Rabbits beyond hunter-gatherers’ diets in Western Europe? The case for leporid accumulations in Neolithic Southwestern Iberia

Abstract

Rabbit and hare remains are a common occurrence in Mediterranean archaeological contexts. A lot of effort was made to try and ascertain the signatures of different accumulating agents to understand if humans are involved in accumulating these small preys in different archaeological sites. In the last decades, this led to important breakthroughs in hunter-gatherer subsistence debates, but not so much on Late Prehistory agropastoral groups. Southwestern Iberia is a region where Neolithic sites are found in several geographical settings, many of them with important assemblages of rabbit remains. We present the first overview of pieces of evidence regarding leporid accumulations in this large region during the Neolithic (~ 5500–3000 cal BC). On the one hand, we conclude that taphonomical data is generally lacking, thus hindering the assessment of proof for a large-scale anthropogenic influence. On the other hand, when in-depth analysis is made, results point towards intrusive and/or exogenous origins, even if recovery and methodological bias must also be considered. Future works should address these questions to properly assess leporids’ relevance in early agropastoral diets.