Books by Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser
MenschlICHes VERSTEHEN. Die Archäologie der menschlichen Verhaltensevolution. The Archaeology of Human Behavioural Evolution, 2022
Die Archäologie der Menschwerdung aus der Perspektive des Archäologischen Forschungs-zentrums und... more Die Archäologie der Menschwerdung aus der Perspektive des Archäologischen Forschungs-zentrums und Museums für menschliche Verhaltensevolution, MONREPOS in 74 Beiträgen.The Archaeology of Becoming Human from the perspective of the Archaeological Research Centre and Museum of Behavioural Evolution, MONREPOS in 74 contributions.
The special issue volume “The evolution of hominin food resource exploitation in Pleistocene Euro... more The special issue volume “The evolution of hominin food resource exploitation in Pleistocene Europe: Recent studies in Zooarchaeology” provides a status report on recent research in this field. It represents the outcome of a session organized during the 11. International Council of Archaeozoology meeting in Paris in August 2010.
The contributions addressed the full range of hominin subsistence during the Pleistocene and early Holocene starting with the question of megafaunal exploitation at Olduvai and ending with diet diversity and the advent of resource management in south-eastern Anatolia at the Holocene boundary. The papers illustrated the diversity of agendas addressed in the various epochs considered. What became apparent was the ubiquitous aspire for new perspectives in the interpretation of zooarchaeological data and the effort to obtain a higher resolution in the acquisition of data. The current special issue volume represents a condensed compilation of some of the papers presented.
Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Jöris, O., Sensburg, M., Street, M., Turner, E. (Eds.) 2011. Site-internal Spatial Organization of Hunter-Gatherer Societies: case studies from the European Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Verlag des RGZM, Mainz.
Rabinovich, R., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Kindler, L., Goren-Inbar, N., 2011. The Acheulian site... more Rabinovich, R., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Kindler, L., Goren-Inbar, N., 2011. The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov. Mammalian Taphonomy. The assemblages of Layers V-5 and V-6. Springer, Dordrecht.
Multidisciplinary research on the Early-Middle Pleisocene site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov has yielded abundant climatic, environmental, ecological and behavioural records. The 15 archaeological horizons from a sequence of Acheulian occupational episodes on the shore of the paleo-Lake Hula. These enable us to reconstruct numerous aspects of the survival and adaptation of ancient hominins, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and behaviour. This book presents the faunal analysis of the medium-sized and large mammals, providing taxonomic, taphonomic and actualistic data for the largest faunal assemblages. The study of modes of animal exploitation reveals valuable information on hominin behaviour.
The book is devoted to building a bridge between modern and Pleistocene art. In 16 contributions ... more The book is devoted to building a bridge between modern and Pleistocene art. In 16 contributions a variety of authors tackle this interesting topic.
The book illustrates the Pleistocene and Early Holocene history of hominin occupation of the midd... more The book illustrates the Pleistocene and Early Holocene history of hominin occupation of the middle Rhine area of Germany.
The Early Pleistocene 'Ubeidiya Formation (Israel) represents one of the most important sources f... more The Early Pleistocene 'Ubeidiya Formation (Israel) represents one of the most important sources for our knowledge of early hominins' subsistence strategies in Eurasia. The book reports the results of comparative taphonomic studies of faunal assemblages from 17 archaeological horizons. It is concluded that hunting of medium-sized mammals was among the subsistence strategies available to Early Pleistocene Levantine hominins.
The book provides a discussion on the role played by our ancestors in food procurement and exploi... more The book provides a discussion on the role played by our ancestors in food procurement and exploitation during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic in Europe.
The Middle Pleistocene open-air site Kärlich—Seeufer provides evidence for hominin activity durin... more The Middle Pleistocene open-air site Kärlich—Seeufer provides evidence for hominin activity during a Middle Pleistocene
interglaciation ( the Kärlich Interglaciation, dated to post-Cromer IV and pre-Holstein (sensu stricto)).
More than 400m² have been excavated. The site is characterized by Acheulean artifacts, a fauna dominated by Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus, and a unique and outstanding preservation of wooden and other palaeobotanical remains. The book presents the archaeological evidence unearthed at this important site. Moreover detailed study of site formation processes give provides insight into the mechanisms, which led to the site formation.
It is concluded that the site can be interpreted as a reworked archaeological sample. Hominid occupation occurred in the vicinity of a small lake with prevailing mesooligotrophic conditions.
Papers and Book Chapters by Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser
Wetter, Klima, Menschheitsentwicklung. Von der Eiszeit bis ins 21. Jahrhundert., 2009
Science Advances, 2023
Straight-tusked elephants ( Palaeoloxodon antiquus ) were the largest terrestrial mammals of the ... more Straight-tusked elephants ( Palaeoloxodon antiquus ) were the largest terrestrial mammals of the Pleistocene, present in Eurasian landscapes between 800,000 and 100,000 years ago. The occasional co-occurrence of their skeletal remains with stone tools has generated rich speculation about the nature of interactions between these elephants and Pleistocene humans: Did hominins scavenge on elephants that died a natural death or maybe even hunt some individuals? Our archaeozoological study of the largest P. antiquus assemblage known, excavated from 125,000-year-old lake deposits in Germany, shows that hunting of elephants weighing up to 13 metric tons was part of the cultural repertoire of Last Interglacial Neanderthals there, over >2000 years, many dozens of generations. The intensity and nutritional yields of these well-documented butchering activities, combined with previously reported data from this Neumark-Nord site complex, suggest that Neanderthals were less mobile and operated...
