A Unique Population of Cave Bears (Carnivora: Ursidae) from the Middle Pleistocene of Kents Cavern, England, Based on Dental Morphometrics

The ‘breccia’ stratum from Kents (we follow local tradition in using the form ‘Kents’, without an apostrophe) Cavern, England, has been well known for its rich yield of cave-bear material since excavations began in the mid-19th century. Recent work has established that the bears are of latest MIS 12 or earliest MIS 11 age. A life table based on a collection of 67 molariform teeth is consistent with the use of the cave as a hibernaculum. Univariate and morphological assessment of the teeth shows an unusual range of primitive and more derived characters. Multivariate morphometric analysis of cave-bear teeth from the site demonstrates that these animals, while currently assignable to Ursus deningeri sensu lato, are nevertheless morphologically distinct and not simply late deningeri on a hypothetical chronospecific continuum

Notiz \ufcber das Vorkommen zweier grosser Insekten in S\ufcddeutschland

Volume: 1909Start Page: 406End Page: 40

Fossil findings from the Sicak Cermik fissure ridge-type travertines and possible hominid tracks, Sivas, Central Turkey

WOS: 000446093500001Sicak Cermik (Sivas) is an important geothermal and recent travertine formation area in Central Anatolia. The majority of travertines found in the region comprise fissure-ridge type travertines according to morphological classification. At the location called Tepe Cermik within the travertine area, fill containing fossil bone fragments of Equus sp., Bovidae and other abundant animals formed within the fracture axis of a N-S striking fissure-ridge travertine developed under control of tectonic forces. The finds of these fossils in fissure-ridge travertines linked to tectonic forces indicates formation of a unique fossil environment created under the control of these forces. The Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Radiocarbon Dating analyses of fossils from the study area determined the fills were older than 43,000 years. The U/Th age of a sample from the most recently-formed banded travertine in the axis of the fracture was identified as 278,540 +/- 18,436 years. As a result, the ages of fossils found within this fill are thought to be between 43,000 and 278,540 +/- 18,436 years old. The high amount of perissodactyla and artiodactyla fossils found within fill in the axis of the fissure-ridge travertine probably indicates the presence of hominids who chose the region for hunting or settlement. The Equus sp. and Bovidae fossil samples found in the axis of the fracture indicate that in the dry and cold glacial period the paleogeography in a large portion of Anatolia comprised desert-like steppe