On the ecological context of the earliest human settlements in Europe: Resource availability and competition intensity in the carnivore guild of Barranco León-D and Fuente Nueva-3 (Orce, Baza Basin, SE Spain)

The earliest cut marks of Europe: a discussion on hominin subsistence patterns in the Orce sites (Baza basin, SE Spain)

“…This provides useful information on the behaviour of the first human populations that inhabited Western Europe. Moreover, the Oldowan lithic assemblages from both sites 29,30 and the inferences on resource availability and competition intensity among the members of the carnivore guild 41 make possible to discuss on the subsistence strategies of these human populations.…”

“…In any case, although the scavenging of carcasses partially defleshed would have enhanced the survival of the hominin population of BL and FN-3 7,24,41,51,52 , this does not preclude other procurement strategies, including the opportunistic hunting of small-sized mammals, the kleptoparasitism of the prey of sabre-tooths like Homotherium latidens and Megantereon whitei , or even the scavenging of carcasses of very large animals that died from other causes. The latter possibility is documented in the Upper Level of FN-3, which preserves evidence of competition between Homo sp.…”

“…and the giant, short-faced hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris for the exploitation of the carcass of an old individual of Mammuthus meridionalis 7 . Moreover, the results of a model that allows estimating the biomass of primary consumers available in the community of large mammals suggest a scavenging behaviour as the optimal scenario for the hominin population that inhabited the depression of Baza and Guadix 41 .…”

“…Most ungulates of VM are present in BL-D and FN-3. The exceptions are the mesodont ovibovine Soergelia minor , which is replaced in FN-3 by the hypsodont caprine Ammotragus europaeus , and the presence of a second equid species in BL-D and FN-3, the large-sized horse Equus sussenbornensis 41 . Given that hindgut fermenters can feed on low quality grasses too fibrous for a ruminant to subsist on 65 the record of two highly hypsodont, hypergrazing equids in BL and FN-3 suggests for these sites slightly drier conditions than in VM.…”

The bears from Dmanisi and the first dispersal of early Homo out of Africa

“…The temporal and geographic setting of Dmanisi, the preservational completeness of its faunal and hominin remains, and the huge record of Oldowan tools unearthed at this site open the possibility of setting up potential relationships of early Homo with other species of the Early Pleistocene large mammal fauna 6–9 that inhabited this ecological scenario 10 , particularly the members of the carnivore guild.…”