Abstract A fossil fauna composed predominantly by red deer, and also containing fallow-deer and steinbock was examined. It comes from late-Mousterian levels at Grotta Barbara, and is correlated with the first moderately cold oscillations of palaeotemperature stage 3. The analysis of the remains suggests that: a) among cervids, young and females were preferentially hunted; b) butchering was performed mainly in the cave; c) the bones were crushed in order to extract the marrow and, less frequently, the fat. Riassunto Viene esaminata una fauna a cervo dominante, daino e stambecco, proveniente dai livelli a industria tardo-musteriana di Grotta Barbara. L'associazione viene riferita alle prime oscillazioni moderatamente fredde dello stadio 3 della scala isotopica. L'analisi dei resti consente di ipotizzare che: a) la caccia era rivolta in prevalenza a femmine giovani; b) la macellazione avveniva prevalentemente in grotta; c) le ossa erano frantumate al fine di estrarne il midollo e, meno frequentemente, il grasso.