Performing Palaeolithic daily activities: an experimental project on bioenergy

Abstract

Current knowledge of the exploitation of environmental resources by prehistoric hominins is based on archaeological analyses of the natural anthropized resources and the lithic, fauna and flora remains recovered from archaeological sites and their proximities. In this paper we present a new methodology to study the daily activities of ancient hominins from a new perspective: bioenergy. In order to carry out this experimental approach, anthropometry, body composition and indirect calorimetry protocols were designed and applied to a sample of 21 in vivo subjects (12 males and 9 females) at the Bioenergy Laboratory of CENIEH and at the Sierra de Atapuerca sites (Burgos, Spain). The experiment improved our skills with this methodology and the results evidence the numerous possibilities of this approach to address the study of ancient human biology.