7 research outputs found
Entrechaux : Grand abri aux Puces
National audienc
Late Pleistocene leopards as a bone accumulator: taphonomic results from SâEspasa cave and other Iberian key sites
The Pleistocene faunal accumulations documented in caves have commonly been attributed to the activity of humans or carnivores. According to the palaeontological and archaeological literature, cave hyena (Crocuta spelaea) was the main known bone accumulator in karstic environments. However, in recent times, the role of leopards as bone accumulators has been revealed, and recent research has identified this behaviour in the Iberian Pleistocene. Moreover, there are other caves where leopard could have been claimed as an accumulator such as SâEspasa. In this work we present its taphonomic study. This cave was compared with the actualistic studies of leopards. Besides, the site of SâEspasa was compared with the other leopard dens in the Iberian Peninsula. These sites present faunal assemblages composed mainly by leopard (Panthera pardus) and Iberian wild goat (Capra pyrenaica), the bones of this ungulate present a similar pattern of bone modification by carnivores, skeletal survival rate, and bone breakage. These features indicate that goats could have been accumulated by leopards. With the data from this work and the previous ones, we try to establish a pattern that will help in the future to identify other accumulations created by this big cat.Fil: SauquĂ© Latas, VĂctor. Universidad de Zaragoza; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto de AntropologĂa de CĂłrdoba. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de FilosofĂa y Humanidades. Instituto de AntropologĂa de CĂłrdoba; ArgentinaFil: Sanchis, Alfred. Museu de PrehistĂČria de ValĂšncia; EspañaFil: Madurell Malapeira, Joan. Universitat AutĂČnoma de Barcelona; Españ