Exploring the landscape and climatic conditions of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans in the Middle East: the rodent assemblage from the late Pleistocene of Kaldar Cave (Khorramabad Valley, Iran)

Rey-Rodríguez, Ivan; López‐García, Juan Manuel; Blain, Hugues‐Alexandre; Stoetzel, Emmanuelle; Denys, Christiane; Fernández-García, Mónica; Tumung, Laxmi; Ollé, Andreu; Bazgir, Behrouz

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106278

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…The study material comes from Layer 5 (attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic) and Layer 4 (attributed to the Upper Palaeolithic) (Bazgir et al, 2014(Bazgir et al, , 2017Rey-Rodríguez et al, 2020) However, we also found Apodemus sp. which are related rather to a dense vegetation cover (including trees/bush), as well as few remains of Mus cf.…”

Section: Modern and Fossil Materials Studiedmentioning

confidence: 50%

“…Tesakov (2016) found that the size of E. lutescens is slightly smaller than E. fuscocapillus. Rey-Rodríguez et al (2020) reported that the confluence between T4 and T5 differs among the species, with T1-T2 and T3-T4 being slightly less pairwise opposed in E. lutescens.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…This means that T1-T2 and T3-T4 are less parallel in E. lutescens than in E. fuscocapillus, as observed in the buccal part. Rey-Rodríguez et al (2020) proposed that the width between T4 and T5 (W) and the total length (L) of the two species are different. The configuration of the AC shows that the transition between T4-T5 is narrower in E. lutescens than in E. fuscocapillus, which generates a smaller and more closed AC in E. lutescens than in E. fuscocapillus, in accordance with the observations of Maul et al (2015).…”

Section: Sliding Semi-landmarks and Anatomical Landmarks Compared Witmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combining shape and size allowed us identifying the fossil Ellobius m1s from Kaldar Cave. The morphology of the AC, the size and the W (width between T4 and T5) are valid criteria in most of the cases, but we have seen that GMM analyses allowed them all to be combined and a number of previous identifications to be re-analysed (Bazgir et al, 2014Rey-Rodríguez et al, 2020). The results of the present analysis allowed some E. lutescens from the archaeological material to be re-assigned to E. fuscocapillus (five E. fuscocapillus, three from Layer 4 and two from Layer 5 were re-assigned).…”

Section: Sliding Semi-landmarks and Anatomical Landmarks Compared Witmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ellobius is an interesting vole genus since its Pleistocene distribution reached North Africa (Stoetzel, 2013) and the southern Levant (Weissbrod and Weinstein-Evron, 2020), where it is absent now. Nowadays it occurs in southeastern Europe, western and central Asia (e.g., Rey-Rodríguez et al, 2020). It is often abundant in Middle Eastern archaeological sites, and has biostratigraphic potential for this region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinguishing between three modern Ellobius species (Rodentia, Mammalia) and identification of fossil Ellobius from Kaldar Cave (Iran) using geometric morphometric analyses of the first lower molar

Rey-Rodríguez¹,

Arnaud

López‐García

et al. 2021

Palaeontol Electron

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Section: Modern and Fossil Materials Studiedmentioning

confidence: 50%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Sliding Semi-landmarks and Anatomical Landmarks Compared Witmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sliding Semi-landmarks and Anatomical Landmarks Compared Witmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinguishing between three modern Ellobius species (Rodentia, Mammalia) and identification of fossil Ellobius from Kaldar Cave (Iran) using geometric morphometric analyses of the first lower molar

Rey-Rodríguez¹,

Arnaud

López‐García

et al. 2021

Palaeontol Electron

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Palaeoecological reconstructions of the Middle to Late Pleistocene occupations in the Southern Caucasus using rodent assemblages

Rey-Rodríguez

López‐García

Stoetzel

et al. 2022

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Located at the crossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia, the Southern Caucasus is a prime location to study occupations by H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis and anatomically modern humans. Azokh Cave is an important site for the understanding of human evolution in its archaeological, palaeontological, environmental and ecological context. The main objective of this work is to use rodents to infer the climatic and environmental conditions that prevailed during the formation of the site. The small-mammal remains come from the archaeological excavation campaigns carried out in Azokh 1 in 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015 and 2018; they are from Unit V, Units III–IV and Unit II. The small-mammal assemblage is composed of at least 13 taxa: seven arvicoline, two cricetine, two gerbilline, one dipodid and one murine species. Units III–IV do not yield enough material to draw palaeoclimatic inferences. The palaeoclimatic conditions for Units V and II, ascertained by means of the bioclimatic model, suggest temperatures and precipitation similar to nowadays; the climate seems to be relatively warm-temperate in both units. The palaeoenvironmental reconstruction by means of habitat weighting points to an environment mainly composed of desert and steppe habitats, as well as portions of grassland and forest. This interpretation differs from that inferred from the large-mammal and archaeobotanical data, which indicate a woodland environment. These differences could be explained by the origin of the accumulation. There was no evidence of a major palaeoenvironmental or palaeoclimatic change between the Middle and Late Pleistocene layers, indicating favourable conditions throughout the study period.

