Early pleistocene ruminants (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the Dacian Basin (South Romania) before and after the Pachycrocuta event: implications for hominin dispersals in Western Eurasia

ABSTRACT

The palaeontological material from the Dacian Basin provides a complete and well-represented record of faunal succession during the important faunal turnover called the Pachycrocuta event. The present study describes fossil remains of ruminants (Cervidae, Bovidae, Giraffidae) from the Early Pleistocene of Valea Grăunceanului, Fântâna lui Mitilan and other smaller sites from the Olteț River Valley. The article discuss the taxonomic context, eco-morphology and functional morphology of the described taxa and dynamics of biogeographic distribution. The commutity of ruminant species from the Dacian Basin before the Pachycrocuta event is dominated by Pliocene holdovers: Pliotragus ardeus, Gazellospira torticornis, Rucervus radulescui, Metacervocerus rhenanus and Mitilanotherium inexspectatum. This assemblage also contains new forms for Western Eurasia as Dama eurygonos, Eucladoceros dicranios, Eucladoceros ctenoides, Alces sp. and Bison (Eobison) sp. This specific regional fauna of ruminants became extinct during the Pachycrocuta faunal turnover and was replaced by a more cold-adapted assemblage of ruminants (Megalovis latifrons, Eucladoceros sp., Dama sp., Praemegaceros obscurus and its specialised diminished form Praemegaceros cf. mosbachensis) that show a greater affinity with coeval Levant faunas. The revealed dynamics of paleobiogeographic zones from the Early Pleistocene of southeastern Europe supports the hypothesis of early hominin dispersals in Western Eurasia via Balkan-Anatolia path.

KEYWORDS:

• Quaternary
• palaeobiogeography
• systematics
• deer
• bovids
• giraffids
• eastern Europe

Acknowledgments

Many people helped with data collection and fieldwork and provided valuable advice: Eric Delson, Kieran McNulty, Silviu Constantin, Timothy Gaudin, Martha Tappen, Jenifer Hubbard, Ashly Romero, Caitlin Yoakum, Eric Mazelis, Samantha Gogol, Emil Știucă, Ionuț Mirea, Razvan Arghir, Cristina Stan and Laura Văcărescu. We also thank the people of the Olteț Valley and Tetoiu for their assistance during fieldwork and for initially locating many of these important fossils.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2023.2167602

Additional information

Funding

This research was generously supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (BCS-1636686), The Leakey Foundation, ‘Emil Racoviță’ Institute of Speleology (ERIS), the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through CNCS - UEFISCDI, grant PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0016, and the EEA-Norway Grant #0126 (KARSTHIVES 2), Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2282, within PNCDI III (to V.D.), the Josiah Charles Trent Foundation and Duke University, the University of Arkansas, Ohio University and the University of California Santa Barbara. A part of research of R. Croitor was supported by the Gepkoski Grant (the Paleontological Society, USA; NSFNSF [BCS-1636686]; Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation through CNCS-UEFISCDI [PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-2282,PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0016]; The Josiah Charles Trent Foundation and Duke University; Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology.