To den or not to den. Contributions to the taphonomic history of the Early Pleistocene site of Venta Micena 4 (Orce, Guadix-Baza Basin)
| Autor: | Jose Yravedra Sainz de los Terreros, Carmen Luzón, Jose A. Solano, Gonzalo J. Linares-Matas, Verónica Estaca-Gomez, Juan José Rodríguez-Alba, Lloyd A. Courtenay, Darío Herranz-Rodrigo, Alexia Serrano-Ramos, José Cámara, Juha Saarinen, Christian Sánchez-Bandera, Hugues-Alexandre Blain, Suvi Viranta-Kovanen, Daniel DeMiguel, Beatriz Azanza, Oriol Oms, Jordi Agustí, Mikael Fortelius, Juan Manuel Jiménez Arenas |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2023 |
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| Popis: | Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza Basin, Spain) is an Early Pleistocene locality renowned for the richness and quality of its palaeontological record. VM is spread over an area of 2.5 km2, where several exposed fossil outcrops are visible amidst its gorges and ravines. The best known of these sites, VM3, has been interpreted as a hyaena den. In addition, a new site, named VM4, has recently been the focus of fieldwork and taphonomic studies. The publication by Luz on et al. (2021) pointed out that VM4 presents a more complex history than VM3. First, two different sub-levels were identified: VM4-I and VM4-II. Secondly, the preliminary taphonomic analysis showed conspicuous differences with regard to VM3. Nevertheless, such interpretation has been challenged by Palmqvist et al. (2022) who proposed that VM3 and VM4 are both the result of a single depositional process, entailing the selective transport of skeletal parts by the giant extinct hyaena Pachycrocuta brevirostris back to its den. Using well-preserved faunal elements whose depositional context and provenance are reliable, in this paper we show that: 1) there are two clearly defined sub-levels in VM4 with some shared taphonomic characteristics as well as some notable differences; 2) VM3 and VM4 exhibit enough divergence to support differences in site formation processes; 3) The interpretation of both VM4-I and VM4-II is more consistent with their characterisation as open-air sites in which multiple agents and depositional processes contributed to its formation, rather than with hyaena dens. Nevertheless, excavations are still in progress at VM4 and therefore any results and interpretations ought to be considered as provisional. Consejeía de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucia through the General Research Project Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos Plio-pleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza BC.03.032/17 Inside the Artefacts & Ecofacts" Excellence Unit (University of Granada) HUM-607 PID 2021.125098NB.I00 MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa ProyExcel_00274 2021 SGR 01238 Agencia de Gestio D'Ajuts Universitaris de Recerca Agaur (AGAUR) Generalitat de Catalunya National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia PRE2020-094482 CEX2019-000945-M-20-1 Spanish Government Archaeometrical Studies. Inside the Artefacts & Ecofacts" Excellence Unit (University of Granada |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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