The Schöningen 13II-4 site has produced a wealth of insight into the hunting and butchery activit... more The Schöningen 13II-4 site has produced a wealth of insight into the hunting and butchery activities of Middle Pleistocene hominins, highlighted by the famous Schöningen spears preserved with hundreds of cut-marked and broken horse bones. The bones of carnivores are rare at the site, but tooth pits, scores, and other markings that record their presence are abundant. Here we describe the carnivore remains from Schöningen 13II-4 and provide a detailed analysis of carnivore markings on different skeletal parts in the faunal assemblage and their spatial distribution. In studying carnivore activities at Schöningen, we aim to achieve a more comprehensive view of site taphonomy and, in turn, a better appreciation of the anthropogenic process that shaped the archaeological record. The placement and sequence of carnivore marks on the bones in relation to butchery marks indicates that carnivores scavenged from the remains of hominin kills. In the large horse bone assemblage, carnivore damage is more prevalent on limb bones of juveniles than adults. This pattern reveals that adult horse carcasses were fully butchered by hominins, but juvenile horse carcasses were abandoned earlier in the butchery process, leaving more consumable tissues that attracted scavenging carnivores. Tooth pits and scores on the Schöningen remains are very large and compare well with markings produced by wolves, especially those observed in a sample of modern wolf-gnawed bones we collected and analysed from Adler-und Wolfspark Kasteelburg. Clusters of carnivore-damaged bones appear around the periphery of dense concentrations of bones butchered by hominins, suggesting that wolves displaced some skeletal elements quickly after abandonment by hominins. Such a spatial pattern hints at the long-standing co-habitation of the Schöningen landscape by hominins and wolves during the Middle Pleistocene.
Uploads
Books by Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser
The contributions addressed the full range of hominin subsistence during the Pleistocene and early Holocene starting with the question of megafaunal exploitation at Olduvai and ending with diet diversity and the advent of resource management in south-eastern Anatolia at the Holocene boundary. The papers illustrated the diversity of agendas addressed in the various epochs considered. What became apparent was the ubiquitous aspire for new perspectives in the interpretation of zooarchaeological data and the effort to obtain a higher resolution in the acquisition of data. The current special issue volume represents a condensed compilation of some of the papers presented.
Multidisciplinary research on the Early-Middle Pleisocene site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov has yielded abundant climatic, environmental, ecological and behavioural records. The 15 archaeological horizons from a sequence of Acheulian occupational episodes on the shore of the paleo-Lake Hula. These enable us to reconstruct numerous aspects of the survival and adaptation of ancient hominins, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and behaviour. This book presents the faunal analysis of the medium-sized and large mammals, providing taxonomic, taphonomic and actualistic data for the largest faunal assemblages. The study of modes of animal exploitation reveals valuable information on hominin behaviour.
interglaciation ( the Kärlich Interglaciation, dated to post-Cromer IV and pre-Holstein (sensu stricto)).
More than 400m² have been excavated. The site is characterized by Acheulean artifacts, a fauna dominated by Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus, and a unique and outstanding preservation of wooden and other palaeobotanical remains. The book presents the archaeological evidence unearthed at this important site. Moreover detailed study of site formation processes give provides insight into the mechanisms, which led to the site formation.
It is concluded that the site can be interpreted as a reworked archaeological sample. Hominid occupation occurred in the vicinity of a small lake with prevailing mesooligotrophic conditions.
Papers and Book Chapters by Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser
The contributions addressed the full range of hominin subsistence during the Pleistocene and early Holocene starting with the question of megafaunal exploitation at Olduvai and ending with diet diversity and the advent of resource management in south-eastern Anatolia at the Holocene boundary. The papers illustrated the diversity of agendas addressed in the various epochs considered. What became apparent was the ubiquitous aspire for new perspectives in the interpretation of zooarchaeological data and the effort to obtain a higher resolution in the acquisition of data. The current special issue volume represents a condensed compilation of some of the papers presented.
Multidisciplinary research on the Early-Middle Pleisocene site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov has yielded abundant climatic, environmental, ecological and behavioural records. The 15 archaeological horizons from a sequence of Acheulian occupational episodes on the shore of the paleo-Lake Hula. These enable us to reconstruct numerous aspects of the survival and adaptation of ancient hominins, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and behaviour. This book presents the faunal analysis of the medium-sized and large mammals, providing taxonomic, taphonomic and actualistic data for the largest faunal assemblages. The study of modes of animal exploitation reveals valuable information on hominin behaviour.
interglaciation ( the Kärlich Interglaciation, dated to post-Cromer IV and pre-Holstein (sensu stricto)).
More than 400m² have been excavated. The site is characterized by Acheulean artifacts, a fauna dominated by Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus, and a unique and outstanding preservation of wooden and other palaeobotanical remains. The book presents the archaeological evidence unearthed at this important site. Moreover detailed study of site formation processes give provides insight into the mechanisms, which led to the site formation.
It is concluded that the site can be interpreted as a reworked archaeological sample. Hominid occupation occurred in the vicinity of a small lake with prevailing mesooligotrophic conditions.