Human Activities, Biostratigraphy and Past Environment Revealed by Small-Mammal Associations at the Chalcolithic Levels of El Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Atapuerca, Spain)

Abstract

The Chalcolithic levels of El Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) offer a good opportunity to test whether the small-mammal contents of different archaeo-stratigraphical units may be useful to characterize them as independent entities. With that purpose, we studied representative samples of small-mammal remains from the two main contexts identified: the Early Chalcolithic (EC) funerary context and the Late Chalcolithic (LC) habitat/stabling context, with the latter comprising three different archaeological units according to their origin, namely prepared floors, activity floors and stabling surfaces or fumiers. Following the distribution of taxa in their respective contexts, we performed several statistical tests to check for significant discrepancies between archaeological units. The exclusive presence of certain taxa, together with the statistical difference in relative taxonomic ratios, points to the integrity and unpolluted condition of the EC context. The interspersed arrangement of the different LC context’s units made them prone to inter-pollution as they are not statistically different. The unexpected presence of Pliomys lenki and Chionomys nivalis in the prepared floors evidences their Upper Pleistocene allochthonous origin. The EC levels of El Portalón contribute the first Holocene records of nine taxa in the Sierra de Atapuerca. An environment dominated by woodland, shrubland and wet meadows, with moderate presence of grassland, inland wetlands and rocky areas, is inferred from the small-mammal association of the EC levels.

Solving a ‘puzzle’. The global 4.2 ka Bond Event at El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) and the importance of small mammal taphonomy to the interpretation of past environments and their climatic controls

“…A similar situation in which the percentage of small mammal synanthropic taxa decreases during a burial phase is observed in the Early Chalcolithic level (5290–4850 cal. yr BP) from El Portalón cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, less than a kilometre from El Mirador) according to Rofes et al (2021). Despite a possible delay in the response of the microfauna in MIR4 to the arid phase of MIR5 could be considered, the intensification of the human impact in the surroundings of El Mirador cave during the Bronze Age prevents from supporting this assumption (Bañuls-Cardona et al, 2017a, 2017b; Cabanes et al, 2009; Expósito et al, 2017; Rodríguez et al, 2016).…”

Taphonomy and Palaeoecology of Quaternary Vertebrates: Advances in Fossil and Experimental Studies

“…Rofes et al [26] explored the potential of micromammals to reconstruct human activities, biostratigraphy, and palaeoenvironments at El Portalón de Cueva Mayor in Spain (Early Late Chalcolithic). The authors demonstrated the differences in the small-mammal spectrum among different areas and phases of human activity (e.g., burials, prepared floors, activity floors, and fumiers) and provided the first Holocene sub-fossil record of multiple rodent, shrew, and bat species in the Sierra de Atapuerca.…”

The Potential of Micromammals for the Stratigraphy and the Timing of Human Occupations at La Roche-à-Pierrot (Saint-Césaire, France)

“…The relationship between micromammals (primarily small rodents and insectivores) and the various categories of archaeological material recovered from a given site has received little attention. Apart from the Chalcolithic site of El Portalón [12], the Upper Palaeolithic sites of Peyrazet [13,14] and Taillis des Coteaux [15] and the Middle Palaeolithic site of Les Pradelles [13], relatively few studies have focused on the correlation between micromammals and archaeological material.…”