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Home , Elephas

r FAUNA WITH ELEPHAS () ANTIQUUS FROM THE LOWER LEVELS OF AMBRONA (SORlA, SPAIN)

E. SOTO" C. SESÉ', A. PÉREZ-GONzALEZ', M. SANTONJA', R. MORA', P. VILLA'

Abstrael : This paper deals with the fauna of macromammals from the lower levels (called «Lower Complex»] of'rhe Ambrona Middle síte We do a special mention of the (Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus) those remains are rhe most abundanr ofa1l the macro in almost al! the levels, varying between the 28% and the 38% of the total remains. Nevertelles the prcdominance of elephants, the macromarnmals assemblage of Ambrona is a very diversifled fauna with al least nine different .

Introduction advanced Middle Pleistocene in the sense ofSesé & Sevilla (1996). Ambrona site is situeted in the province of Soria, in the north The identified macromammals from the recent excavations síde of the Castillan branch of Cordillera Iberica (lberian held by the authors from 1993 to 2000 are: Panthera sp, Canis Range),in Masegar (also Arroyo dela Mentirosa) river valley, lupus, Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus, Cervus elaphus, left sirleaffluent ofJalon river, Dama cf. dama. Capreolus sp., Equus chosarícus, Bos primigenius y Dicerorhinus hemitoechus, The association of Elepbant remains mentioned here come from the Jower levels Elephas (Pa/aeoloxodon) aruíquus Dícerorhinus ("lower complex") ofAmbrona (Santonja y Perez Gonzalez hemítoechus. Equus chosaricus and Bos primigenius), in this volume) where the tevets AS1, AS 1/2, AS2, AS3, AS4, confirms the Middle P1eistocene age for Ambrona. AS5 y AS6 weredefined from bottom to topo (Pérez González er al.: O Arqueólogo Portugués 1995-97).

Thename ofAmbronalikeofrhe síte ofTorralbain the nearby, Analysis of macromammals fauna is assocíatedto en archaeologicalsettlementplenty ofelephant remains interpreted classically as a game and butchering place remains are undoubtedly predominanl among a11 the since Cerralbo in the beginning ofXX century~,till macromammals remains. Nevertheless, the distribution of Howell el al. (1995). We proposed a new hypothesis (Perez González el al.; O Arqueólogo Portugués 1995-97) Ambrona remains by specíes is very different among the levels. (Table 1). is an e1ephant natural burial site, many ofthe rests have been transponed and other remained in sítu, Nevertheless sorne of The most abundant and better preserved elephant remains the bone remains would have been butcbered or scavenged are fOW1d in the levels AS3 y AS4.ln 1995 was found in ASJ by mano (Villa el al. In this volume). an assemblage of about 90 bones corresponding to an MNI ofJ: one juvenile, one adult female and one adult male. The remains of the last one fonned the called "concentration Fauna 01 Mammals alpha", with almost a who1e carcass: cranium, the who1e mandihle, both tusks, 17 vertebras and many ribs, both The micromammalian fauna of the Ambrona "lower scapulas. the right humerus, ulna and radius of both sides, complex" is Crocidura sp., Microtus brecciensis, Arvicola sorne carpaL and metacarpal bones, the whole pelvis and a aff sapidus, Apodemus aff syivaticus. Oryctotogus sp. distal fragment ofthe right femur that could be related to the (Sesé, 1986) The age defined by this fauna is ofa typical or complete left femur found in the 1993 carupaign and one tibia. Final1y one fibula found in the 1993 campaign could 1 Dpto. Paleobiología, Museo Nacional dc Ciencias Narurales, CSlC, J. correspond to this individual. In sum it would be there 3 Gunérrcz Abascal, 2, 28006 Madrid, España, [email protected] individuals: the individual A determined exclusivety by a 2 Opto. Palcobiologia, Musco Nacional dc Ciencías Naturales, CSIC, J. cranial remain, the individual B by a male tusk and the Gutierrez Abascal, 28006 Madrid, España. [email protected] individual e, an adult male to which belongs all the remains 3 Opto. Ocodinamica, Facultad Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad aboye mentioned. Complutense. 28040 Madrid, España, all'[email protected]ím.ucm.es 4 Musco de Salamanca, Patio de Escuelas 1, 37008 Salamanca, España, This is a singular concentration because almost all the musal@he1com,cs anatomic parts are represented, many ofthem in their anatomic 5 División de prehistoria. Facultad de letras, Universidad Autónoma de natural position and sorne in cormection,this indicates absence Barcelona. OgJ93 Beltaterra, España. r. [email protected] or little transportation. This kind of concentration has never 6 315 UCB. Univcrsity 01' Colorado M'Jscum, Bouldcr, Colorado 80309­ been found in the site nor in other ateas where the remains 0315, U,S.A.. ~'[email protected] are more disperse and fragmentary.

159 Le role de I'environnement dans les comportements des cnasseurs-cuemeurs préhistoriqucs'-- _

Table 1 : Number of total rernaine and percentage by taxa of eacf level

LEVEL ASI A5l/2 A52 AS3 AS4 ASS AS6 TAXA N1SP % NISP % NISP % NlSP % Nrsp % NISP % NlSP % Bovúiae indet. cf BoslBis.:.n is 4.44% o 0.00% o iJ.OO% 4 iJ.87% ro 2.62% , 16.67% o 0.00'%

Bos primigenius , 0.~9'o 4 8,00% o iJ,OO% 4 0,87% z 0,52"1" n 0.00% o 0/.(1%

Cervu..5 eíapbus 6 1,78". , 4.00% , 1,37% , 1,74% 2 0.5~% 0.00% o 0.00% Cf Cervus ta 5.33% u 0.01)% u 0,00% 6 1,10% 0,00% "o O,IJiJ% o 0.00"/. Dama dama 3,55% , 2,(1)";'. 2 2,74% s 1,74% 26" 6,81% o 0.00% o 0,00"/0 Cf. Dama ", O.S9% , 2,00% o 0.00% 2 0,43% , I,JI% o 0.1)0% O 0,00% C"",¡r/ae indet. 4 2,6li% 3 6,1)()% , 5.4S% ta 3,91% 4.19% O 0.1)()% ü \1.00%

ü 0,00% 0,00% 0.00% O '", 0,26% 0.00% O.OIJ% Capreo/us sp. " o 0.00% O u Equus chosarícus 6 1,78% o O,OIJ% , 1,37% 6 1,30% 8 2,09% o 0,00% , 100,1Xi"1o

cr; Equus , 0,30"1. O 0,00% O 0,00"/0 o 0,00',. o 0.00% o 0,00% O 0,00"10 , 0.311% ü 0,00% 0,00"10 0,00% II.()()% 0,00'% 0,000/. Dícerorhinus hemitoechus " o o o u E/ephas anliquus 105 ) 1.07'. " 28,00% 23 31,51% m 38.04% uz 29)2~. 2 33,33% o 0.1)()% ce Elephos 2 O,R9% o 0.00% o O.OO·; o 0.00% 4 1.05% o 0,00% o 0.000(,

Panthera sp O 0.00% O 11,00% o 0,00% ,,0,22% 0.26% o II,OO~' o O,OO~'. Canis lupus O 0,00% O 0.00 .... o 0,00"/0 o 0.1)1)% , 0,19% o 0.00% 0,00"'.

ü " CanJívora indet. o 0,00% 0,00% O 1).00% , 0,22% 2 0.52% o 0.00"10 O 0,00%

~7,5l% , "'0 '" 46.45% 50,00% m 49,35% ,," 49.74% 50,00% o 0.00% IOO,{O[l% " 100.00% " 100.00% 100,00% 100.00% 100,00"/. , TOTAL 338 su " "" 382 6 100,00"/.

The dispersión of the bones of the "concentration alpha" is In AS1/2, 14 out of50 records are ofelephant, that is 28%. similar lo those of Shabi Shabi and specially te those of Nehimba described by Haynes (1991). In AS2, 23 out of 73 records are ofelephant, that is ] 1,5%.

