LAUSR

Abstract In this study, we present the results of tooth mesowear and microwear analyses on fossil horses recovered in two Late Pleistocene archaeological layers at Divnogor'ye 9 (Middle Don, Central Russia). Tooth wear refers to two high-resolution proxies for reconstructing dietary habits in ungulates which give access to different periods in life history of the animals sampled. Mesowear is a proxy averaging diet over months, while microwear reflects the diet of the last days before death. The first objective of this study is to integrate and compare the results from mesowear and microwear to investigate the dietary habits of the studied fossil horses (Equus ferus), to reconstruct their habitat(s), and compare with stable isotope and indirect proxies. The second objective is to participate to disentangle the various hypotheses of site formation and the nature of accumulation of the horse remains. The horse populations around Divnogor'ye 9 likely lived in habitats where both grass and browse were available, but our analysis indicates that they were selectively and exclusively feeding on grass. Furthermore, we used tooth microwear pattern as a high-resolution proxy for estimating the duration of mortality events and their seasonality. The application of a well standardized approach to interpret the microwear data permitted us to classify the two assemblages as seasonal events. The results support the hypothesis that the two accumulations of the horse remains represent seasonal, repeated occupations of the site by Late Glacial hunters in the same season for hunting and mass killing of horses. This study highlights the advantage of using non-destructive sampling methods in a multidisciplinary approach when investigating ungulate diets and patterns of fossil accumulations in archaeological sites.