Under the Skin of a Lion: Unique Evidence of Upper Paleolithic Exploitation and Use of Cave Lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Spain)

ABSTRACT: Pleistocene skinning and exploitation of carnivore furs have been previously inferred from archaeological evidence. Nevertheless, the evidence of skinning and fur processing tends to be weak and the interpretations are not strongly sustained by the archaeological record. In the present paper, we analyze unique evidence of patterned anthropic modification and skeletal representation of fossil remains of cave lion (Panthera spelaea) from the Lower Gallery of La Garma (Cantabria, Spain). This site is one of the few that provides Pleistocene examples of lion exploitation by humans. Our archaeozoological study suggests that lion-specialized pelt exploitation and use might have been related to ritual activities during the Middle Magdalenian period (ca. 14800 cal BC). Moreover, the specimens also represent the southernmost European and the latest evidence of cave lion exploitation in Iberia. Therefore, the study seeks to provide alternative explanations for lion extinction in Eurasia and argues for a role of hunting as a factor to take into account

Results of the CERPOLEX/Mammuthus Expeditions on the Taimyr Peninsula, Arctic Siberia, Russian Federation

During a series of expeditions organized by CERPOLEX/Mammuthus to the Taimyr region in northern Siberia several mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) carcasses were discovered and subsequently excavated and studied. The oldest specimen is the Arilakh Mammoth (ca. 55,800 BP). Much younger are the Jarkov Mammoth (ca. 20,380 BP) and the Fishhook Mammoth (ca. 20,620 BP), and still much younger are well-preserved Holocene mammoth remains (<10,000 BP). Some paleobotanical data and descriptions of accompanying fauna provide insight into the ecology of the region during Late Pleistocene times. The faunal collapse at the end of the Pleistocene seems to be the result of increasing temperatures, greater humidity, increased snow cover, formation of insulating plant layers, later thawing of the soil, and a lower herbivore density amplifying the climatic effects.