Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the stratigraphic unit Xb of El Salt (Middle Palaeolithic; Alcoy, Spain): palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic implications

Marquina, Rafael; Fagoaga, Ana; Crespo, Vicente D.; Ruiz-Sánchez, Francisco Javier; Bailón, Salvador; Hernández, Constantino Criado; Galván, Bertila

doi:10.7203/sjp.32.2.17045

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 45 publications

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“…Other representatives of this category should have yielded more frequent and intense digestion in both rodents and lagomorphs (Andrews, 1990; Fernández-Jalvo et al, 2016). Moreover, preliminary studies of herpetofaunal remains also suggest the activity of owls (Marquina et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of small mammal taphonomy to the last Neanderthal occupations at the El Salt site (Alcoi, southeastern Spain)

et al. 2021

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The El Salt site (Alcoi, Alicante, Spain) is one of the latest Neanderthal sites in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. The disappearance of this human group is controversial and needs detailed studies from different research areas. Taphonomy is essential to establish how representative is a fossil assemblage of the past living organisms that produced it and to interpret the formation process of the fossil site. In the case of El Salt, we have analyzed the micromammal assemblages of Units X and V, which contain fossils of Neanderthals and/or evidence of their activity. In contrast with previous identifications of the little owl (Athene noctua), our detailed taphonomic study shown here allows us to conclude that the main predator involved in the production of the micromammal assemblages was the European eagle owl (Bubo bubo). This is an opportunistic predator whose feeding preferences and behavior reflect the abundance of local micromammalian species, which can therefore provide a representation of past ecosystems near El Salt. The taphonomic information provided by this study also indicates the absence of transport and reworking processes, and reinforces previous paleoecological interpretations, suggesting an increase of aridity at the top of El Salt sequence that coincided with the local disappearance of Neanderthals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of small mammal taphonomy to the last Neanderthal occupations at the El Salt site (Alcoi, southeastern Spain)

et al. 2021

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Applying the UDA-ODA discrimination technique to a herpetological association: the case of the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain)

Marquina-Blasco

Fagoaga

Crespo

et al. 2022

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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El Salt (Middle Palaeolithic; Alcoi, Spain) is a key site for understanding the disappearance of Neanderthals in the eastern Iberian Peninsula, a process that is observed along its stratigraphic sequence. To improve our understanding of the palaeoclimatic context in which this process took place, we applied the UDA-ODA discrimination technique to the fossil herpetological assemblages from Stratigraphic Units (SU) Xb (52.3 ± 4.6 ka) and V (45.2 ± 3.4/44.7 ± 3.4 ka). This method is based in the application of an ecological criterion, the maximum altitude of each species on each Iberian range, to discern and remove those areas that do not meet their ecological requirements (UDA) from those that do (ODA), which are included in its distribution from Atlases from which the common distribution species is going to be extracted. Results indicate the existence of an alternation between “cold and wet” moments with “warm and dry” ones, all of them in a more humid context than nowadays. Climate was slightly warmer than nowadays in SU Xb, whereas was cooler in SU V. Regarding MAP, our results show less variation between SUs than it has been provided by previous studies. These results do not fully agree with those provided by small mammals from the same SUs, which indicate an increase of the temperatures whereas rainfall experienced the contrary. These differences could be related with the wider distribution of the Iberian herpetofauna, and some differences in the applied ecological criterion. Furthermore, herpetofaunal palaeoclimatic reconstruction shows that the abandonment of the site by Neanderthals seems to have occurred during an arid phase.

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Improving archaeomagnetic interpretations by reusing magnetically oriented samples for micromorphological analysis

Dinçkal,

Lagunilla,

Carrancho

et al. 2024

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the stratigraphic unit Xb of El Salt (Middle Palaeolithic; Alcoy, Spain): palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic implications

Cited by 10 publications

References 45 publications

Contribution of small mammal taphonomy to the last Neanderthal occupations at the El Salt site (Alcoi, southeastern Spain)

Contribution of small mammal taphonomy to the last Neanderthal occupations at the El Salt site (Alcoi, southeastern Spain)

Applying the UDA-ODA discrimination technique to a herpetological association: the case of the Middle Palaeolithic site of El Salt (Alcoi, Spain)

Improving archaeomagnetic interpretations by reusing magnetically oriented samples for micromorphological analysis

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