Late Paleolithic whale bone tools reveal human and whale ecology in the Bay of Biscay

Krista McGrath, Laura G. van der Sluis, Alexandre Lefebvre, Anne Charpentier, Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Esteban Álvarez-Fernández, François Baleux, Eduardo Berganza, François-Xavier Chauvière, Morgane Dachary, Elsa Duarte Matías, Claire Houmard, Ana B. Marín-Arroyo, Marco Rasilla Vives, Jesus Tapia, François Thil, Olivier Tombret, Leire Torres-Iglesias, Camilla Speller, Antoine Zazzo and Jean-Marc Pétillon ()
Additional contact information
Krista McGrath: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Laura G. van der Sluis: CNRS
Alexandre Lefebvre: Universidad de Cantabria
Anne Charpentier: IRD
Ana S. L. Rodrigues: IRD
Esteban Álvarez-Fernández: Historia Antigua y Arqueología
François Baleux: Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès
Eduardo Berganza: Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi
François-Xavier Chauvière: section Archéologie, Laténium
Morgane Dachary: Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès
Elsa Duarte Matías: Universidad de Oviedo
Claire Houmard: UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement
Ana B. Marín-Arroyo: Universidad de Cantabria
Marco Rasilla Vives: Universidad de Oviedo
Jesus Tapia: Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi
François Thil: Université Paris Saclay
Olivier Tombret: CNRS
Leire Torres-Iglesias: Universidad de Cantabria
Camilla Speller: University of British Columbia
Antoine Zazzo: CNRS
Jean-Marc Pétillon: Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Reconstructing how prehistoric humans used the products obtained from large cetaceans is challenging, but key to understand the history of early human coastal adaptations. Here we report the multiproxy analysis (ZooMS, radiocarbon, stable isotopes) of worked objects made of whale bone, and unworked whale bone fragments, found at Upper Paleolithic sites (Magdalenian) around the Bay of Biscay. Taxonomic identification using ZooMS reveals at least five species of large whales, expanding the range of known taxa whose products were utilized by humans in this period. Radiocarbon places the use of whale products ca. 20–14 ka cal BP, with a maximum diffusion and diversity at 17.5–16 ka cal BP, making it the oldest evidence of whale-bone working to our knowledge. δ13C and δ15N stable isotope values reflect taxon-specific differences in foraging behavior. The diversity and chronology of these cetacean populations attest to the richness of the marine ecosystem of the Bay of Biscay in the late Paleolithic, broadening our understanding of coastal adaptations at that time.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59486-8

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