Magdalenian and Epimagdalenian chronology and palaeoenvironments at Kůlna Cave, Moravia, Czech Republic

Kůlna Cave is the only site in Moravia, Czech Republic, from which large assemblages of both Magdalenian and Epimagdalenian archaeological materials have been excavated from relatively secure stratified deposits. The site therefore offers the unrivalled opportunity to explore the relationship between these two archaeological phases. In this study, we undertake radiocarbon, stable isotope (carbon, nitrogen and sulphur), and ZooMS analysis of the archaeological faunal assemblage to explore the chronological and environmental context of the Magdalenian and Epimagdalenian deposits. Our results show that the Magdalenian and Epimagdalenian deposits can be understood as discrete units from one another, dating to the Late Glacial between c. 15,630 cal. BP and 14,610 cal. BP, and c. 14,140 cal. BP and 12,680 cal. BP, respectively. Stable isotope results (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) indicate that Magdalenian and Epimagdalenian activity at Kůlna Cave occurred in very different environmental settings. Magdalenian occupation took place within a nutrient-poor landscape that was experiencing rapid changes to environmental moisture, potentially linked to permafrost thaw. In contrast, Epimagdalenian occupation occurred in a relatively stable, temperate environment composed of a mosaic of woodland and grassland habitats. The potential chronological gap between the two phases, and their associations with very different environmental conditions, calls into question whether the Epimagdalenian should be seen as a local, gradual development of the Magdalenian. It also raises the question of whether the gap in occupation at Kůlna Cave could represent a change in settlement dynamics and/or behavioural adaptations to changing environmental conditions

Diversity of muskox Ovibos moschatus (Zimmerman, 1780) (Bovidae, Mammalia) in time and space based on cranial morphometry

Muskox Ovibos moschatus is a Pleistocene relic, which has survived only in North America and Greenland. During the Pleistocene, it was widely distributed in Eurasia and North America. To evaluate its morphological variability through time and space, we conducted an extensive morphometric study of 217 Praeovibos and Ovibos skull remains. The analyses showed that the skulls grew progressively wider from Praeovibos sp. to the Pleistocene O. moschatus, while from the Pleistocene to the recent O. moschatus, the facial regions of the skull turned narrower and shorter. We also noticed significant geographic differences between the various Pleistocene Ovibos crania. Siberian skulls were usually larger than those from Western and Central Europe. Eastern Europeanmuskoxen also exceeded in size those from the other regions of Europe. The large size of Late Pleistocene muskoxen from regions located in more continental climatic regimes was probably associated with the presence of more suitable food resources in steppe-tundra settings. Consistently, radiocarbon-dated records of this species are more numerous in colder periods, when the steppe-tundra was widely spread, and less abundant in warmer periods

Analýza zvířecích kostí z epigravettienské lokality Brno-Štýřice III, výzkumné sezóny 2012–2014

V letech 2009 a 2011–2014 proběhl záchranný archeologický výzkum epigravettienské lokality Brno-Štýřice III, známé od roku 1972 jako Koněvova či Vídeňská. Vedle kamenné industrie byl při výzkumu nacházen i zvířecí osteologický materiál, který je postupně analyzován a publikován. Zvířecí kosti získané výzkumy v letech 2012–2014 jsou hlavním tématem předloženého článku. Byla provedena jejich druhová determinace a určen minimální počet jedinců (MNI), nicméně vysoká fragmentárnost kostí, způsobená částečně i jejich užíváním jako paliva, determinaci komplikovala. Součástí jsou také výsledky izotopových analýz C, N a Sr a analýza sezonality. Zjištěné druhové složení fauny s dominancí mamuta srstnatého naznačuje chladné glaciální klima, tento výsledek podporují i analýzy izotopů C a N. Plošná distribuce zvířecích kostí odpovídá hlavním koncentracím kamenné štípané industrie, několik tisíc přepálených drobných fragmentů kostí kumulovaných na malé ploše jasně dokládá paleolitické ohniště. Jednotlivé výsledky včetně radiokarbonového datování a rozboru kamenné štípané industrie kladou pozici lokality do samého závěru posledního glaciálního maxima

Ancient DNA from the Asiatic Wild Dog (<i>Cuon alpinus</i>) from Europe

The Asiatic wild dog (Cuon alpinus), restricted today largely to South and Southeast Asia, was widespread throughout Eurasia and even reached North America during the Pleistocene. Like many other species, it suffered from a huge range loss towards the end of the Pleistocene and went extinct in most of its former distribution. The fossil record of the dhole is scattered and the identification of fossils can be complicated by an overlap in size and a high morphological similarity between dholes and other canid species. We generated almost complete mitochondrial genomes for six putative dhole fossils from Europe. By using three lines of evidence, i.e., the number of reads mapping to various canid mitochondrial genomes, the evaluation and quantification of the mapping evenness along the reference genomes and phylogenetic analysis, we were able to identify two out of six samples as dhole, whereas four samples represent wolf fossils. This highlights the contribution genetic data can make when trying to identify the species affiliation of fossil specimens. The ancient dhole sequences are highly divergent when compared to modern dhole sequences, but the scarcity of dhole data for comparison impedes a more extensive analysis