RT Conference Proceedings
T1 A comparison of the taphonomic attributes of quarries VM3 and VM4 of the Early Pleistocene site of Venta Micena (Baza Basin, SE Spain)
A1 Palmqvist-Barrena, Carlos Paul
A1 Espigares-Ortiz, María Patrocinio
A1 Pérez-Claros, Juan Antonio
A1 Figueirido-Castillo, Francisco Borja
A1 Guerra-Merchán, Antonio
A1 Ros-Montoya, Sergio
A1 García-Aguilar, José Manuel
A1 Granados, Alejandro
A1 Rodríguez-Gómez, Guillermo
A1 Martínez-Navarro, Bienvenido
K1 Paleontología
K1 Tafonomía
K1 Fosilización
K1 Orce (Granada)
K1 Pleistoceno
AB The site of Venta Micena (Guadix-Baza Depression, SE Spain), a rich Fossil-Lagerstätten of late Early Pleistocene age (1.6-1.5 Ma), preserves a diverse assemblage of large mammals. Up to date, >24,000 skeletal remains have been unearthed from the surface excavated (~400 m2) in the two main quarries of the site, VM3 and VM4, which represents a density of fossils of >60/m2. Although this density is not homogeneously recorded across the 80-120 cm thick VM stratum, which outcrops over ~2.5 km, it suggests that tens of millions of fossils were preserved in the micritic limestones of this lithological unit. VM3 has been interpreted as a den of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris in the plain that surrounded the Baza paleolake. Taphonomic analyses showed that the hyenas: (i) scavenged the prey hunted by the hypercarnivores, sabertoothed felids and wild dogs; (ii) transported the remains to their communal den as whole carcasses or selected anatomical parts; and (iii) fractured the skeletal parts according to their marrow contents and mineral density, which resulted in well-defined consumption sequences. In the case of VM4, an excavation quarry ~350 m distant from VM3, preliminary taphonomic analyses of the assemblage showed several differences, including: (i) a higher frequency of elements in anatomical connection than in VM3; (ii) a lower proportion of bones tooth-marked by carnivores (5.5%) compared with their frequency in VM3 (29.4%); (iii) a lower proportion of remains with salivary and gastric alterations (0.06% in both cases) than in VM3 (0.34% and 0.15%, respectively); and (iv) a less advanced degree of weathering (90.8% of bones show weathering stage 0 in VM4 compared to 75.9% in VM3).
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/24360
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/24360
LA eng
NO ICAZ Taphonomy Working Group, CSIC, MNCNUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 12 abr 2026