Ungulate feeding ecology at Abri du Maras reveals diverse habitats and seasonally targeted Neanderthal occupations (MIS 5–3)

Abri du Maras (Ardèche, France), located on the southeastern margins of the Massif Central, yields a long sequence of occupation from MIS 7 to MIS 3, first under a cave and then under a shelter resulting from the cave collapse. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages record different technological traditions of human groups regularly and recurrently occupying the site. Dental mesowear and low-magnification microwear are combined to reconstruct ungulate diets and occupation tempo through the Abri du Maras sequence (MIS 5: Layers 5.1–5.3; MIS 3: Layers 4.1–4.2). Mesowear captures annual dietary abrasiveness, while microwear records individual short-term intake and, for assemblages, the duration of faunal accumulation events. Across levels, Equus ferus persistently expresses a grazing signal (high MWS; high scratch counts). In Level 4.2, Cervus elaphus exhibits a clear browsing signal (low MWS; high pit counts), Megaloceros giganteus a browse-dominated mixed-feeding pattern with some divergence between mesowear and microwear results, and Rangifer tarandus a flexible mixed-feeding strategy with limited evidence for lichen consumption. Bovids present grass-dominated mixed feeding. Community-level dietary breadth peaks in 4.2, consistent with a local mosaic of open grassland and browse-rich patches; other levels skew toward more open, abrasive contexts. Microwear variability classifies multiple horse and deer (and bovid in 4.2) assemblages as seasonal events, while some MIS 5 reindeer samples indicate longer or repeated inputs. Patterns at Abri du Maras are similar to other Middle Palaeolithic Mediterranean sequences (e.g., Teixoneres Cave, Abric Romaní, Payre, De Nadale/San Bernardino, Fumane), where equids and bovids occupied open-ground niches and cervids occupied browse-dominated habitats. Overall, the results indicate that Abri du Maras functioned over time as a seasonal campsite, repeatedly reoccupied to exploit predictable prey across shifting open–ecotone landscapes, regardless of the technological tradition of the human groups and the duration of the occupations.