Unravelling the Taphonomic Stories of Bird Bones from the Middle Pleistocene Layer VIII of Grotte Vaufrey, France

International audienceIn recent years, several studies have significantly changed our knowledge concerningthe use of birds by Neanderthals. However, what remains to be clarified is the geographical andchronological variability of this human behaviour. The present case study provides new informationon this topic/debate. The Grotte Vaufrey was discovered during the 1930s and was excavated duringdifferent periods. Work carried out by J.-P. Rigaud during the 1980s motivated many multidisciplinarystudies in the cave, but accurate studies were not focused on avian remains. In this work, we providenew data on the bird remains from layer VIII (MIS 7), which is the richest among all the sequencesand which has an important Mousterian component. Corvids are predominant in the assemblageand are associated with medium-sized birds and small Passeriformes, among others. Most ofthe remains present modern fractures, which hinder taphonomic interpretation. However, somealterations associated with raptor or mammalian carnivore activities, together with the anatomicalrepresentation and age profile, suggest a non-human accumulation of the majority of the bird remains,especially in the case of corvids that naturally died in the cave. However, at least some bones showevidence of anthropic activity, suggesting the occasional use of large- and medium-sized birds byhuman populations