal foxes). To test our hypothesis, we used stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N) of bone collagen extracted from canid bones from several Magdalenian sites in southwestern Germany and Switzerland (between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago). We then ran Bayesian statistic systems (SIBER, mixSIAR) to reconstruct the trophic niches and diets of Magdalenian canids. We conclude that a significant niche partitioning of canids is reflected in their carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition. Furthermore, we were able to distinguish between the niche of dogs and individual commensal foxes on the one hand, and wolves on the other hand. We suggest that while wolves had permanent, unrestricted access to all types of dietary resources coming from a diversity of prey species, the diet of dogs was controlled by humans. Most of the foxes built their own niche with a diet primarily comprised of small mammals. However, some red foxes showed commensal relationships in their reconstructed diet to dogs and wolves.

Introduction

During the Magdalenian in southwestern Germany and Switzerland (17,000–13,000 cal BP (Gaudzinski and Street, 2003; Hahn, 1995; Housley et al., 1997; Kind, 2003; Napierala, 2008; Taller et al., 2014)), four canids were present on the landscape. Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) are small, solitary, opportunistic predators, which tend to live commensal to larger predators and humans in modern times (Pulliaines, 1993; Wandeler and Lüps, 1993). European wolves (Canis lupus) are larger predators, which organize in packs to hunt larger prey (Peters, 1993). In the archaeological sites of southwestern Germany and Switzerland, we find remains of these three canid taxa in many layers before and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (Boger et al., 2014; Krönneck, 2012; Napierala, 2008; Napierala et al., 2014; Niven, 2007). However, starting in the Magdalenian, after the LGM, we find a fourth canid taxon in this region: the dog, Canis lupus familiaris, whose diet likely reflected its relationship with humans (Camarós et al., 2016; Germonpré et al., 2018; Napierala and Uerpmann, 2012; Thalmann et al., 2013; Wayne et al., 2006).

Several studies have established that dog domestication started independently in different areas of eastern Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe around 40,000 to 30,000 years ago (Crockford and Kuzmin, 2012; Germonpré et al., 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018; Larson et al., 2012; Morey and Jeger, 2017; Ovodov et al., 2011; Perri, 2016; Thalmann and Perri, 2018; Thalmann et al., 2013; Vilà et al., 1997; Wayne et al., 2006). After the LGM, dog remains are often found in European archaeological sites (Janssens et al., 2018; Napierala and Uerpmann, 2012; Thalmann and Perri, 2018; Thalmann et al., 2013; Wayne et al., 2006). During the Magdalenian these animals became increasingly important for humans.

Why and how they were domesticated is a very active field of research with little consensus (Germonpré et al., 2013, 2018; Larson et al., 2012; Morey, 2014; Morey and Jeger, 2015, 2017; Perri, 2016). In this discussion, two hypotheses have prevailed. First is that wolves self-domesticated. This scenario is based on an ecological association between humans and wolves and the fact that both were specialized on the same spectrum of prey (Germonpré et al., 2018; Morey and Jeger, 2015; Russell, 2002; Vigne, 2015). Several researchers suggested that in the Paleolithic, wolves were attracted to human food waste (e.g. prey animals that were left behind after butchering) and scavenged from these resources. Only wolves that were less anxious and aggressive were tolerated by humans and became commensal, resulting in their domestication after some generations (Coppinger and Coppinger, 2001; Germonpré et al., 2018; Larson and Burger, 2013; Larson et al., 2012; MacHugh et al., 2017; O’Connor, 1997; Zeder, 2012a, b). However, there is substantial criticism of this hypothesis. Studies on modern hunter-gatherer societies showed that they leave little food waste, and in addition, have multiple strategies for protecting their uneaten food (Fair, 1997; Germonpré et al., 2018; Lavrillier, 2011; Tanner, 1979). Furthermore, Lupo (2017) established that dogs that subsist entirely on human refuse display poor health and have reduced life spans. The other main criticism of the self-domestication hypothesis is that habituated wolves are dangerous. If wolves associate humans with food, they can also attack and kill people, especial children (Behdarvand and Kaboli, 2015; Bisi et al., 2007; Linnell and Boitani, 2011; Linnell et al., 2002, 2003; McNay, 2002; McNay and Mooney, 2005; Rajpurohit, 1999). Germonpré et al. (2018) suggested that Paleolithic people did everything possible to avoid these dangerous outcomes. The second prevailing hypothesis for wolf domestication is that Paleolithic foragers were intentionally keeping pets (Germonpré et al., 2018; Russell, 2002, 2011). Ethnographic studies show that the keeping of young carnivores as pets is common in modern hunter-gatherer societies in northern latitudes (Drucker, 1951; Proko’yeva, 1964; Russell, 2002, 2011; Sokolova, 2000). In both hypotheses, there is selection for tameness and reduced fear, which could be driving factors in domestication (Belyaev et al., 1985; Germonpré et al., 2018; Kukekova et al., 2011; Morey and Jeger, 2015, 2017; Trut et al., 2004, 2009; Trut, 1999).

