The Palaeolithic cave of Kalamakia (Mani Peninsula), Greece: new insights on the palaeoenvironment using microvertebrates and mesowear analysis of ruminant teeth
| Autor: | Ioannis Maniakas, Stefanos Ligkovanlis, Maria Kolendrianou, Marianthi Tzortzi, George Iliopoulos |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Neanderthal Palaeoenvironment Mesowear analysis Woodland Mesowear Article 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Kalamakia cave Cave biology.animal Middle Palaeolithic lcsh:Social sciences (General) lcsh:Science (General) Microtus Morphometrics Geometric morphometrics Multidisciplinary geography.geographical_feature_category biology Paleontology Palaeoecology biology.organism_classification Late pleistocene Archaeology Earth sciences 030104 developmental biology Geography Paleoecology lcsh:H1-99 Culture heritage Paleobiology 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Microtus thomasi lcsh:Q1-390 |
| Zdroj: | Heliyon Heliyon, Vol 6, Iss 5, Pp e03958-(2020) |
| ISSN: | 2405-8440 |
| Popis: | In the present study, results from the examination of mammalian teeth from the cave of Kalamakia with modern techniques, as well as a qualitative overview of the microvertebrate and lithic material, are presented together with a revision of previous related work done for the site, in order to assess the palaeoenvironmental conditions in the area and the role they played in the Neanderthal's repeated occupation of the cave. Geometric morphometrics analyses performed on the first lower molars of Microtus spp. individuals revealed persistent populations of the subgenus Terricola, in which the presence of Microtus thomasi and Microtus subterraneus are continuous through the stratigraphic units. Mesowear analyses performed on ruminant teeth showed no significant variation in toothwear through time, except for relatively elevated levels of dietary abrasion for the more recent samples. The study of the lithics revealed that Neanderthals visited the cave in alternating short and more permanent episodes of occupation, with the human occupants exhibiting special concern for raw material economy, while exploiting poor raw materials for the construction of their tools. The overview of the microvertebrate remains showed a growing trend towards the upper stratigraphic units, where taxa typical of temperate climate, open woodland and shrubland become more dominant. These results, along with observations derived from previous studies, suggest that temperate climate and open environment were the factors that mainly contributed to making the cave of Kalamakia attractive as a habitation site to the humans of the area. Earth Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleoecology, Paleontology, Culture heritage, Late Pleistocene, palaeoenvironment, Geometric morphometrics, mesowear analysis, Kalamakia Cave, Middle Palaeolithic, Palaeoecology, Microtus. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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