Suchergebnisse

The Late Pleistocene archaeo-palaeontological sites in the Iberian Peninsula are located mainly on the coasts. Here, we present for the first time a palaeoenvironmental proxy for Upper Pleistocene locality (Marine Isotope Stage 3 MIS3) that is in the interior peninsular, in the Moncayo massif (Zaragoza). This is actually the boundary between Mediterranean and Eurosiberian climatic regions. This study is based in the site ungulates: Capra pyrenaica, which is larger in size than the current and fossil Capra from the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula. The horses have a small size, which is similar to that of the horses from Fontainhas and Casares. Significantly lesser in the number of specimens are the roe deer, the southern chamois and the auroch. The study and comparison of the faunal assemblage of the locality of Los Rincones with other sites of the Iberian MIS3 show a cluster of sites in the southern Peninsular, though separated, due to the abundance of Capra pyrenaica. The association of Los Rincones is similar to the southern peninsular sites such as Nerja, Gorham Cave, Cova Beneito and Zafarraya. The ungulate assemblage of Los Rincones represents a landscape with temperate climate, presence of steppe and patches of forest, similar to the current landscape surrounding the cavity today. ; We thank the Centro Espeleológico de Aragón (Speleological Centre of Aragon), in particular Mario Gisbert, for the discovery and topography of the cave. The Government of Aragon, the CEA (Centro de Espeleología de Aragón) and the University of Zaragoza have partially subsidised the palaeontological activities at Los Rincones. This study forms part of the projects 'Grupos Consolidados H54' of the Government of Aragon and IUCA (Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Ambientales) and CGL2012-38434-C03-01. The first author (VS) also thanks Alfred Sanchis (MPV), Josefina Barreiro and Patricia Pérez (MNCN), Julio Ramón (MAPH), Mario Laurino (IAN) José Ignacio Canudo (MPZ), Henriette Obermaier (LMU) and Caroline Lang (ZSM) for allowing him to study the material for comparison, as well as Lourdes Montes, Pillar Utrilla and Ma Fernanda Blasco for granting access to unpublished data on Gabasa as well as their valuable comments. He also thanks Raquel Rabal and Cristina Sola for their comments and discussion on taphonomy; Véra Eisenmann for her discussions and clarifications on horses; Jorge Colmenar for his help with the photographs, and Francisco Gutierrez and Ira Sasowsky for their valuable comments about karst and geology. Rupert Glasgow revised the English grammar. A particular thanks to palaeoartist Gianfranco Mensi for his precise reconstruction. The authors also thank Joan Madurell Malapeira and anonymous reviewer for the useful suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript. We are especially grateful for the comments and improvements of the editor Gareth Dyke. Finally, many thanks go to all the members of the excavation team of the 2009 and 2010 field campaigns at Los Rincones. ; Peer reviewed

Los Batanes cave (1025 m.a.s.l.) is a karstic system formed by pressure ducts, near the locality of Biescas in the Upper Gallego Valley (Huesca, Spain). Many fossil remains were retrieved from the cave sediments. The minimum sediment calendar age was determined to be 12.770 ± 60 BP. This date indicates that the deposit was formed before the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene transition at the Pyrenees. Here we analyze the faunal assemblage of the site that is only conformed by remains of Pyrenean wild goat (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica), which is a recently extinct subspecies of Iberian wild goat (C. pyrenaica). In the site, 1079 remains of Iberian wild goat have been recovered being one of the most numerous both in minimum number of individuals (MNI) and number of identified specimens (NISP) recovered until now in a natural trap in the Spanish Pyrenees. The population of Los Batanes shows a wide range of ages between juvenile and senile individuals and the MNI estimated from the number of right metatarsus is nine. The taphonomic features indicate that the cave acted as a trap for the goats which inhabited the vicinity of the cave. These goats probably stumbled and fell to the bottom of the pit and they could not get out, dying inside. Due to the origin of the accumulation numerous complete bones have been recovered. These fossil allow us to perform a biometric analysis that indicates that population of Los Batanes is in the range size of other goats from Late Pleistocene of Iberian Peninsula. ; The IEA (Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses) has partially subsidised the palaeontological activities, conceding us a grant, "Ayudas a la investigación del IEA, 2014". The Government of Aragon granted us to develop the project "Recovery of paleontological, remains, cataloguing and dating of the Pleistocene-Holocene deposits of Huesca Pyrenees caves". We also would like to thank the projects: CGL2012-38434-C03-01 and CGL2015-65387-C3-2-01. C. Núñez-Lahuerta and J. Galán are the recipients of Ph.D. fellowships from the Gobierno de Aragón (DGA), co-financied by the European Social Fund (FSE) of the European Union in the case of C. Núñez-Lahuerta. V. Sauqué is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina (Postdoctoral Fellowship) (Resolucion Nº4256). ; Peer reviewed