Villafranchian large mammals from the Iberian Peninsula: paleobiogeography, paleoecology and dispersal events

Abstract

The Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula is currently a focus of intense paleontological, archaeological and geological research. To a large extent, these inquiries are intended to decipher the ecological factors that might have conditioned early Homo dispersals into the European continent during the late Early Pleistocene. In this respect, the research carried out during the last twenty years in several areas of the Iberian Peninsula (the Guadix-Baza Basin, the Sierra de Atapuerca, the Vallparadís Section and the Banyoles-Besalú Basin) have yielded a large amount of new significant data. Here we review such data and provide for the first time a comprehensive synthesis from a faunal, geological and paleoecological perspectives, by focusing on the relationship between paleoenvironmental conditions and early human dispersals during the late Early Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the Iberian fossil record of Early to Late Villafranchian large mammals is synthesized, on the basis of recent publications and unpublished data collected by the authors during the last five years, in order to provide the adequate faunal and paleocological framework for understanding the factors that limited or conditioned human dispersal events.Keywords: Mammals, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Villafranchian, Iberian Peninsula Resumen El Pleistoceno de la Península Ibérica es actualmente foco de intensa investigación paleontológica, arqueológica y geológica. En gran medida, estos trabajos están encaminados a descifrar los factores ecológicos que podrían haber condicionado las dispersiones de los Homo iniciales hacia Europa durante el Pleistoceno inferior. En este sentido, la investigación realizada durante los últimos veinte años en diversas zonas de la Península Ibérica (la Cuenca de Guadix-Baza, la Sierra de Atapuerca, la Sección de Vallparadís y la Cuenca de BanyolesBesalú) ha proporcionado una gran cantidad de nuevos datos significativos. Aquí revisamos estos datos y se proporciona por primera vez una síntesis exhaustiva desde una perspectiva paleontológica, paleoecológica y geológica, centrándonos en las relaciones entre las condiciones paleoambientales y las dispersiones de los primeros humanos en el Pleistoceno inferior de la Península Ibérica. Concretamente, se sintetiza el registro fósil ibérico de grandes mamíferos villafranquienses en base a publicaciones recientes y datos inéditos recopilados por los autores en los últimos cinco años, para así proporcionar el marco faunístico y paleoecológico adecuado para comprender los factores que limitaron o condicionaron los eventos de dispersión humana.

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