Biochronological data inferred from the early Pleistocene Arvicolinae (Mammalia, Rodentia) of the El Chaparral site (Sierra del Chaparral, Cádiz, southwestern Spain)

Microtus cabrerae is an Iberian endemic vole species with specific adaptations to the subhumid Mediterranean climate. Its living populations are under a regressive trend. The earliest known records of Microtus cabrerae date from the late Middle Pleistocene, and it originated from Microtus brecciensis. We describe changes in the geographic distribution of Microtus cabrerae throughout its history based on its palaeontological record, and link them to environmental changes that have taken place since the appearance of Microtus cabrerae. A series of successive chronological intervals comprising the recorded existence of the species was established, so that the majority of the published fossil records of Microtus cabrerae could be used for analysis. For each interval, a map with the inferred distribution of the species was created. The maps were used to establish variations in the species' distribution through time. A first regression in the extent of the distribution of Microtus cabrerae took place in Marine Isotope Stage 2, when the species abandoned south‐eastern France and central Spain, where it had been present since the beginning of the Late Pleistocene. This range contraction was probably due to the global decline in temperatures and rainfall that took place in this period. After a rapid recolonization of most of the previously abandoned areas at the beginning of the Holocene and a remarkable increase in records during the Neolithic, a new gradual decrease of records is observed from the Neolithic to the Roman period, intensifying from c. 2000 years ago onwards and ending with the final disappearance of the species from south‐western France and north‐eastern Iberia. This second decline is linked to the aridification of the Mediterranean entourage that started in the mid‐Holocene and has been enhanced by human modification of the landscape. The species is shown to be sensitive to climate change.

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“…(); (23) Hanquet (); (24) Price (); (25) López‐García et al. (); and (26) authors' unpublished data.…”

Section: Changes In the Geographic Distribution Of Microtus Cabrerae mentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting the biogeographic history ofMicrotus cabreraethrough its fossil record

Laplana

Sevilla²

2013

Mammal Review

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“…As far as level 2 is concerned, the presence of M. savini is characteristic of the Biharian (Fejfar et al ., ), whereas the identification of V. chalinei indicates an age corresponding to the final part of the Biharian (Cuenca‐Bescós et al ., , ; Madurell‐Malapeira et al ., ; López‐García et al ., ). The association of M. savini and V. chalinei indicates that this level corresponds to the Allophaiomys chalinei biozone, with an estimated age between 0.78 and 0.9 Ma according to Cuenca‐Bescós et al .…”

Section: Biochronological Remarksmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The size of V. chalinei from level 2 of Barranc de la Boella is slightly larger than the mean values for the population of Cueva Victoria (Alcalde et al ., ) and smaller than that of V. chalinei from levels TD4 and TD4B of Gran Dolina (Cuenca‐Bescós et al ., ), level D5 of Cal Guardiola (Minwer‐Barakat et al ., ) and level C2 of El Chaparral (López‐García et al ., ). This suggests that the population of V. chalinei from Barranc de la Boella is one of the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula.…”

Section: Biochronological Remarksmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Remarks : The size of the specimens falls within the range of those from the type locality of the species, Cueva Victoria (Alcalde et al ., ); however, the mean size is larger in Barranc de la Boella (level 2). The studied teeth are slightly smaller than those of V. chalinei from levels TD4 and TD4B of Atapuerca (Cuenca‐Bescós et al ., ), level C2 of El Chaparral (López‐García et al ., ) and level D5 from Cal Guardiola (Minwer‐Barakat et al ., ).…”

Section: Systematic Palaeontologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biochronological data inferred from the Early Pleistocene small mammals of the Barranc de la Boella site (Tarragona, north‐eastern Spain)

Lózano-Fernández

Bañuls‐Cardona

Blain

et al. 2014

J Quaternary Science

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In 2007, remains ofMammuthus meridionalisand 334 lithic artefacts were recovered in level 2 of Barranc de la Boella. The presence ofM. meridionalisallows us to assign an age older than 700 ka to this level, which represents one of the few sites of this age with palaeontological remains associated with lithic industry. It also enables us to shed light on questions pertaining to the chronology and the biogeography of the earliest European human settlements. In this paper, the small mammals from the Barranc de la Boella site are described for the first time, with special emphasis on the arvicolines. The presence of Victoriamys chalineiandMimomys savini allows us to estimate the age of level 2. Level 2 of the Barranc de la Boella site ranges between the top of the Jaramillo subchron (0.99 Ma) and shortly after the Brunhes–Matuyama transition at 0.78 Ma, thus covering a time span of great importance for our knowledge of the earliest human occupations in Western Europe

