[Bonetools] Paleolithic whales – article Nat. Commun.

[Alice Choyke]

Dear Jean-Marc,
     Congratulations on this publication. I remember when you identified
the first of the whale bone objects - well inland and since then the
research has clearly blossomed.I am looking forward to a fascinating read!

Alice

On Tue, May 27, 2025 at 5:39 PM Jean-Marc Petillon <
jean-marc.petillon at cnrs.fr> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> All the co-authors and myself are pleased to announce the publication of
> this article a few minutes ago in open access in Nature Communications:
>
> K. McGrath, L. Van der Sluis et al. Late Paleolithic whale bone tools
> reveal human and whale ecology in the Bay of Biscay.
> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59486-8
>
> This publication is the result of several years of collective work
> within the ANR project PaleoCet, with complements from the European
> projects Whalebone and Humantler. We combined several methods
> (paleoproteomics, isotopic geochemistry, radiocarbon dating) to directly
> analyze 70 whale bone tools from sites in southwest France and northern
> Spain, and 60 small fragments of whale ribs and vertebrae from the site
> of Santa Catalina. At least five species of large cetaceans were
> identified: fin whale, blue whale, gray whale, sperm whale, right whale
> and/or bowhead whale. According to isotopic data, these species had
> feeding practices quite similar to those of today. They offer a unique
> insight into the diversity of whales in the Bay of Biscay at this time,
> and present analogies with current Arctic communities. The individuals
> exploited were from natural strandings, and this practice lasted between
> at least 20000 and 14000 before present, with a peak between 17500 and
> 16000. The use of the cetaceans included the recovery of bones, but also
> of other resources such as fat and baleen.
>
> All the best,
>
> Jean-Marc
>
>
> --
> Jean-Marc Petillon
> CNRS, Laboratoire TRACES
> https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4123-2361
>
> Universite Toulouse Jean Jaures, Maison de la recherche
> 5 allees A. Machado, F-31058 Toulouse
>
> + 33 (0) 5 61 50 23 63 / + 33 (0) 6 31 07 47 62
>
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