Inferring the diet of La Quina 5 using dental microwear texture analysis and plant microremains from dental calculus

Abstract

Neandertals are characterized as highly carnivorous from nitrogen isotopes and fauna remains. However, it has become increasingly clear that plants also were included in their diets, even during challenging environmental conditions. Southwest France during late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and early MIS 3 was a particularly cold and arid time interval associated with open steppe habitat dominated by reindeer, which were hunted by the Neandertals of La Quina cave. One of these individuals, La Quina 5, is examined using dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) and plant microremain analysis to reconstruct the diet. Reference samples for the DMTA include Hortus (n " 5), Krapina (n " 19), Malarnaud, Spy I, Vindija (n " 4), as well as Holocene Homo sapiens having various subsistence strategies (n " 150). For the plant microremain analysis, we compared La Quina 5 to Spy I and II, Shanidar III, La Ferrassie and a modern reference sample. La Quina 5 may have relied signi ܪcantly on hunted resources in the cold glacial interval of Heinrich Stadial 6 or 5, indicated by a low complexity value that suggests limited hard food consumption. Plant microremains, such as starch grains from grass seeds and plant underground storage organs, are evidenced in the dental calculus. These coarse and poorly processed plant foods were masticated using varied movements of the jaws compared to most other Neandertals, reflected in the low anisotropy of La Quina 5. These findings emphasize the consumption of plant foods in Neandertal diets even during Ice Age climate extremes.