Approach to the Lower Pliocene marine-continental correlation from southern Spain. The micrommamal site of Alhaurín el Grande-1 (Málaga Basin, Betic Cordillera, Spain)

A new micromammal site at Alhaurín el Grande (Málaga, southern Spain) located above early Pliocene marine deposits allows an approach to the marine-continental correlation for this age. The early Pliocene marine filling throughout the Málaga Basin is developed in three transgressive-regressive sequences (Pl-1, Pl-2, and Pl-3 units) bounded by discontinuities. At the top of the intermediate sequence Pl-2, peaty sediments have yielded fossils of Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Insectivora, and Crocodylia. The presence of Cricetus barrieri Mein & Michaux, 1970 in combination with murids, both of primitive morphology, such as Apodemus gudrunae Van de Weerd, 1976, and more advanced forms (i.e. Occitanomys brailloni Michaux, 1969 and Stephanomys donnezani cordii Ruiz Bustos, 1986), points to an early Ruscinian age (MN 14 biozone). Based on the planktonic foraminifers, the biostratigraphic data indicate that marine sediments just below the micromammal beds belong to the MPl-2 biozone of the early Zanclean. Available paleomagnetic data from the marine sediments show that the micromammal bed must be located between the normal geomagnetic subchron C3n3n (4.89-4.80 Ma) and the subchron C3n2n (4.63-4.49 Ma), limiting the age of this site to the late part of the early Zanclean

Cancellariidae Gray, 1853 del Plioceno de la provincia de Málaga, España

Se ha realizado un estudio sistemático de la familia Cancellariidae Gray, 1853 del Plioceno de la provincia de Málaga con el objeto de catalogar la malacofauna perteneciente a dicha familia y la consecuente revisión de las categorías taxonómicas supraespecíficas. Se citan 12 especies: una perteneciente a la subfamilia Admetulinae Troschel, 1869: Admetula sp., y 11 pertenecientes a la subfamilia Cancellariinae Gray, 1853: Cancellaria (Bivetiella) cancellata (Linné, 1766); Sveltia lyrata (Brocchi, 1814); Sveltia varricosa (Brocchi, 1814); Calcarata calcarata (Brocchi, 1814); Trigonostoma (Trigonostoma) umbilicaris (Brocchi, 1814); Trigonostoma (Trigonostoma) bellardii (De Stefani & Pantanelli, 1880); Trigonostoma (Ventrilia) cassidea (Brocchi, 1814); Tribia tribulus (Brocchi, 1814); Bonellitia serrata (Bronn, 1831); Bonellitia bonellii (Bellardi, 1841) y Brocchinia mitraeformis (Brocchi, 1814). Palabras clave: Cancellariidae, Gastropoda, Mollusca, Plioceno, Málaga, España

Déjà vu: a reappraisal of the taphonomy of quarry VM4 of the Early Pleistocene site of Venta Micena (Baza Basin, SE Spain)

Venta Micena, an Early Pleistocene site of the Baza Basin (SE Spain), preserves a rich and diverse assemblage of large mammals. VM3, the main excavation quarry of the site, has been interpreted as a den of the giant hyaena Pachycrocuta brevirostris in the plain that surrounded the Baza palaeolake. Taphonomic analysis of VM3 has shown that the hyaenas scavenged the prey previously hunted by the hypercarnivores, transported their remains to the communal den, and consumed the skeletal parts according to their marrow contents and mineral density. In a recent paper (Luzón et al. in Sci Rep 11:13977, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93261-1, 2021), a small sample of remains unearthed from VM4, an excavation quarry ~ 350 m distant from VM3, is analysed. The authors indicate several differences in the taphonomic features of this assemblage with VM3, and even suggest that a different carnivore could have been the agent involved in the bone accumulation process. Here, we make a comparative analysis of both quarries and analyse more skeletal remains from VM4. Our results indicate that the assemblages are broadly similar in composition, except for slight differences in the frequency of megaherbivores, carnivores and equids according to NISP values (but not to MNI counts), the degree of bone weathering, and the intensity of bone processing by the hyaenas. Given that VM4 and VM3 were not coeval denning areas of P. brevirostris, these differences suggest that during the years when the skeletal remains were accumulated by the hyaenas at VM3, the rise of the water table of the Baza palaeolake that capped with limestone the bones was delayed compared to VM4, which resulted in their more in-depth consumption by the hyaenas

Insights on the Early Pleistocene Hominin Population of the Guadix-Baza Depression (SE Spain) and a Review on the Ecology of the First Peopling of Europe

The chronology and environmental context of the first hominin dispersal in Europe have been subject to debate and controversy. The oldest settlements in Eurasia (e.g., Dmanisi, ∼1.8 Ma) suggest a scenario in which the Caucasus and southern Asia were occupied ∼0.4 Ma before the first peopling of Europe. Barranco León (BL) and Fuente Nueva 3 (FN3), two Early Pleistocene archeological localities dated to ∼1.4 Ma in Orce (Guadix-Baza Depression, SE Spain), provide the oldest evidence of hominin presence in Western Europe. At these sites, huge assemblages of large mammals with evidence of butchery and marrow processing have been unearthed associated to abundant Oldowan tools and a deciduous tooth of Homo sp. in the case of BL. Here, we: (i) review the Early Pleistocene archeological sites of Europe; (ii) discuss on the subsistence strategies of these hominins, including new estimates of resource abundance for the populations of Atapuerca and Orce; (iii) use cartographic data of the sedimentary deposits for reconstructing the landscape habitable in Guadix-Baza; and (iv) calculate the size of the hominin population using an estimate of population density based on resource abundance. Our results indicate that Guadix-Baza could be home for a small hominin population of 350–280 individuals. This basin is surrounded by the highest mountainous reliefs of the Alpine-Betic orogen and shows a limited number of connecting corridors with the surrounding areas, which could have limited gene flow with other hominin populations. Isolation would eventually lead to bottlenecks, genetic drift and inbreeding depression, conditions documented in the wild dog population of the basin, which probably compromised the viability of the hominin population in the medium to long term. This explains the discontinuous nature of the archeological record in Guadix-Baza, a situation that can also be extrapolated to the scarcity of hominin settlements for these ancient chronologies in Europe

Origen y relleno sedimentario de la cuenca neógena del corredor del Almanzora y áreas limítrofes (Cordillera Bética)

Tesis Universidad de Granada. Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontologí

New biostratigraphic data from the continental materials of the Southeastern sector of Guadix-Baza Basin. The Caniles site

The presence of the Mimomys (Villanyia) savini (Hinton, 1910) in the Caniles site allow us to assign a Lower-Middle Pleistocene age for Caniles Materials and permits to arrange in a temporary order this lithologica/ unit within the continental fil/ of the Southeastern sector of Guadix-Baza Basi

Data for: The Late Cenozoic landscape development in the westernmost Mediterranean (Southern Spain)

Datation by amino acid racemization methodology from Helicidae gastropodsTHIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV