Evidence of hunting and exploitation of cave bears (Ursus spelaeus, sensu lato) are recently documented in western and eastern sites of its former European distribution in Middle and Upper ...Palaeolithic contexts. Human hunting and exploitation has always been accepted for brown bears (Ursus arctos) but not for cave bears. Recently in Hohle Fels (Swabian Jura), a vertebrae was found with an embedded flint projectile. Furthermore, cut and impact marks document processing of this game. Alongside cave bear, small numbers of coeval brown bears are always present in caves. In open-air sites, both bear species are recorded in low but equal numbers. The question why U. arctos survived the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) still remains open. In this respect, the Gravettian is the crucial period for these questions, as the latest dates for cave bears fall into this time span.
The question of whether hunting by Neanderthals or Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) had an impact on the demise and final extinction of cave bears is discussed, considering ecological and behavioural parameters. In this context, Hohle Fels Cave from the Swabian Jura (Germany), and Deszczowa Cave in the Krakowsko-Częstochowska Upland (Poland), as well as five open air sites in the Czech Republic and one from Poland are discussed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Imanay Cave is located in the Southern Urals (53°02' N, 56°26' E), at 420 m.a.s.l. A 9.5 m2 trench was exca-vated in the grotto in the inner part of the cave to examine the sediments. The accretion ...thickness was 1.2 m. The taphocoenosis of the Imanay Cave is of the Pleistocene age and contains about 10,000 specimens of bone re-mains of large mammals. They mostly belong to small cave bear (U. ex gr. savini-rossicus), and the remaining bones — to species of the mammoth faunal complex (Lepus sp., Castor fiber, Marmota bobak, Canis lupus, Cuon alpinus, Vulpes vulpes, V. corsac, Meles sp., Gulo gulo, Martes sp., Mustela sp., Ursus kanivetz, U. arctos, U. thibetanus, Panthera ex gr. fossilis-spelaea, Mammuthus primigenius, Equus ferus, Coelodonta antiquitatis, Alces alces, Bison priscus, Saiga tatarica, Ovis ammon). In the layer with the bones, Middle Paleolithic stone artifacts were found, including several bifacial points. These tools have analogies in the Middle Paleolithic sites of the Caucasus region and Crimea. During excavations of the cave, the skull of a cave bear with artificial damage was found. The study of the artificial perforation on the skull was the purpose of the present paper. On the basis of dimensional and morphological features, it was established that the skull belongs to a small cave bear (U. ex gr. savini-rossicus). The skull was directly AMS radiocarbon dated to 34 940 ± 140 BP, IGANAMS-5652. Analysis of the growth layers in the teeth revealed that the animal died in winter at an age of 9-10 years. Trace evidence analysis showed, that the hole in the parietal region of the skull was made by a sharp bifacial flint point similar to the Middle Paleolithic points found in the cultural layer of the cave. The animal was killed during winter hiberna-tion, most probably by stabbing with a spear. This is the first direct evidence of human hunting of a small cave bear. With the abundance of cave bear bones, the skull with the hole in it is the only evidence of human impact on this animal. There are no bones with traces of butchering and harvesting of the bone marrow.
The composition of large mammal fauna from the Imanay Cave in the Southern Urals (53°02' N, 56°26' E) is described in the present study. The paper aims to provide an preliminary description of the ...large mammal remains from the Imanay Cave in order to establish their taxonomic status, geological age and to detect the factors that led to accumulation of the bone remains in the cave. An analysis of species composition of vertebrate fauna, archaeological finds and radiocarbon dates has shown that accumulation of fossils in the Imanay Cave spanned the whole period of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Remains of the small cave bear (Ursus “savini”) and cave lion (Panthera ex gr. fossilis-spelaea) are prevalent in the Pleistocene groups: 9414 (93%) and 536 (5%) bone specimens, respectively. The cave is the only site in the world where mass bone assemblages of two large terrestrial Carnivora species - small cave bear and cave lion – were found simultaneously. The composition of the skeletal samples for both species was described and the age and sex distributions were determined. Though Mousterian stone tools were found in the cave, no trace of the hunt of the bears and lions by humans was detected. The period during which the accumulation of the fossils took place can be broadly determined as the first half of the Late Pleistocene (MIS5–3).
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The oldest known wolf appears 800,000 years ago (Marine Isotope Stage 21) in Eurasia with the unspecialized short‐legged old Mammoth steppe wolf Canis lupus bohemica nov. spec. From this species, ...about 600,000–420,000 years ago (MIS 15‐11), the interglacial Canis lupus mosbachensis (Soergel, 1925) short‐legged Mosbach grey wolf subspecies roamed Eurasia. In the late Middle Pleistocene, there are two lineages, the southern interglacial grey and northern glacial White wolves in Eurasia. Since 320,000 (MIS 8), the short‐legged White wolf Canis lupus spelaeus (Goldfuss, 1823) was the glacial Mammoth steppe‐adapted wolf. Parallel to the “cave wolf” (found in the German Zoolithen Cave), the warm climate grey wolf Canis lupus brevis Kuzmina and Sablin, 1994 existed. C. l. spelaeus relates to the Holocene (MIS 1) extant Holarctic Greenland Canis lupus arctos and Siberian Canis lupus albus (Kerr, 1792). The Late Palaeolithic (MIS 2) “Gravettian Goyet dogs” fall into the DNA pool of C. l. spelaeus and are identified herein as pathological bite trauma individuals, which braincase shortened during the healing process. European prehistoric Neolithic dogs seem to have been imported from Central Asia with the Bandkeramik people (approx. 7000 BP) first, which have the stepped frontals originating from grey wolves.
