A new Late Pleistocene fauna from arid coastal India: Implications for inundated coastal refugia and human dispersals

Abstract

a b s t r a c tA diverse Late Pleistocene fossil assemblage was recovered from a sea cliff locality near Gopnath in Gujarat, northwestern India. These remains are the first large sample of Pleistocene faunal materials from arid northwestern India. Several taxa known primarily from coarse alluvial deposits of central India are documented for the first time from an undisturbed open-air site adjoining the Great Indian Desert. The sample includes a new species of antelope from a lineage considered extinct outside of Africa since the Early Pleistocene. The paleoenvironmental context, faunal composition and type of fossil preservation reported here is unique. The Gopnath fauna accumulated in a pond within a carbonate dune field that formed part of a larger coastal oasis ecosystem. This paleoscape occupied the Cambay Gulf during hyperarid glacial low stands. The Gopnath fossils are correlated to Late Acheulean lithics from a coastal cliff locality (<8 km) at Madhuban. These finds provide the first vertebrate evidence of glacial low stands and their influence on Late Pleistocene paleobiogeography within the dynamic dry coastal corridor linking India to Africa. They offer a rare glimpse of a lost landscape and an obscure fossil community that are critical to understanding the paleobiogeography of the hinterland along the Arabian seashore and informing models of early human dispersals.

Sedimentological analysis of a Late Quaternary coastal dune system: An example from Gopnath, south‐east Saurashtra, Western India

“…The PLSL2 horizon (red palaeosol horizon) overlies this and in Madhuban area it bears a Late Acheulean lithic assemblage (Marathe et al ., ). Another carbonate Unit 3 is superimposed on the latter and above this lies PLSL3 which has furnished the first evidence of diverse Late Pleistocene vertebrate fauna in Gujarat (Costa, ). The sequence is capped by a distinct thick aeolianite, Unit 4, with Holocene soil at the surface (Fig.…”

“…Khadkikar () attributed the formation of terra rossa like soils to periods of increased rainfall leading to weathering, while prolonged periods of reduced rainfall but strong winds favoured the formation of parabolic dunes which deposited the aeolianites. Costa (), however, attributed the association of carbonate aeolianites and terra rossa to dune and interdune wetlands rather than a cyclical glacial–interglacial sequence. Khadkikar () attributed the lamination types in Gopnath as grainfall deposits with an absence of grain avalanching either on account of high atmospheric humidity in coastal regions, or possibly due to the action of salt sprays and partial cementation.…”

“…While the upper contact underlies Facies 2a, the lower contact is marked by underlying Facies 1b. This unit has yielded vertebrate remains (Costa, ) of terrestrial tortoises ( Geochelone sp. ), soft‐shelled aquatic turtles ( Nilssonia sp.…”

“…and Sivacobus sankaliai ). In addition, numerous shells of the snail Zootecus insularis are also found in this unit (Costa, ). Zootecus insularis is an arid land, terrestrial snail species that prefers moist locations near lakes or rivers (Costa, ).…”

“…Inset map shows the geographical position of the study area in western India. (B) Composite succession of coastal carbonate aeolianites and palaeosol horizons (PLSL1 to PLSL3) in Gopnath and adjoining areas (modified after Costa, ). The uppermost aeolianite unit in Gopnath bears an OSL age of 156 ± 14 ka (after Sharma et al ., ).…”