Estudio paleobiológico y tafonómico de los restos fósiles de la Cueva de Mainea (Uitzi, Navarra)

Abstract

The collection of the Mainea cave has yielded numerous remains of two cold-adapted macro-mammals: Coelodonta antiquitatis and Mammuthus primigenius. The deposit is in a cave located in the Larráun valley close to the town of Uitzi (Nafarroa), on the Mediterranean slope near the watershed between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It constitutes the site with mammoth remains closest to the western end of the Pyrenees. The accumulation of remains comes from a chasm that acted as a natural trap and subsequently collapsed, burying the accumulation. This agrees with the taphonomic analysis in which the human beings and carnivores are excluded as main contribution agents. The Mainea site, apart from providing new bone remains with which to better understand the paleobiology of cold faunas offers the opportunity to delve into the ecological changes that occurred during the Upper Pleistocene.