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In the rich vertebrate fauna of Imanay Cave the abundant material of the small-sized cave bears was originally assigned to the taxon Ursus savini. Teeth and metapodials of statistical amounts were ...compared with other cave bear faunas and the taxonomic position was determined through morphological and metric analyses. The size of teeth and metapodial bones is significantly smaller in Imanay Cave bears compared to the typical U. deningeri from Mosbach and Hundsheim. Although the teeth are smaller, they reached higher evolutionary level than those from Mosbach or Hundsheim.The bear remains from Imanay Cave show great similarities to the fossils from Kizel Cave in the Ural Mountains described as Ursus rossicus Borissiak, 1930 but also to the remains of small-bodied cave bears of the Alps described as Ursus deningeroides Mottl, 1964. Remarkable are the differences in size of the front dentition: the incisors from Imanay Cave are on average >10% longer and wider than the corresponding teeth from U. deningeroides but also wider than the classic U. deningeri. Preliminary carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses suggest that the small cave bears from Imanay Cave were herbivorous.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The Torrener Bärenhöhle (Cave of Torren) is an alpine bear cave in the limestone Alps near Salzburg (Austria). The entrance of this cave is located in the riverbed of a periodically flowing stream ...that floods the caverns during snowmelt or after heavy rainfall. Due to these flooding events, the fossiliferous layers were repeatedly destroyed and the fossil remains - mainly cave bear bones - were distributed over the cave's entrance hall. The fossil collections have taken place since 1924. During the last decades, numerous bones scattered over the cave floor have been collected again and again. In this study, we conduct metric and morphological analyses of this fossil material as well as DNA analyses in an attempt to clarify the taxonomic position of the cave bear remains. The chronological status of the bear remains has not yet been clarified, because the few samples that have been analysed so far were beyond the range of
14
C dating, indicating they are older than 49,000 cal yr BP. The following taxa are represented in small numbers: Brown bear (Ursus arctos L.), wolf (Canis lupus L.), cave lion (Panthera spelaeus Goldfuss, 1810), European bison (Bison bonasus L.) and beaver (Castor fiber L.).
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We report radiocarbon (14C) dates on bone samples of Ursus ladinicus, a small cave bear species well adapted to a life in the mountains, whose remains were found in Conturines Cave. Located at 2775 m ...asl in the Dolomites of northern Italy, this cave is by far the highest known cave bear site worldwide. Eleven 14C dates obtained by the Belfast and Oxford laboratories on samples showing good collagen preservation yielded consistent ages in excess of 46–50 ka BP. These results show that contrary to the previously held view these cave bear remains are older than Marine Isotope Stage 3, and likely date from a warm climate period with a high treeline, possibly the Last Interglacial.
The recent development of multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC‐ICP‐MS) notably in the disciplines of earth sciences, now allows the precise measurement of isotope ratios, ...even at low concentration. Non‐traditional isotope systems, such as alkaline earth (Ca, Mg) and transition (Cu, Fe, Zn) metals are now being measured in a variety of biological tissues, including bone and teeth. Although our understanding of the environmental and biological mechanisms behind the fractionation of such elements is still in its infancy, some of these isotopes are suspected to fractionate along the food chain, as has been reported in the literature for calcium, magnesium and zinc. Other geochemical methods, such as concentration analyses, permit a prior assessment of diagenesis in the fossils and such an approach indicates that in some circumstances, not only enamel but also dentine or bone can preserve its original biogenic composition. The aims here are to: review the current knowledge surrounding these various isotopic tools; address their potential preservation in biological apatite; and provide the palaeobiologist with a guide to the different toolkits available, including a discussion of their potential applications in vertebrate palaeobiology with a case study involving two mammal assemblages from the Pleistocene of Europe.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
Insights into causes of extinction in fossil animals can contribute to an understanding of how environmental or anthropogenic processes may affect extant animals. Cave bears that went ...extinct in the late Pleistocene in Europe have been considered largely herbivorous based on tooth, skull and jaw morphology. Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition (δ15N, δ13C) of bone collagen of many cave bears having values similar to or lower than those of coeval herbivores support an exclusive plant diet and their occurrence in habitats with denser vegetation. A complicating aspect of this hypothesis is that isotopic compositions of bulk collagen, especially those of nitrogen, could reflect environmental fluctuation as well as behavioural and physiological traits, which are not related to trophic position and so may lead to uncertainty in palaeodietary reconstruction. Here we show that δ15N analysis of individual collagen amino acids of fossil bears from Goyet Cave (Belgium) indicates that cave bears had a constant trophic position of 1.9–2.1, indicating purely herbivorous diets, while brown bears had a trophic position of 2.0–2.4, indicating a slightly more omnivorous diet. Results might support the hypothesis of the extinction of cave bear due to the inflexibility in feeding habits.
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