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Neanderthal Fossils, Mobile Toolkit and a Hyena Den: The Archaeological Assemblage of Lateral Gallery 1 in Cova Del Gegant (NE Iberian Peninsula). QUATERNARY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/quat5010012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Lateral Gallery 1 (GL1) in Cova del Gegant is a Middle Palaeolithic assemblage yielding diagnostic Neanderthal remains, together with Mousterian tools and faunal remains. It is a good archive for evaluating the environmental conditions of the coastal areas during MIS 4 and MIS 3 in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, and also the Neanderthals’ behaviour and mobility. Here we provide a comprehensive assessment of all of the data available from GL1, such as lithics, human remains, fauna and chronostratigraphic details. The biotic ecofacts studied point to the development of a coastal plain in front of the cave and indicate that local conditions likely favoured a large variety of ecosystems characterised by open environments and woodland-edge taxa, and favoured repeated visits by humans during the Middle Palaeolithic. The evidence suggests that the gallery was mainly used by carnivores, such as hyenas, and also by Neanderthals as a brief stopping place, in view of the presence of transported and abandoned ergonomic lithic artifacts and/or the placement of bodies (or parts of bodies). The regional context suggests high human mobility and emphasises the variability of Neanderthal behaviour.
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Rodríguez-Hidalgo A, Sanz M, Daura J, Sánchez-Marco A. Taphonomic criteria for identifying Iberian lynx dens in quaternary deposits. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7225. [PMID: 32350363 PMCID: PMC7190858 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63908-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 04/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
For decades, taphonomists have dedicated their efforts to assessing the nature of the massive leporid accumulations recovered at archaeological sites in the northwestern Mediterranean region. Their interest lying in the fact that the European rabbit constituted a critical part of human subsistence during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. However, rabbits are also a key prey in the food webs of Mediterranean ecosystems and the base of the diet for several specialist predators, including the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). For this reason, the origin of rabbit accumulations in northwestern Mediterranean sites has proved a veritable conundrum. Here, we present the zooarchaeological and taphonomic study of more than 3000 faunal and 140 coprolite remains recovered in layer IIIa of Cova del Gegant (Catalonia, Spain). Our analysis indicates that this layer served primarily as a den for the Iberian lynx. The lynxes modified and accumulated rabbit remains and also died at the site creating an accumulation dominated by the two taxa. However, other agents and processes, including human, intervened in the final configuration of the assemblage. Our study contributes to characterizing the Iberian lynx fossil accumulation differentiating between the faunal assemblages accumulated by lynxes and hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo
- Departamento de Prehistoria, Historia Antigua y Arqueología, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, 28040, Spain. .,Instituto de Evolución en África (IDEA), Madrid, 28010, Spain. .,Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Tarragona, 43007, Spain.
| | - Montserrat Sanz
- Grup de Recerca del Quaternari (GRQ)-SERP, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
| | - Joan Daura
- Grup de Recerca del Quaternari (GRQ)-SERP, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08001, Spain
| | - Antonio Sánchez-Marco
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Campus de la UAB, Bellaterra, 08193, Spain
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Modesto-Mata M, Dean MC, Lacruz RS, Bromage TG, García-Campos C, Martínez de Pinillos M, Martín-Francés L, Martinón-Torres M, Carbonell E, Arsuaga JL, Bermúdez de Castro JM. Short and long period growth markers of enamel formation distinguish European Pleistocene hominins. Sci Rep 2020; 10:4665. [PMID: 32170098 PMCID: PMC7069994 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61659-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Characterizing dental development in fossil hominins is important for distinguishing between them and for establishing where and when the slow overall growth and development of modern humans appeared. Dental development of australopiths and early Homo was faster than modern humans. The Atapuerca fossils (Spain) fill a barely known gap in human evolution, spanning ~1.2 to ~0.4 million years (Ma), during which H. sapiens and Neandertal dental growth characteristics may have developed. We report here perikymata counts, perikymata distributions and periodicities of all teeth belonging to the TE9 level of Sima del Elefante, level TD6.2 of Gran Dolina (H. antecessor) and Sima de los Huesos. We found some components of dental growth in the Atapuerca fossils resembled more recent H. sapiens. Mosaic evolution of perikymata counts and distribution generate three distinct clusters: H. antecessor, Sima de los Huesos and H. sapiens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Modesto-Mata
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain. .,Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, WC1H 0BW, UK. .,Equipo Primeros Pobladores de Extremadura, Casa de Cultura Rodríguez Moñino, Cáceres, Spain.
| | - M Christopher Dean
- Centre for Human Evolution Research (CHER), Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK.,Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Rodrigo S Lacruz
- Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, USA
| | - Timothy G Bromage
- Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, USA
| | - Cecilia García-Campos
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain.,Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Marina Martínez de Pinillos
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain
| | - Laura Martín-Francés
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain.,University of Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACE, UMR 5199 F_33615, Pessac, Cedex, France
| | - María Martinón-Torres
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain.,Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Eudald Carbonell
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades, Edifici W3, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.,Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Juan Luis Arsuaga
- Centro mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento humanos, Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - José María Bermúdez de Castro
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain.,Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, WC1H 0BW, UK
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