Paleoecología y cultura material en el complejo tumular prehistórico del Castillejo del Bonete (Terrinches, Ciudad Real).
[EN] Castillejo del Bonete is a tumulus complex located on the southern edge the Iberian Plateau, occupied during Chalcolithic and Bronze Age periods, and linked to the Culture known as Motillas. Diverse archaeological objects have been recovered in association with their architectures (barrows, corridors, walls, etc.). Based on charcoal, pollen and microvertebrates a paleoecological study will be discussed. Furthermore, the analysis of different materials such as wood, shell, stone and ivory ornaments together with pottery vessels and metallic objets will also be carried out. All this evidence could be related to feasting practices and offerings
Erratum to “Palaeoecological context for the extinction of the Neanderthals: A small mammal study of Stratigraphic Unit V of the El Salt site, Alcoi, eastern Spain” [Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 530 (2019) 163–175]
El Salt is an important reference site for understanding the extinction of Neanderthal populations in the eastern Iberian Peninsula during MIS 3. In this paper, we describe the small mammal assemblage from Stratigraphic Unit V, the youngest unit with evidence of human presence, based on nearly 1300 specimens. A total of seven rodents (Microtus arvalis, Microtus duodecimcostatus, Microtus cabrerae, Sciurus vulgaris, Arvicola sapidus, Eliomys quercinus and Apodemus sylvaticus), three insectivores (Talpa occidentalis, Crocidura sp., Sorex sp.) and one lagomorph (Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus) were identified. Palaeocological analyses point to drier conditions in this part of the stratigraphic sequ…
Early Pliocene continental vertebrate fauna at Puerto de la Cadena (SE Spain) and its bearing on the marine-continental correlation of the Late Neogene of Eastern Betics
In this paper, we synthesize sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic and paleontological data from the continental vertebrate site of Puerto de la Cadena (Murcia, SE Spain), in order to clarify its age. The study site is located on the northern edge of the Carrascoy mountain range, in the upper part of the Cigarrón Unit. The end-Messinian discontinuity has been detected at the base of this unit, which indicates it has an early Pliocene age. Abundant remains of small and large vertebrates, including rodents, lagomorphs, primates, carnivorans, perissodactyls, artiodactyls, proboscideans, testudines, squamats, and crocodiles, have been found in this area. Some of these elements are of African o…
Small vertebrates from a Holocene gravelly deposit at El Salt (Alcoi, Alicante)
The small-vertebrates’ assemblage recovered comes from Units I to IV from El Salt site (Alcoi, Spain). The sample is composed by nearly 310 remains, and includes one toad (Epidalea calamita), two lizards (Lacertidae indet. and Chalcides cf. bedriagai), two snakes (Coronella cf. girondica and cf. Coronella sp.), two insectivores (Crocidura sp. and Sorex sp.), one lagomorph (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and seven rodent taxa (Arvicola sapidus, Microtus sp., M. arvalis, M. cabrerae, M. duodecimcostatus, Apodemus sylvaticus, and Eliomys quercinus). All the species described in the present work are consistent with a Late Pleistocene-Holocene chronology. The presence of M. cabrerae (absent in the Middl…
Geological context and micromammal fauna characterisation from the karstic infilling of La Pedrera (Albaida, Valencia, E Spain)
La Pedrera is a new palaeontological site located south of the province of Valencia, between the Betic and Iberian Ranges, in a cavity filled with sediments inside a tufa formation. Roughly 260 fossil remains, corresponding to 14 taxa, have been recovered and studied from Unit III. Six rodents (Microtus sp., M. sp. gr. M. (Terricola) duodecimcostatus-lusitanicus, Microtus sp. gr. M. brecciensis-cabrerae, Arvicola sapidus, Eliomys quercinus, and Apodemus sp. gr. sylvaticusfl avicollis), one lagomorph (Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus), three insectivores (Soricinae indet., Crocidura sp., and Talpa cf. europaea) and four bats (Myotis blythii, Rhinolophus cf. ferrumequinum, Myotis bechsteinii, and Rh…
