ABSTRACT

The Phacochères site (formerly known as Les Allobroges) is a small ravine belonging to a karst system in northern Algeria. The rescue excavations conducted in 1960s at this site have yielded an exceptionally rich assemblage of vertebrates associated with Aterian stone tools. These faunal fossils collected in sandy clay levels are characteristic of the North African Upper Pleistocene and they represent a remarkable model for understanding the structure of prehistoric mammalian associations, palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and past habitat diversity. Based on biochronological and palaeoenvironmental data, the assemblage is attributed to Marine Isotopic Stage 5 (MIS 5) defined by a forest and grassland ecosystem. This paper reports the results of an analysis of the modifications of this faunal assemblage produced by human and carnivore activity. It suggests that the Aterian occupants of the site preferentially oriented their hunting towards large prey such as buffalo and aurochs and that they were able to compete with other carnivore predators. Nevertheless, the assemblage represents a palimpsest accumulated by different predators, both human and carnivore, that results from events that overlapped with brief human occupations of the site.

摘要

Phacochères 遗址（以前称为 Les Allobroges）是阿尔及利亚北部一个属于喀斯特系统的小峡谷。1960 年代在该地点进行的抢救性挖掘发现了异常丰富的与 Aterian 石器相关的脊椎动物。这些在沙质粘土层收集的动物化石是北非上更新世的特征，它们代表了理解史前哺乳动物群落结构、古环境重建和过去栖息地多样性的卓越模型。根据生物年代学和古环境数据，该组合归因于由森林和草原生态系统定义的海洋同位素阶段 5 (MIS 5)。本文报告了对由人类和食肉动物活动产生的这种动物群变化的分析结果。这表明该地点的 Aterian 居住者优先将他们的狩猎定位于水牛和野牛等大型猎物，并且他们能够与其他食肉动物捕食者竞争。尽管如此，该组合代表了不同捕食者（包括人类和食肉动物）积累的重写，这是由于与该地点的短暂人类占领重叠的事件造成的。