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Late Pleistocene environments in the southern Zagros of Iran and their implications for human evolution

Blanco-Lapaz

Mata-González

Starkovich

et al. 2022

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The Zagros Mountains represent a strategic geographic region near the junction of Africa, Europe, and Asia, and valleys within the mountain range likely correspond to migration corridors used by archaic and modern humans. Ghar-e Boof, a key archeological site in the southern Zagros, is located at an altitude of 905 m.a.s.l. in the Dasht-e Rostam region of the Fars Province, Iran. On the basis of lithic artifacts and radiocarbon and luminescence dating, the Late Pleistocene archeological record of the site spans from the Middle Paleolithic (MP) to the Late Epipaleolithic. Ghar-e Boof includes find horizons of the early Upper Paleolithic (UP) Rostamian dating to 42–35 ka cal. BP. These Rostamian-UP assemblages are typically attributed to modern humans. The high-resolution stratigraphy and microvertebrate record offer a unique opportunity for reconstructing the paleoenvironment of the southern part of the Zagros Mountains during the Late Pleistocene and contribute to a better understanding of long-term hominin settlement dynamics and cultural adaptations in this area. The current paper presents the first analysis of the microvertebrate remains recovered by the Tübingen-Iranian Stone Age Research Project (TISARP) team. All groups of small vertebrates, including fish, amphibians, squamate reptiles, birds, and micromammals, are present in the assemblage from Ghar-e Boof (NISP = 755). The key micromammal taxa used to reconstruct the paleoenvironment during the MP and UP include Libyan jird (Meriones cf. libycus), Vinogradov’s jird (Meriones vinogradovi), Indian gerbil (Tatera indica), Brandt’s hedgehog (Paraechinus cf. hypomelas), house mouse (Mus musculus), and mole vole (Ellobius sp.). Other taxa, such as amphibians (toad, Bufo/Bufotes sp.), fish (nase, Chondrostoma sp.), and squamate reptiles (agamids, lizards, Eastern Montpelier snake—Malpolon insignitus—and viper), also support the presence of an environment mainly characterized by warm, arid conditions with open, dry meadows, rocky terrain, and water sources close to the site throughout most of the sequence. During the shift from MP to UP, we record Afghan pika (Ochotona cf. rufescens), while all rodents, except very few remains of the Persian vole (Microtus cf. irani) and the Libyan jird (M. cf. lybicus) and some non-hibernating vertebrate species, are absent and reappear in later UP horizons. The presence of pikas could reflect a period of slightly colder and/or drier conditions. While the record from Ghar-e Boof is the only dataset from the southern Zagros, previous studies on microvertebrates from the central and northern Zagros show no clear change during the shift from the MP to the UP. Data from sediment cores and pollen analyses document numerous environmental and climatic fluctuations during the Late Pleistocene of the Zagros. The microvertebrate record from Ghar-e Boof improves our understanding of paleoenvironments during the Late Pleistocene and opens new opportunities to reconstruct the ecological conditions that helped to shape hominin settlement dynamics in the region.

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Exploring the landscape and climatic conditions of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans in the Middle East: the rodent assemblage from the late Pleistocene of Kaldar Cave (Khorramabad Valley, Iran)

Cited by 13 publications

References 41 publications

Distinguishing between three modern Ellobius species (Rodentia, Mammalia) and identification of fossil Ellobius from Kaldar Cave (Iran) using geometric morphometric analyses of the first lower molar

Distinguishing between three modern Ellobius species (Rodentia, Mammalia) and identification of fossil Ellobius from Kaldar Cave (Iran) using geometric morphometric analyses of the first lower molar

Palaeoecological reconstructions of the Middle to Late Pleistocene occupations in the Southern Caucasus using rodent assemblages

Late Pleistocene environments in the southern Zagros of Iran and their implications for human evolution

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