Palaeontologia Electronica http://palaeo-electronica.org Equids from Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave (Crimea, Ukraine): co-occurrence of the stenonid Equus hydruntinus and the caballoid E. ferus latipes based on skull and postcranial remains Eline N. van Asperen, Krzysztof Stefaniak, Iurii Proskurnyak, and Bogdan Ridush ABSTRACT The Late Pleistocene faunal assemblages excavated from the cave Emine-Bair- Khosar in the Chatyrdag Massif in the Crimean Mountains, Ukraine, contain about 250 equid remains. Detailed morphological analyses reveal the occurrence of the small, stenonid species Equus hydruntinus alongside a large, caballoid species identified as Equus ferus latipes. The presence in the assemblage of two extremely well-preserved skulls of Equus hydruntinus is highly significant and contributes much to our knowl- edge of this enigmatic Pleistocene species. These skulls, as well as a skull of Equus ferus latipes, are here described and compared to skulls of closely related species. The E. hydruntinus skulls stand out amongst related equids by their short muzzles, an adaptation to cold climatic conditions. Complete postcranial bones are also frequent in the sample for both species, with relatively robust longbones for Equus hydruntinus similar to those of other Late Pleistocene E. hydruntinus samples. The presence of a long-limbed form of Equus ferus latipes indicates that the environmental conditions under which the assemblage accumulated were relatively cool but favourable for equids. The relative abundances of the two species in the assemblage are in accor- dance with land use patterns documented for extant relatives. Eline N. van Asperen. Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool and Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School, University of York, United Kingdom [email protected] Krzysztof Stefaniak. Department of Palaeozoology, Zoological Institute, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland [email protected] Iurii Proskurnyak. Department of Paleozoology and Paleontological Museum, National Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine [email protected] Bogdan Ridush. Department of Physical Geography and Natural Management, Chernivtsi “Fedkovych” National University, Chernivtsi, Ukraine [email protected] KEYWORDS: Equidae; skeletal morphology; Late Pleistocene; Crimea PE Article Number: 15.1.5A Copyright: Palaeontological Association February 2012 Submission: 31 March 2011. Acceptance: 22 November 2011 van Asperen, Eline N., Stefaniak, Krzysztof, Proskurnyak, Iurii, and Ridush, Bogdan. 2012. Equids from Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave (Crimea, Ukraine): co-occurrence of the stenonid Equus hydruntinus and the caballoid E. ferus latipes based on skull and postcranial remains. Palaeontologia Electronica Vol. 15, Issue 1; 5A,28p; palaeo-electronica.org/content/2012-issue-1-articles/124-equids-from-emine-bair-khosar VAN ASPEREN ET AL.: EQUIDS FROM EMINE-BAIR-KHOSAR FIGURE 1. Cross-section through the Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave (Vremir and Ridush, 2005). INTRODUCTION nine locations in the cave in several stratigraphic units (Figure 1), with more than 5000 specimens of The cave site Emine-Bair-Khosar (EBK, at least 35 species of mammals, birds, and reptiles 44°48'04.60''N/34°17'22.00''E) is located on the being recovered from the richest accumulations at northern edge of the Lower Plateau of the locations Bb and Bc (Stankovic et al., 2011). At Chatyrdag Massif in the Crimean Mountains, location Bb, a bone breccia of at least 2 m thick Ukraine. A vertical shaft with a diameter of several was discovered in the accumulation of limestone meters forms the main entrance to the cave, which blocks that forms the base of the talus cone under with a total length of 1460 m and a depth of 125 m the entrance shaft, at a depth of 7-8 m below the is one of the largest caves in this karstic area (Vre- talus surface. The breccia shows no clear internal mir and Ridush, 2005). The vertical shaft through stratigraphy, and the bones recovered from this which the animals entered or fell into the cave was deposit are thought to represent a single deposi- probably open during most of the Pleistocene. The tional phase. Due to its faunal composition, which faunal assemblages recovered from the cave includes several thermophilic species such as Sus therefore potentially accumulated over a significant scrofa, the deposit is dated to an early part of the period of time during the Middle to Late Valdai Last Glacial, although an earlier date in a temper- (Vremir and Ridush, 2005). In the 1960s, 180 ate stage cannot be excluded. bones belonging to 24 individuals of Ursus spe- The Skull Chamber (location Bc) preserved laeus were collected in the lateral gallery (Northern several partial and whole skeletons, which accu- Gallery), as well as remains of Canis lupus, Vulpes mulated in partial association during a number of corsac, Felis spelaea, Lynx lynx, Equus caballus, distinct episodes. The bones were recovered from Cervus elaphus, and Lepus sp. Another entrance a depth of 37 to 41 m below the shaft entrance. probably existed in this part of the cave in the Late Absolute dating of material from this location is cur- Pleistocene. Although the exact stratigraphical ori- rently in progress (S. Constantin, personal com- gin of these finds is unknown, the assemblage is mun., 2011). believed to represent a carnivore den (Dublyansky In 2005-2010 studies focused on the Ba loca- and Lomaev, 1980). tion, where faunal remains are embedded in lime- Further excavations taking place between stone debris, which was produced by weathering 1999 and 2005 revealed faunal assemblages at 2 PALAEO-ELECTRONICA.ORG TABLE 1. Radiocarbon dates (uncalibrated) for bones from various layers at the Ba site in Emine Bair Khosar Cave (Stankovic et al., 2011; A. Nadachowski, K. Stefaniak, and B. Ridush, personal commun. 2011). Depth Layer Laboratory no. Material Radiocarbon date (m) E Poz-28732 Bone (Cervus elaphus) 1.65 12,050 ± 60 BP G Poz-35028 (sample J24) Bone (Cervus elaphus) 2.40 33,100 ± 400 BP H Poz-35027 (sample JM1) Tooth (Cervus elaphus) 3.20 42,000 ± 1,200 BP Deepest part of profile Poz-28893 Bone (Saiga tatarica) 4.60 48,500 ± 2,000 BP Deepest part of profile Poz-35026 (sample J46) Bone (Cervus elaphus) 4.60 >47,000 BP Deepest part of profile Poz-28731 Bone (Cervus elaphus) 4.70 >46,000 BP within the entrance part of the cave, and in loess characteristics of their extant relatives. Further- and soil sediments transported into the cave more, the occurrence of several virtually complete through the vertical shaft. The deposits, excavated equid skulls provides a rare opportunity to study to a depth of 6 m, occur at a depth of 28 to 34 m Pleistocene equid cranial morphology, while the below the shaft entrance. The lowermost layers are abundance of postcranial remains extends our thought to overlap with the upper part of the Bc knowledge of equid ecomorphology and biogeog- sediments. A fauna of over 30 species of mam- raphy. mals, birds, and reptiles, as well as a mollusc assemblage, was recovered from the Ba sequence MATERIALS AND METHODS (Vremir and Ridush, 2005; Stankovic et al., 2011). Material The upper 2.6 m of sediment is subdivided into seven units (layers A-G; Bondar and Ridush, 2009; The material presented here comprises all the Stankovic et al., 2011). Magnetostratigraphic dat- horse material recovered from the cave to date ing is currently being applied to the subhorizontal (n=249). All material is stored in the local museum layering at the Ba location, which preserves secu- of the Center of Speleotourism “Onix-Tur,” located lar variation in the earth’s magnetic field (Bondar on the Chatyrdag plateau near the Emine-Bair- and Ridush, 2009; Stankovic et al., 2011). Sedi- Khosar Cave. The great majority of the specimens ments at the Ba location are correlated with the comes from locations Ba (n=52), Bb (n=60) and Bc Vitachiv warm stage, which is dated to OIS 3, (n=137). At location Ba, the specimens are con- between 55 and 27 kyr BP (Rousseau et al., 2001; centrated in unit H, with a few specimens from the Gerasimenko, 2007). The climate was cool to cold adjacent unit I. Nearly all equid specimens from and dry, with a variety of steppic environments in this location were recovered from depths between the vicinity of the cave (Vremir and Ridush, 2005; 4.7 and 5 m, thus forming a relatively distinct hori- Gerasimenko, 2007). Radiocarbon dates are sum- zon. Another concentration of equid remains marised in Table 1. occurs at a depth of 3.9 m. Both these horizons fall Here we present the remarkable equid within Unit H, which was dated to 42,000 ± 1,200 assemblage from the 1999-2009 field seasons, BP (uncalibrated radiocarbon date, Table 1). Most which includes three well-preserved skulls and skeletal elements are represented in the assem- several fragmentary crania, as well as dental and blage, and many fossils show excellent preserva- postcranial elements. Visual inspection of the EBK tion. Fragmentation is relatively limited, and equid remains clearly indicates that the sample although a number of elements bear traces of car- includes material of different sizes and morphol- nivore activity and rodent gnawing, a considerable ogy. The distribution of several equid species over- part of the sample was not disturbed by biological lapped spatially and/or temporally in this region or geological processes. during