Mas! non identified remains or those anatomically identified In AS3, 175 out of460 records are ofelephant, that is 38,04%. but cannot be attributed lo an specíñc texon, have been classified in size groups (Villa et al. in this volume). In AS4, I J2 out of382 records are ofeIephant, that is 29,32%, Nevertheless, paleontologically are considered as It is worthwhile to mention that this is the soLe level where unidentified. From a total of L320 specimens (NTSP), the Capreolus sp. is represented by an unique remain. It is identificaticn percentage varies between 42,47% in AS2 and remarkable that this is elso the level that shows the highest 53,55~/~ in AS\. That gives an ideaoftbe fragrnentation grade faunal diversity, where almost all the taxa, excepr the cfthe bones The last figure is very similar ro the obtained by rhinoceros, are present. This fact, added to the relative Cruz-Uribe and Kje¡n (1986) and Howell et al. 1995 in the abundance ofsorne species characteristic oftemp1ate climate Lower Complexo conditions, as for instance Dama cf dama and Capreolus sp, seems to indicare a relarively better climate. The best preserved faunal remains were found in the Ievels AS3 and AS4 associated with the more clayey facies. !n ASS only 6 rests were found and two ofthem are elephant Meanwhile in the more detritic facies the remains are very remains. fragmented and eroded (Villa et al, in this volume]. In AS6 is only a horse remain. The number of the total remains and the percentage by taxa of each tevel are given in Table 1, Elephant is, as TabIe 1 shows, the most abundanl species in each "lower comp1ex" level from ASI to ASS NISP is near Regarding the TabIe 1, we can make the following or aboye 30% of the NTSP in each level. considerations: The following species rnost abundant by NISP are: Dama cf ASI and AS2 are very detritic Ievels, thus the remaius are dama and Cervus elaphus. both occur in each Lower Complex more fragmentary than in others. levels from ASI lo AS4, Dama cf. dama is the best represented cervid species al the site. The percentege of Dama In ASI, lQS out of a total of 338 remains are of elephant, cf dama remains reaches 6,81% in AS4. Bos pnmigenius which represent:> 31,07%•. The following bes! represented andEquus chosaricus are !he following species in abundll.nce. species isDama cf. damawith 12 remains, that is: 3, 55%, In Ihis level was found the unique identifiabIe remain of Camivores are sparse: Panthera sp, is represented by one rhinoceros: a mandible ofDicerorhirllls hemitoechus. remain in AS3 and other one in AS4 which could beIong to

160 E. Seto, C. Sesé, A. Pérez-González, M _Santonja, R Mora. P. Villa Marnmal fauna wilh EIBphas... the same individual; Canis lupus with three remains in AS4 Perez-González, A., Santonja, M, Mora, R., Sesé, c., Soto, E.. and small camivores non identified in AS3 and AS4. Alexaindre, T., Villa, P. y Gallardo, 1. 1997. Ambrona y Torralba. Actividad humana y procesos naturales. Cuaternario Ibérico: 235­ 247. Pérez González el ol.; O Arqueologo Portugues )995-97. Bibliography Prat, F. (1977). L'cquidé du gisement acheuléen de Torralba (Sona, Espagne). Bulletin de la AFEQ, 50: 33-46. Aguirre, E. YFuentes, C. (1969). Los vertebrados fósiles de Torralba Sánchez, A. (1988). Aves de los yacimientos mesopleistocenos de y Ambrona. Etudes sur le Quatemaire dans le Monde, VIII Torralba y Ambrona (Soria, España}. [V Jornadas de Congres INQUA: 433-437 Placontologta. Salamanca: 349·357 Cruz Ijribe, K. and Klein. R. G. 1986. Pascal programs for Sanchiz, B. (1991). Algunas herpetofaunas de yacimientos del computing taxonomic abundance in samples of rnammals. Pleistoceno Medio Ibérico. Revista Española de Herpetología, 5: Journal of Archaeological Science. [3, 171-187 9·13 Howell, F. c., Butzer, K. w., Freeman, L. G. & KIein, R. G. 1995. Sesé, C. (1986). Insecttvcros. roedores y lagonnofos (Mammalia) Observaeons on the Acheulean occupetion site ofAmbrona (Seria del sitio de ocupación achelense de Ambrona {Seria, España). Province, Spain). Jahrbuch des Rümisch Germaniscben Estudios geológicos, 42: 355-359. Zentralmuseum Mainz, 38: 33·82. Sesé, C. y Sevilla, P. (1996). Los micromamtferos del Cuaternario peninsular español: cronoestratigrafra e implicaciones bicstratigráficas. Revista Española de Paleontología, n" Extraordinario: 278-287.

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