Last Interglacial (MIS 5) ungulate assemblage from the Central Iberian Peninsula: the Camino Cave (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

The fossil assemblage from the Camino Cave, corresponding to the late MIS 5, constitutes a key record to understand the faunal composition of Central Iberia during the last Interglacial. Moreover, the largest Iberian fallow deer fossil population was recovered here. Other ungulate species present at this assemblage include red deer, roe deer, aurochs, chamois, wild boar, horse and steppe rhinoceros; carnivores and Neanderthals are also present. The origin of the accumulation has been interpreted as a hyena den. Abundant fallow deer skeletal elements allowed to statistically compare the Camino Cave fossils with other Pleistocene and Holocene European populations. The morphological comparison of the dentition and morphometrical analyses of the metapodials suggest that the fallow deer from the Camino Cave are closer to the subspecies Dama dama geiselana and Dama dama tiberina than to the recent Dama dama dama. Estimations of the age at death in several fallow deer young individuals provided information on seasonality, suggesting that the cave was occupied by the hyenas almost all year round. The ungulate composition provides a clear example of an interglacial faunal complex which agrees with the published pollen, charcoal and small vertebrate data that indicate a continental Mediterranean climate. This interglacial character was also registered at other Iberian MIS 5 sequences coming from the Mediterranean margin.