Avian remains from the Upper Pleistocene (MIS3) site of Aguilón P-7, south of the Ebro River, Spain

Abstract

Aves are represented by abundant fossil remains in Quaternary sites. Birds are well adapted to the environment they inhabit, so they make very good paleoenvironmental indicators for Quaternary sites. Here we analyse the avian remains from the Late Pleistocene (probably MIS3) site of Aguilón P-7 (AGP-7). The Pleistocene sediments fill up a shallow cave, which is located in the Zaragozan part of the Iberian Range, 55 km south of the city of Zaragoza. We have for the first time provided a taxonomic and taphonomic study of the avian assemblage of AGP-7, as well as a preliminary paleoenvironmental analysis based on these data. Nine avian taxa have been identified: Galliformes indet., Lagopus sp., Aquila chrysaetos, Gyps fulvus, Passeridae indet., Anthus sp., Prunella modularis,Sturnus cf. unicolor and Corvus monedula. The taphonomic analysis did not provide conclusive information. However, it suggests an accumulation of uneaten food remains by diurnal birds of prey. The identified taxa currently inhabit the Iberian Peninsula, populating woodland environments with rocky areas. They are found in areas with an oceanic climate, in contrast to the Mediterranean climate that now prevails in Aguilón.

Keywords::

• birds
• Spain
• paleoenvironmental reconstruction
• taphonomy

Acknowledgements

Arturo Hernandez discovered AGP-7, and the CEA undertook the topography of the cave. We would like to thank the excavation and sieving-screening team (Juan Rofes, Raquel Rabal-Garcés, Diana Ramón and Jorge Ruiz). We would also like to thank the staff of the CIAMA for their help during the taxonomic analysis. Thanks to Rupert Glasgow for revising the English grammar.

Thanks to the three anonymous reviewers; their corrections, suggestions and comments really improved this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is a contribution to the project ‘Grupos Consolidados H54’ of the Gobierno de Aragón and the European Social Fund. This work has also been partially supported by MICINN project [grant number CGL2009-12703-C03-03], [grant number CGL2012-38434-C03-01] and the Fundación Ancestros. J. Galán and C. Núñez-Lahuerta are recipients of a Ph.D. fellowship from the Gobierno de Aragón.