A diachronic study of human-bear interactions: An overview of ursid exploitation during the Paleolithic of Germany

In the Palearctic region interactions between hominins and ursids date as far back as the Lower Paleolithic. Archeological evidence from open-air settings and cave environments shows that Paleolithic people and bears shared the same habitats and living spaces. Additionally, anthropogenic marks on bear remains indicate that hominins regarded bears as an occasional source of food and raw material. While scholars have largely focused on solving the conundrum between opportunistic predation and strategic hunting of bears by hominins, little attention has been given to categorizing the anthropogenic modifications on bear remains. In this study we present a comparative overview of the ursid assemblages with anthropogenic modifications from five German sites with ages ranging between the Lower and Upper Paleolithic. Our aim is to assess differences and similarities in the ways hunter-gatherers exploited bears, first by documenting the range of modifications and their location on the bear skeleton, and second by evaluating their significance in relation to subsistence and other cultural behaviors. We discuss our results by presenting a critical evaluation of the finds, that takes into account their geographic and chrono-cultural setting. In this way, we provide a framework for understanding past interactions between hominins and ursids.