Palaeoecological implications of Neanderthal occupation at Unit Xb of El Salt (Alcoi, eastern Spain) during MIS 3 using small mammals proxy
Nearly 250 small mammal remains from Unit Xb of El Salt Middle Palaeolithic site have been studied in order to reconstruct the palaeoecological conditions during a phase of Neanderthal occupation in this locality at 52.3 ± 4.6 ka. A total of 7rodents (Microtus arvalis, M. agrestis, M. (Terricola) duodecimcostatus, Microtus (Iberomys) cabrerae, Arvicola sapidus, Eliomys quercinus and Apodemus sylvaticus), 4 insectivores (Erinaceus cf. europaeus, Crocidura sp., Sorex sp. and Talpidae indet.) and 1 lagomorph (Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus) have been identified. Applying the Mutual Ecogeographic Range and Habitat Weighting methods, Unit Xb may correspond to a relatively cold (−3.3 °C in comparison …
Improving the accuracy of small vertebrate-based palaeoclimatic reconstructions derived from the Mutual Ecogeographic Range. A case study using geographic information systems and UDA-ODA discrimination methodology
Abstract Understanding past climate and the mechanisms of climate change remain major challenges in scientific research. The Mutual Ecogeographic Range (MER) method for climatic reconstruction uses the current geographical distribution of fossil assemblages to infer palaeoclimatic conditions. Current species distributions used in the MER method are usually obtained from biogeographic atlases that record the absence/presence of species in a 10 × 10 km grid. A 10 × 10 km area is quite broad and the method only records presence/absence, without considering the real area occupied by any given species. Thus, the method overlooks the fact that environmental heterogeneity is strongly related to to…
Palaeoecological context for the extinction of the Neanderthals: A small mammal study of Stratigraphic Unit V of the El Salt site, Alcoi, eastern Spain
El Salt is emerging as a reference site for the study of the extinction of Neanderthal populations in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula during MIS 3. The small vertebrate assemblage analysed in this work is framed within this general objective and comes from Stratigraphic Unit V, the most recent unit with human presence. Nearly 1300 small mammal remains have been studied in order to reconstruct the palaeoecological conditions of this debated period. A total of seven rodents (Microtus arvalis, Microtus duodecimcostatus, Microtus cabrerae, Sciurus vulgaris, Arvicola sapidus, Eliomys quercinus and Apodemus sylvaticus), three insectivores (Talpa occidentalis, Crocidura sp., Sorex sp.) and one lagom…
Distinguishing between Bos and Bison petrous bones. A case study: Bovines from the des-cubierta cave (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid)
This research has been supported by the financial assistance of the Spanish Society of Palaeontology ID AJISEP-2017-07142. M.A. Galindo-Pellicena was also being supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Fundacion Atapuerca. We thank the Excavation Team of the Des-Cubierta cave for their work in the fi eld, and our colleagues from the Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII of Madrid and from the Regional Archaeological Museum of Alcalá de Henares, especially to Belén Márquez, Elena Santos, Beatrice Vacca and Abel Moclánfor their suggestions during the elaboration of the manuscript. Thanks must be extended to the Restoration Team, especially to M. Cruz Ortega, to the photographers Alfonso Dávila and Mario …
A multiproxy record of palaeoenvironmental conditions at the Middle Palaeolithic site of Abric del Pastor (Eastern Iberia)
This paper presents a multiproxy palaeoenvironmental study from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain), a rock shelter which has yielded evidence for Middle Palaeolithic human occupation. The sedimentary sequence has been analysed for lipid biomarker n-alkane abundances (ACL, CPI), compound specific leaf wax δH and δC, and bulk organic geochemistry (TOC, %N, %S), providing a record of past climate and local vegetation dynamics. Site formation processes have been reconstructed through the application of soil micromorphology. Analyses of anthracological, microvertebrate and macrofaunal assemblages from selected subunits are also presented here. Our data indicates that a variable climate marked by pr…