What about the Broad Spectrum Revolution? Subsistence strategy of hunter–gatherers in Southeast France between 20 and 8 ka BP

Southeast France (eastern Languedoc and western Provence) is a region located in the Mediterranean climatic zone at the junction of western (Magdalenian) and eastern (Epigravettian) realms. It is divided by the Rhône River, which defined a clear cultural and biogeographical border. It records peculiar flora and fauna associations during the last glacial to the optimum Holocene (20–8 ka BP/24–9 ka cal BP) as well as distinct cultural complexes. The objectives of this study are to better characterize the human subsistence behaviour and faunal spectrum during this transitional phase through the analysis of 14 studied sites completed by 34 other sites from the literature, with a total of 101 associations (archaeofaunas). The results allow a diachronic regional synthesis on the subsistence strategy of hunter–gatherers faced with warming from Solutrean to Mesolithic. Their food resources were essentially based on ungulates, although relatively not very diversified. Small game exploitation is sporadically attested during the middle and terminal Magdalenian, and increased during the Epipaleolithic, with terrestrial molluscs and rabbits. Exploitation was dominated by marine molluscs, fishes, and tortoise in the Mesolithic, which represent a limited amount of edible food within the prehistoric diets.