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“…Like other well-documented sites, it lies between the Mediterranean coast and a N-S line passing through Madrid (Figure 2). From N to S they include not only the Atapuerca Sima del Elefante and Gran Dolina sites (Arsuaga et al 1999(Arsuaga et al , 2001(Arsuaga et al , 2014Bermúdez de Castro et al 1997, 2011, 2013a,b, 2017Carbonell et al 1995Carbonell et al , 1999Carbonell et al , 2008de Lombera-Hermida et al 2015;Duval et al 2018;Falguères et al 1999;Huguet et al 2017;Mallol 1999Rosas et al 2006;Terradillos 2010), but also, closer to the Mediterranean, Vallparadís (García et al 2011(García et al , 2012Martínez et al 2010Martínez et al , 2014, Barranc de la Boella (Vallverdú et al 2014), Alto de las Picarazas (Vicente Gabarda et al 2016), and the eastern Andalusian Fuente Nueva-3 and Barranco León-5 sites (Barsky et al 2015;Fajardo 2009;Gibert et al 1998;Martínez-Navarro et al 1997;Toro-Moyano et al 2003, 2011. Their chronologies show that early Palaeolithic assemblages of pebble tools, choppers and flakes began to include bifacially-flaked large cutting tools such as a cleaver (Barranc de la Boella) and a hand-axe (Cueva Negra) ca.…”

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confidence: 99%

Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a Dated Late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic Site in Southeastern Spain

Walker¹,

Uriarte²,

Jiménez³

et al. 2020

J Paleo Arch

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Systematic excavation and multidisciplinary research undertaken over three decades have deepened our understanding of the early Palaeolithic archaeology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain). New results from biochronology and combined ESR and U-series dating corroborate previous magnetostratigraphy, placing the entire excavated sequence between the Jaramillo sub-chron and the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (i.e., ca. 990-772 thousand years ago [ka]); palaeontological and palynological findings reflect temperate environmental conditions. A bifacially-flaked limestone hand-axe was excavated one metre below the top of the Pleistocene sequence. The Equus cf. altidens tooth that provided the ESR estimate was excavated one metre below the hand-axe. Throughout its five-metre-deep sedimentary sequence, small nodules, fragments, and struck flakes make up the bulk of the Palaeolithic assemblage. Stratigraphical analysis points to undisturbed continuous sedimentary deposition above a layer of ashy sediment, encountered 4.5 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence, which contained thermallyaltered bone and heat-shattered chert cores and flakes. Cueva Negra is among the earliest European sites with firm evidence of combustion..Introduction Context Geographical locationCueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar is a large, north-facing, rock-shelter (ca. 10x10 m in area), in Upper Miocene (Tortonian) biocalcarenite rock, lying at 740 m above sea level, a.s.l. (38° 02' 12.5" N; 1° 53' 5.8" W) on the right bank 40 m above the Quípar River where it flows northwards from a one-kilometre-long gorge (the Estrecho, i.e., "the Narrows") below the hamlet of La Encarnación in Caravaca de la Cruz municipality (Murcia, Spain) (Figure 1). The Quípar is a tributary of the Segura River that reaches the Mediterranean Sea 110 km E of Cueva Negra, even though the cave lies only 70 km N of the Murcian coast. Important geological faults determine the alignment of tributaries in the Segura drainage basin. The Estrecho follows the sinistral reverse Quípar Fault, active since the Late Miocene (Messinian). Activity caused uplift of the right bank of the river, thereby saving from riverine erosion the fine-grained fluviatile sediments that had accumulated in Cueva Negra under conditions of low transport energy by intermittent overflow of an erstwhile swampy lake fed by the Quípar during the late Early Pleistocene. The Quípar enters the gorge at 725 m a.s.l. and leaves it at 690 m a.s.l.. The height of the land above sea level during the Early Pleistocene is unknown. The Upper Miocene (Tortonian) calcarenite formed under the Tethys Sea, arising to become a shoreline surface in the Upper Pliocene. Cueva Negra is a vestige of a trapezoidal endokarstic cavity that likely developed in relation to low-lying lagoons or lakes. LithostratigraphyThe fluviatile sediments inside Cueva Negra include clasts eroded from the cave roof and walls. Palaeolithic and faunal remains are present throughout the five-metre depth, implying...

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Biochronological data inferred from the early Pleistocene Arvicolinae (Mammalia, Rodentia) of the El Chaparral site (Sierra del Chaparral, Cádiz, southwestern Spain)

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Documenting the biogeographic history ofMicrotus cabreraethrough its fossil record

Documenting the biogeographic history ofMicrotus cabreraethrough its fossil record

Biochronological data inferred from the Early Pleistocene small mammals of the Barranc de la Boella site (Tarragona, north‐eastern Spain)

Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a Dated Late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic Site in Southeastern Spain

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