Distinguishing between Bos and Bison petrous bones. A case study: bovines from the Des-Cubierta Cave (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid)

The taxonomic identification of large bovine remains in archaeological and palaeontological sites is important in order to infer the palaeoenvironment of these sites and to know if their inhabitants were hunters of Bos or Bison. Their presence may also have biostratigraphic or archaeozoological impl...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Galindo Pellicena, María Ángeles, Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis, Laplana Conesa, César, Gaspar Simón, Ignacio de, Álvarez-Lao, Diego J., Pérez González, Alfredo José, Baquedano, Enrique
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/12449
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/12449
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:569.735
Taxonomy
bovines
Pleistocene
petrous bone
Pinilla del Valle
Taxonomía
bovinos
Pleistoceno
petrosos
Paleontología
2416 Paleontología
Descripción
Sumario:The taxonomic identification of large bovine remains in archaeological and palaeontological sites is important in order to infer the palaeoenvironment of these sites and to know if their inhabitants were hunters of Bos or Bison. Their presence may also have biostratigraphic or archaeozoological implications. Although the petrous bone is one of the elements of the skeleton with the greatest preservation potential in prehistoric sites, due to its hardness and compactness, it is not frequently used by the palaeontologists to distinguish between Bos and Bison, the two genera commonly present at the sites during the Pleistocene. Due to the abundance of petrous bones at the Late Pleistocene layers of the DesCubierta cave, the aim of this work is to identify Bos and Bison in this site through the morphological features defined by Guadelli (1999) for this bone and using morphometric geometrics with material of Bos taurus, Bos primigenius, and Bison priscus in order to identify the diff erences among petrous bones of these species.