Although these questions are still under debate, we do know that dogs are the oldest domestic animals, and human control over their diet, reproduction, and health started quite early in the history of human-canid relationship (Germonpré et al., 2018). However, there is a difference in the feeding pattern between both domestication scenarios: in the self-domestication model, wolf food resources are human refuse, while in the pet-keeping model, canids are actively fed by humans (Germonpré et al., 2018). In the first case, the diet of the canids would resemble those of the human, while in the second case their food intake diet could differ significantly both from those of the human and/or their wild counterparts. Interestingly, evidence for the control of canid diets was showed through morphological study and stable isotope analyses in an archaeological site of Central Europe as early as the Gravettian, ca. 29,500–31,500 cal BP (Bocherens et al., 2015; Germonpré et al., 2018).

Current research indicates that, unlike wolves, arctic and red foxes were not domesticated in the European Paleolithic, though their domestication was possible, as indicated by the Russian farm-fox experiment (Belyaev et al., 1985; Dugatkin, 2018; Gogoleva et al., 2011; Kukekova et al., 2011; Trut et al., 2004, 2009; Trut, 1999). The earliest evidence of close human-fox interactions comes from the Natufian period in Jordan (ca. 14,500–11,600 years ago), where a human was buried with a fox (Maher et al., 2011). Excavators identified the burial as a secondary inhumation, and recovered pieces of ochre from on top of both human and fox bones, which they hypothesize highlights the relationship between the two individuals (Maher et al., 2011). A possible case of fox domestication was found in two Early to Middle Bronze Age sites (Can Roqueta and Minferri, ca. 4000 years ago) in the Iberian Peninsula (Grandal-d’Anglade et al., 2019). Excavators recovered burials with humans and both foxes and dogs. In addition to a morphological analysis of the humans and canids, Grandal-d’Anglade et al. (2019) reconstructed their diets, based on their carbon and nitrogen isotopic values. Whereas the diets of men were dominated by meat, the diets of dogs, foxes, women, and children were primarily comprised of cereals. This indicates that humans controlled the food of dogs and foxes and both taxa were likely domesticated. It is also interesting that most dogs showed pathologies that came from carrying loads, while only one older fox had a similar pathology. The other foxes preserved no similar evidence of behavior-related pathologies (Grandal-d’Anglade et al., 2019).

Today, foxes show another type of relationship with humans; they are synanthropic commensals, which means that they benefit from human lifestyles without positively or negatively affecting people (Hulme-Beaman et al., 2016). Red foxes, for example, often live commensal to humans and benefit from their food waste (Jędrzejewski and Jędrzejewska, 1992; Kidawa and Kowalczyk, 2011; MacDonnald, 1977; Panek and Budny, 2017; Sidorovich et al., 2006; Soe et al., 2017; Wandeler and Lüps, 1993). Arctic foxes also use human food waste as a dietary resource (Pulliaines, 1993). As in the case of domestic animals, where humans take control over an animal’s diet, commensal animals change their trophic niche in comparison to their non-commensal conspecifics. Several ecological studies have investigated this matter (Kays and Feranec, 2011; Merkle et al., 2011; Murray et al., 2015; Newsome et al., 2010, 2015; Warsen et al., 2014).

However, since paleoecological studies, like the current one, are based on fossil remains, it is not possible to use the methods applied by ecologists to study living animals. Alternatively, with the carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic composition of bone collagen, we can build trophic niches and reconstruct the diets of fossil canids (Ambrose, 1990; Bearhop et al., 2004; Bocherens and Drucker, 2013; Jackson et al., 2011; Layman et al., 2007; Warsen et al., 2014).

For a better understanding of trophic relationships between members of a fossil community, we need reliable tracers of predator-prey relationships and we cannot rely exclusively on modern analogues. During the past three decades, carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances measured in fossil bone collagen of different species from Pleistocene sites have provided such information (e.g. Bocherens (2015); Bocherens et al. (1997); Bocherens et al. (1991) Fox-Dobbs et al. (2008)). Isotopes from collagen, which comprises the organic fraction of bone, can provide information about the environment and the diet of an individual. Therefore, if collagen is preserved in archaeological bones, it is possible to reconstruct the paleoenvironment and the structure of the trophic system.

The studies of Ambrose and Norr (1993) and Tieszen and Fagre (1993) have shown that the δ13C values in bone collagen are linked to the protein fraction of the diet. If all biochemical fractions (e.g. lipids, proteins and carbohydrates) come from an isotopically homogenous source, the δ13C values in bone collagen are 5‰ higher than in the diet. This is generally the case for herbivores. For predators, the δ13C values in bone collagen are 1‰ higher on average than in the collagen of their prey (Bocherens, 2003, 2015; Bocherens and Drucker, 2013). In contrast to δ13C, δ15N values in the collagen increase 3–5‰, depending on the average diet. Therefore, these values are linked to the trophic level (Bocherens and Drucker, 2003; Krajcarz et al., 2018).

