2009 SEQS CONFERENCE, ORCE AND LUCENA, SPAIN

THE EARLY-MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE FAUNAL TURNOVER AND THE

ARRIVAL OF THE ACHEULIAN CULTURE INTO EUROPE.

Bienvenido MARTÍNEZ NAVARRO, ICREA, Grup d ‘ Autoecologia Humana, Un. Ass.

CSIC, A rea de Prehistòri a, U niversitat Rovi ra i Vi rgi l i . Plaça Imperial Tarraco 1,
43005-Tarragona, Spain. E - mail: bienvenido@icrea.es

Joan MADURELL, À rea de Recerca del Neogen i Quaternari , Institut Catal à de

Paleontologia (ICP). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Mòdul ICP (Espina
B3 bis parell). E-08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès. Email: joan.madurell@icp.cat

Sergio ROS- MONTOYA, Museo de Prehistoria y Paleontología de Orce, Palacio de los

Segura, 18858-Orce (Granada). Email: sergiorosm@gmai l .com

Mª Patrocinio ESPIGARES, Museo de Prehistoria y Paleontología de Orce, Palacio de

los Segura, 18858-Orce (Granada). Email: mpespigares@gmail.com

The latest Early Pleistocene-earliest Middle Pleistocene faunal turnover is characterized

by the exti nction of most of the late V i l l afranchi an faunas, i.e. most of the carnivore
guild (i ncl udi ng the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris, the fel ids Megantereon
whitei, Acinonyx pardinensis, Puma pardoides and Panthera gombaszoegensis, or the
large canid Lycaon lycaonoides) and many ungulates (i.e. the megaherbivore
Mammuthus meridionalis, the horses Equus altidens and E. Sussenbornensis, and
others). These species were substituted by a new guild of carnivores, some of the them
of African origin, such the spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta (García, 2003; Sardella,
2004), recorded at 0.8 Ma at Atapuerca (Spai n) –this species was found at ‗Ubeidiya,
but this is the only site older than 1.0 Ma outside Africa, where this hyenid species was
found (Ballesio 1986; Martínez-Navarro et al. 2009)-, and later the lion Panthera leo
(Sala, 1990) at Isernia La Pineta (Italy) at 0.6 Ma, and the leopard, P. pardus for which
the oldest record is probably at Valdemino Cave, Italy, around 0.6 Ma (Nocchi and
Sala, 1997). Also two large ungulates colonized Europe around 0.6-0.7 Ma, the elephant
Palaeoloxodon antiquus (Lister, 2004) a descendant of the African Elephas recki and,
of course, Bos primigenius, a descendant of the African buffalo Pelorovis. But most of
the new taxa that colonized Europe were from Asian origin, i. e. Mammuthus
trogontherii, Cervus elaphus, or Equus ferus, among others, but also i ncl udi ng the
Indian origin Bovini Hemibos galerianus (Martínez-Navarro and Palombo, 2004)
recorded at Ponte Galeria and Ponte Milvio, Central Italy, around 0.7-0.8 Ma.
Martínez-Navarro (in press) has named this faunal turnover as ― the Crocuta crocuta
event‖.
Martínez-Navarro et al . (2007; 2009i n press) establ ished a paral lel ism between the
dispersal of the Acheul ian culture i nto Eurasia and the dispersal of Bos, because they
are found together in ‗ Ubeidiya at ~ 1.2-1-5 Ma (Martínez-Navarro et al ., 2009), where
the lithic assemblage corresponds to an early and pri mitive Acheul ian, and at GBY at
0.7-0.8 Ma, with a developed Acheul ian assembl age, and fi nal ly i n Europe at 0.5-0.6
Ma.

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REFERENCES

Ballesio, R., 1986. Les carnivores du Pléistocqne d ‘ Oubeidiyeh (Israël). In: Les
Mammifères du Pléistocène Inférieur de la Vallée du Jordain a Oubeidiyeh, Mém. et
Trav. du Centre de Recherche Français de Jerusalem, 5, pp. 63-91.

García, N., 2003. Osos y otros carnívoros de la Sierra de Atapuerca. Fundación Oso de
Asturias, 560 p.
Martínez-Navarro, B., in press. Early Pleistocene faunas of Eurasia and hominid
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Martínez-Navarro, B., Belmaker, M., Bar-Yosef. O., 2009. The large carnivores from
‗
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Martínez-Navarro, B., Pérez-Claros, J. A., Palombo, M. R., Rook, L., Palmqvist, P.,
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Sala, B., 1990. Panthera leo fossi l is (v. Reich., 1906) (Fel idae) de I serni a la Pi neta
(Pléistocqne moyen inférieur d ‘ Italie). Geobios 2, 189-194.

Sardel l a, R., 2004. Late V i llafranchi an and Galeri an carnivores (Mammalia) from the
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