ABSTRACT
During its broadest expansion period, the Linear Pottery culture (LBK), which is one of the first western Neolithic cultures, extended from central Europe to the Atlantic and included a vast diversity not only of natural but also of cultural systems (Guilaine 1994; Lüning 2000; Whittle 1996). The existence of the latter is demonstrated by the appearance of regional groups which developed distinctive ceramic styles (Jeunesse 1999) together with other aspects of social organization such as characteristic funerary rites (Jeunesse 1997). Amongst the recurrent features of the Early Neolithic sites is the predominance of stock-keeping (mainly of cattle) over hunting activities (Arbogast 1994). Because of this, the basic food supply seems rather uniform in these communities; and many studies highlight the remarkable continuity of a system in which all major characteristics seem to remain unchanged over the whole area occupied by the LBK. However, a closer consideration of the data reveals some degree of variability in the ways that animals were exploited, whether domesticated or hunted (Arbogast 2001; Arbogast and Jeunesse 1996; Bedault 2009; Manning et al. this volume, chapter 12; Tresset and Vigne 2001). When encountered, this diversity is usually
attributed either to the adaptation to varying environmental conditions or to chronological evolution. The aim of this chapter is to improve the analytical approaches developed so far by taking into account cultural influences because they, too, have an impact on faunal exploitation strategies.
