Browsing by Subject "Cueva Negra"

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    Hyaenas and early humans in the latest Early Pleistocene of South-Western Europe
    (Nature Portfolio, 2021-12-15) Linares‑Matás, Gonzalo J. ; Fernández Ruiz, Norman; Haber Uriarte, María; López Martínez, Mariano; Walker, Michael J.; Walker, Michael J.; Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas; M.J. Walker; Facultad de Letras
    Throughout the Pleistocene, early humans and carnivores frequented caves and large rock-shelters, usually generating bone accumulations. The well-preserved late Early Pleistocene sedimentary sequence at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (CNERQ) has provided substantial evidence concerning the behavioural and adaptive skills of early humans in Western Europe, such as butchery practices, lithic technology or tending fire, whilst also bearing witness to the bone-altering activities of carnivores. Recent fieldwork has allowed the re-examination of the spatial and taphonomical nature of the macrofaunal assemblage from the upper layers of Complex 2. These layers are somewhat different from most of the underlying sequence, in showing quite a high representation of cranial and post-cranial bones of large mammals, including several Megaloceros carthaginiensis antlers. The presence of Crocuta sp. at Cueva Negra represents one of the earliest instances of this genus in Western Eurasia. Identification of several juvenile Crocuta sp. remains alongside coprolites and bones with carnivore damage, indicates sporadical hyaenid denning activity. Furthermore, the presence of bones with percussion and cut-marks near to several hammerstones suggests a clear albeit limited anthropogenic input. We interpret the available taphonomical and spatial evidence from these layers as reflecting a multi-patterned palimpsest, likely representing the non-simultaneous and short-lived co-existence of hyaenas, humans, and other small carnivores in the Cueva Negra palaeolandscape during the final phase of sedimentation preserved at the site
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    Small-mammal indicators of biochronology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, SE Spain)
    (Taylor and Francis, 2018-04-23) López Jiménez, Antonio; Haber Uriarte, María; López Martínez, Mariano; Walker, Michael J.; Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas
    Abundant small-mammal teeth excavated at the Palaeolithic site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar have morphological and metric characteristics that are shown to correspond to Iberomys huescarensis, Stenocranius gregaloides, Terricola arvalidens, Victoriamys chalinei, Mimomys savini, Pliomys episcopalis, Crictetulus (Allocricetus) bursae, Apodemus cf. sylvaticus, Eliomys quercinus, Sciurus sp., Oryctolagus giberti, Lepus sp., Prolagus calpensis, Crocidura kornfeldi, Neomys sp., Sorex sp., Erinaceus cf. europaeus). These taxa have been described in the late Early Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula. The biochronological analysis derived from the study of arvicolid remains in Cueva Negra is consistent with the reverse magnetic polarity of the entire sedimentary fill, indicating that they accumulated during the Matuyama magnetochron, between 0.99 and 0.78 Ma.