Hunting practices targeting large mammal communities in the Paris Basin in the Upper Palaeolithic

This paper aims to explore the evolutionary role of Upper Palaeolithic hunter–gatherers through their interactions with large mammal communities. Recent advances in the understanding of hunting practices of during the Late Glacial in the Paris basin show how complex human-large mammal relationships may have been. The modelling of various African savannah ecosystems enables these interactions to be approached for prehistoric periods. This framework provides an opportunity for Pleistocene specialists to get a better understanding of the functioning and the structure of animal communities. Further to this, it is now possible to highlight how the top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of herbivore regulation fit together. Thus, the way prehistoric societies selected and hunted their prey provides significant data on the environmental impact of their predation and on environmental conditions. In order to test this ecological framework, the Upper Pleistocene Paris Basin is likely to be interesting for several reasons. First, the physical parameters of this region are well documented and remain very stable during the Upper Palaeolithic, and this enables a focus on the impact of another crucial factor, climate fluctuations. Second, since several cultural entities have been identified during the Upper Pleistocene in the region, the continuity or discontinuity in prey choices appears crucial from an evolutionary point of view.