In ecological studies, niches are complex systems with multiple variables that define a species’ role in the ecological system (Araujo et al., 2011; Pocheville, 2015). One important model is the trophic niche, which has been used in several ecological and paleoecological studies (Araujo et al., 2011; Bassi et al., 2012; Hulme-Beaman et al., 2016; Kidawa and Kowalczyk, 2011; Morey and Jeger, 2017; Soe et al., 2017; Wikenros et al., 2017). This model defines the niches of species or even individuals by their position in the food web (Araujo et al., 2011; Bearhop et al., 2004; Higashi et al., 1992; Pocheville, 2015). In particular, studies that focus on dietary reconstructions using stable isotopes make use of this model (Bearhop et al., 2004; Bocherens, 2015; Bocherens et al., 1994, 1997, 2011, 2015; Bocherens and Drucker, 2003; Germonpré et al., 2009; Immel et al., 2015; Krajcarz et al., 2018; Wißing et al., 2016). Throughout this study, we use the term “niche” for a trophic niche.

Foxes and wolves are generalist predator/scavengers that occupy broad niches. If we build species-related niches for each individual, all the niches will strongly overlap, because individual food preferences can be very broad. This phenomenon has been recognized in other studies as well (Bocherens, 2015; Bocherens et al., 2011, 2015; Wißing et al., 2016). However, individuals in such broad niches can specialize under certain circumstances, and eventually build new, more specific, niches (Araujo et al., 2011; Sheppard et al., 2018; Svanbäck and Persson, 2004). We see something similar in modern carnivores that were influenced by human behavior (Poessel et al., 2017; Prange et al., 2004; Roth, 2003; Warsen et al., 2014; Yirga et al., 2012) or in invasive species (Dammhahn et al., 2017; Jackson and Britton, 2014). If individuals feed from the same sources, they occupy the same trophic niche and are competitors.

Stable isotope-based dietary reconstructions and the resulting trophic niche constructions can help to shed new light on these interactions between humans and canids. In this study, we focus on the analysis of δ13C and δ15N values from bone collagen, extracted from Magdalenian canids. We hypothesize that the niche partitioning of dogs, wolves and foxes is recognizable in the isospace. If this is the case, we should find the different taxa occupying niches with different diets. Additionally, we aim to determine whether commensal foxes are detectable through stable isotope analysis. We hypothesize that foxes might plot in the niches of dogs if they are commensal to humans or in the niche of wolves if they are commensal to large canids.

Though it is an important topic, within this study we will not discuss variability in the isotopic structure of living wild populations of the included species or the role of life history or body parts that we sampled. For our purposes, we only focus on the variability of the species and their niches in the Magdalenian environment based on published and newly analyzed isotopic data.

Section snippets

Study sites

This study examines faunal material from five archaeological sites in southwest Germany and Switzerland (Fig. 1). Three of these sites are located in the Swabian Jura: Geißenklösterle, Hohle Fels, and Vogelherd. Geißenklösterle Cave is part of a limestone massif located 60 m above the floor of the Ach Valley. It was first excavated in 1973 by Eberhard Wagner (Hahn, 1988) and final excavations at the site were undertaken from 2001 to 2002 by Nicholas Conard (Conard and Malina, 2003). Hohle Fels

Elemental and isotopic analysis

The %Nbone values measured on the 12 samples we analyzed in this study confirmed the favorable conditions of preservation (1.7–3.8%), establishing quantitatively that collagen is preserved in the samples. Moreover, the atomic C/Ncoll ratios of all analyzed extracts (3.3–3.5) determined that the preservation of collagen was appropriate for the interpretation of the isotopic analysis (Table 1).

Among the isotopic values, we found a clear difference between foxes (red and arctic fox), wolves and

Discussion

Based on our results, we can divide the samples into three predatory niches (see Fig. 7). For the most part, the niches are comprised of members of a specific taxon, which is reflected in the niche names. In all cases, there is at least one sample that does not match the niche name, which we expand upon below.

Conclusion

Our work has led us to conclude that niche partitioning of canids in the Magdalenian of southwestern Germany and Switzerland is reflected in their isospace. Therefore, this study can provide a baseline for investigating canid-human interactions in other Paleolithic contexts, for instance during the pre-LGM Upper Paleolithic, where the possibility of wolf domestication is heavily debated (e.g., Coppinger and Coppinger (2001); Crockford and Kuzmin (2012); Larson et al. (2012); Lupo (2017); Morey

Acknowledgments

This study would not have been possible without support from our colleagues, including Christoph Wißing, Gillian Wong, Angel Blanco-Lapaz, Verena Schünemann, Tatiana Feuerborn, Hannes Napierala and Hans-Peter Uerpmann (University of Tübingen). We thank the team of the Laboratory of Chronology (Finnish Museum of Natural History), Bernd Steinhilber from the Isotope Geochemistry Working Group (University of Tübingen) and Bernice Nisch from the Hydrogeochemisty Working Group (University of

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