A Late Pleistocene (MIS3) ungulate mammal assemblage (Los Rincones, Zaragoza, Spain) in the Eurosiberian–Mediterranean boundary

Abstract

During the Upper Pleistocene the archaeo-paleontological sites in the Iberian Peninsula are located mainly on the coasts. Here we present for the first time a paleoenvironmental proxy for Upper Pleistocene locality (MIS3) that is in the interior peninsular, in the Moncayo Massif (Zaragoza). This is actually the boundary between Mediterranean and Eurosiberian climatic-regions. The present study is based in the site ungulates: Capra pyrenaica, wich is bigger in size than current and fossil from Mediterranean area. The horses have a small size, which is similar to that of the horses from Fontainhas and Casares. Significantly lesser in the number of rests, are the roe deer, the southern chamois, and the auroch. The study and comparison of the faunal assemblage of the locality of Los Rincones, with other sites of the Iberian MIS 3 shows a cluster of sites in the southern Peninsular, though separated, due to the abundance of C. pyrenaica. The association of Los Rincones is similar to the southern peninsular sites such as Nerja, Gorham Cave, Cova Beneito, Zafarraya. The ungulate assemblage of Los Rincones represents a landscape with temperate climate, presence of steppe, and patches of forest, similar to the current landscape surrounding the cavity today.

Late Pleistocene and Holocene chamois in Italy

“…Spanish fossil remains attributed with certainty to the Pyrenean chamois are known since MIS 3 (Altuna , Álvarez‐Lao , Sauqué et al. ).…”

Hippariontracks and horses' toes: the evolution of the equid single hoof

“…By comparing footprints and ungual phalanges of fossil and modern equids, we found that this generalization holds up quite well. Tridactyl equids tend to have ungual phalanges and footprints that are oval in shape and longer than wide (as in the Ukrainian print with frogs noted above where length/width ratio = 1.27), whereas monodactyl equids tend to have ungual phalanges and footprints that are more circular in shape and wider than long (see later discussion of the ‘ovality index’; see also [ 104 ], p. 17, fig. 10).…”