Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the late Pleistocene to middle Holocene small mammal succession of El Harhoura 2 cave (Rabat-Témara, Morocco)

Dental Shape Variation and Phylogenetic Signal in the Rattini Tribe Species of Mainland Southeast Asia

“…The identification of Rattini tribe species is particularly important in the study of fossil and sub-fossil records. Identification of rodents to species levels informs research about the species composition of local rodent communities and how these have changed through time, particularly in the case of changes due to human activity (Weissbrod et al 2017), but also in environmental changes (Cuenca-Bescós et al 2009;Stoetzel et al 2011). Identification to species level is also central to the understanding of the rate and route of species translocations and invasions (Prendergast et al 2017).…”

Shrews of the genus Crocidura from El Harhoura 2 (Témara, Morocco): The contribution of broken specimens to the understanding of Late Pleistocene–Holocene palaeoenvironments in North Africa

“…The accumulations in caves may originate from different processes (Andrews, 1990;Denys, 2002;Stoetzel, 2009). In the context of the present study, the small vertebrate assemblages are suspected to be the result of accumulations of pellets/scats of different predators (Stoetzel et al, 2011(Stoetzel et al, , 2012. Thus, differences in prey preferences of predators could explain some of the results.…”

“…The Middle to Late Pleistocene boundary is characterized by the extinction of numerous small mammal taxa, including all the fossil shrew species (Stoetzel, 2013). During the Late Pleistocene, most of the present Moroccan species were recorded from several Late Pleistocene and Holocene sites, such as Irhoud Neanderthal (Jaeger, 1970(Jaeger, , 1975Amani and Geraads, 1998), Oulad Hamida 2 (Felids cave; Raynal et al, 2008;Geraads et al, 2010), Chrafate (Ouabhi et al, 2003), Ez Zarka (Ouabhi et al, 2003), Guenfouda (Aouraghe et al, 2010;Lopez-García et al, 2013), and El Harhoura 2 (Stoetzel, 2009;Stoetzel et al, 2010Stoetzel et al, , 2011. In Morocco, the presence of crocidurines concerns mostly C. russula, C. whitakeri and to a lesser extent also C. tarfayensis.…”

“…This cave has yielded both lithic and bone industries, ceramics, several human remains and burials, and numerous faunal remains (Campmas et al, 2008, in press;Nespoulet et al, 2008aNespoulet et al, , 2008bMichel et al, 2009Michel et al, , 2010El Hajraoui et al, 2012;Stoetzel et al, 2014). Moreover, a high concentration of small vertebrate remains has been discovered, which has allowed for rather complete faunistic and palaeoecological studies of the region (Stoetzel et al, 2007(Stoetzel et al, , 2008(Stoetzel et al, , 2011(Stoetzel et al, , 2012Stoetzel, 2009). This site is unique as it involves studies focusing on different vertebrates including small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.…”

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“…Historically, much of the research on this subject has been centered on East (Horai et al 1995;McDougall et al 2005;White et al 2003) and South African contexts (Klein 2001;Henshilwood et al 2002;Marean and Thompson 2003;Marean et al 2007). However, there are currently a number of active archaeological projects in Morocco, such as at Jebel Irhoud (Smith et al 2007), Rhafas ), Ifri n'Ammar Richter et al 2010), Pigeons Cave at Taforalt (Barton et al 2005;Belcastro et al 2010;Bouzouggar et al 2007), El Mnasra and El Haroura II (Nespoulet et al 2008;Michel et al 2010;Stoetzel et al 2011), and Contrebandiers Cave. The data resulting from these projects are now identifying Morocco as one of the major research areas relating to the modern human origins ( Barton et al 2009;Balter 2011;Bouzouggar et al 2007;Garcea 2010;Nespoulet et al 2008;Schwenninger et al 2010;Van Peer 2001).…”