The four seasons of reindeer: Non-migrating reindeer in the Dordogne region (France) between 30 and 18 k? Data from the Middle and Upper Magdalenian at La Madeleine and methods of seasonality determination

International audienceThis paper presents a study of the reindeer hunting seasons represented in Magdalenian occupations (levels 25 & 27) at the site of La Madeleine where this game comprises between 87 and 95% of the identified remains. The method of reindeer hunting season estimations based on the analysis of archaeological antlers, cheek teeth and fetal long-bone diaphyses underlines that the combined use of antlers, teeth, and fetal bones is indispensable for determining all four seasons. It also shows that summer and winter hunts are the most difficult to identify and may go unnoticed in small or poorly preserved samples, and those without fetal long-bone diaphyses (for winter). The hunting seasons identified, deducted from the minimum number of identified moments, are similar for levels 25 (Upper Magdalenian) and 27 (Middle Magdalenian), providing evidence of reindeer hunting throughout the year, during all four seasons. These results confirm those of four other sites, all of which are located in the same area at distances between 2 and 60 km from La Madeleine, while they strongly contrast those of every other currently well documented region (Paris Basin, Massif Central, Aude Basin). This suggests that if these data reflect the reality of non-migrating reindeer, rather than a high instability of seasonal ranges, at least between 30,000 and 15,000 cal BP, this phenomenon is related to a specific area, temporarily bordered by the Dronne and the Vézère valleys. The author discusses the assumption that this zone (still to be delineated), with an Atlantic climate in the Mammoth Steppe biome, at least during the Upper Pleniglacial and Oldest Dryas, was a zone of varied landscapes where the living conditions of reindeer would have limited their mobility, perhaps up to the close foothills of the Massif Central.