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Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza Basin, Spain) is an Early Pleistocene locality renowned for the richness and quality of its palaeontological record. VM is spread over an area of 2.5 km2, where several exposed fossil outcrops are visible amidst its gorges and ravines. The best known of these sites, VM3, has been interpreted as a hyaena den. In addition, a new site, named VM4, has recently been the focus of fieldwork and taphonomic studies. The publication by Luz on et al. (2021) pointed out that VM4 presents a more complex history than VM3. First, two different sub-levels were identified: VM4-I and VM4-II. Secondly, the preliminary taphonomic analysis showed conspicuous differences with regard to VM3. Nevertheless, such interpretation has been challenged by Palmqvist et al. (2022) who proposed that VM3 and VM4 are both the result of a single depositional process, entailing the selective transport of skeletal parts by the giant extinct hyaena Pachycrocuta brevirostris back to its den. Using well-preserved faunal elements whose depositional context and provenance are reliable, in this paper we show that: 1) there are two clearly defined sub-levels in VM4 with some shared taphonomic characteristics as well as some notable differences; 2) VM3 and VM4 exhibit enough divergence to support differences in site formation processes; 3) The interpretation of both VM4-I and VM4-II is more consistent with their characterisation as open-air sites in which multiple agents and depositional processes contributed to its formation, rather than with hyaena dens. Nevertheless, excavations are still in progress at VM4 and therefore any results and interpretations ought to be considered as provisional., Consejeía de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucia through the General Research Project Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos Plio-pleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza BC.03.032/17, Inside the Artefacts & Ecofacts" Excellence Unit (University of Granada) HUM-607 PID 2021.125098NB.I00 MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, Una manera de hacer Europa ProyExcel_00274 2021 SGR 01238, Agencia de Gestio D'Ajuts Universitaris de Recerca Agaur (AGAUR) Generalitat de Catalunya, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia PRE2020-094482 CEX2019-000945-M-20-1, Spanish Government, Archaeometrical Studies. Inside the Artefacts & Ecofacts" Excellence Unit (University of Granada

Venta Micena is an area containing several palaeontological sites marking the beginning of the Calabrian stage (Early Pleistocene). The richness of the fossil accumulation including species of Asian, African and European origin, makes Venta Micena a key site for the the palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental study of southern Europe during the Early Pleistocene. Thus, research has been focused on Venta Micena 3, which was originally interpreted as a single palaeosurface associated with a marshy context, in which most of the fauna was accumulated by Pachycrocuta brevirostris. Recent excavations have unearthed a new site, Venta Micena 4, located in the same stratigraphic unit (Unit C) and in close proximity to Venta Micena 3. Here we show the frst analyses regarding the taphonomic and spatial nature of this new site, defning two stratigraphic boundaries corresponding to two diferent depositional events. Furthermore, the taphonomic analyses of fossil remains seem to indicate a diferent accumulative agent than Pachycrocuta, thus adding more complexity to the palaeobiological interpretation of the Venta Micena area. These results contribute to the discussion of traditional interpretations made from Venta Micena 3., Regional Government of Andalusia, with both contracts associated to General Research Project BC.03.032/17, Spanish Public Employment Service (Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Economy), Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, with an FPI Predoctoral Grant (Reg. PRE2019-089411) associated to project RTI2018-099850-B-IOO and the University of Salamanca, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received fnancial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “María de Maeztu” program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M), Projects 2017SGR-859 (Gov. of Catalonia, AGAUR), and CGL2016-80000-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness), Research Group HUM-607 (Junta de Andalucía).

Little is known about the subsistence practices of the first European settlers, mainly due to the shortage of archaeological sites in Europe older than a million years. This article contributes to the knowledge of the subsistence of the first Europeans with new zooarchaeology and taphonomic data from the Palaeolithic site of Barranco León (Orce, Granada, Spain). We present the results of the analysis of the faunal assemblages retrieved in the context of new excavations undertaken between 2016 and 2020. We have followed a standard methodology for the identification and quantification of species, mortality profiles, skeletal representation and taphonomic analysis. With regard to the taphonomic evidence, we have documented the extent of rounding, abrasion and other alterations. Finally, we examined traces from the activities of carnivores and hominins that led to the accumulation and alteration of the bone assemblages. Results indicate that the archaeo-paleontological deposits from Barranco León present a dual-patterned mixed taphonomic origin. The first phase primarily involved waterborne processes (BL-D1), which led to the accumulation of lithic raw materials, a few archaeological stone tools, and some faunal remains with percussion and cutmarks. The second phase (BL-D2) contains several stone tools associated with faunal remains with more anthropogenic alterations, such as cutmarks and percussion marks. After analysing the Barranco León zooarchaeological assemblage, the present study concludes that hominins had access to the meat and within-bone nutrients of animals of diverse sizes. However, the specific carcass acquisition mechanisms that hominins followed are less certain because the presence of tooth marks suggests that carnivores also played a role in the accumulation and modification of the Barranco León faunal assemblage., CRUE-CSIC agreement Springer Nature, Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte: Orce Research Project `Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos pliopleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza: zona arqueologica de la Cuenca de Orce (Grana BC.03.032/17, Spanish Government PRE2019-089411 RTI2018-099850-B-I00, University of Salamanca, Arts and Humanities Research Council through a Baillie Gifford AHRC Scholarship (OOC-DTP program) at the University of Oxford AH/R012709/1, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia PRE2020-094482, European Union-NextGenerationEU 2021URV-MS-03, Ministry of Universities and Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, Generalitat de Catalunya 2017SGR-859 2017SGR-1666, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the `Maria de Maeztu' program for Units of Excellence CEX2019-000945-M, Spanish Government CEX2019-000945-M-20-1

Determining the cause and nature of the postmortem processes that living organisms experience is one of the main common issues faced by forensic experts, zooarchaeologists, palaeontologists, and other specialists. Carnivores are among the most destructive agents that can interact with a corpse, since their feeding behaviour can lead to very extensive alterations, complicating the diagnostic identification of which carnivore species was responsible for the death of an individual, a livestock unit, or the formation of a fossil assemblage. Even though some currently available techniques enable forensic experts to undertake a differential diagnosis of carnivore agency from corpse examination, these are very difficult to apply when skeletal parts are all that remains. Nevertheless, a computational taphonomic approach can help identify which carnivore could have generated the tooth marks present on bone surfaces, and thus aid in the reconstruction of their forensic biography., Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deporte: Orce Research Project “Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecológico a partir de los depósitos pliopleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza: zona arqueológica de la Cuenca de Orce (Granada, España), 2017–2020” (BC.03.032/17), Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, with a FPI Predoctoral Grant (PRE2019-089411), Project RTI2018-099850- B-I00, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, under the contract REF: PEJ2019-005420-A, AHRC-Baillie Gifford Doctoral Scholarship (AH/R012709/1)

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was funded by the Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte: Orce Research Project "Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos pliopleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza: zona arqueologica de la Cuenca de Orce (Granada, Espana), 2017-2020 (Ref. BC.03.032/17)". We also received support from the PALARQ Foundation with the convocatory of Analitics 2019: "Identificando Carnivoros a partir de analisis Tafonomicos de ultima generacion aplicando Fotogrametria y Morfometria Geometrica de las Marcas de Diente. Aplicacion a Yacimientos del Pleistoceno Inferior Iberico: FN3, Venta Micena 3 y 4 (Granada), Ponton de la Oliva (Patones, Madrid)". Lloyd Austin Courtenay is also funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities with an FPI Predoctoral Grant (Ref. PRE2019-089411) associated to project RTI2018-099850-B-I00 and the University of Salamanca. The Institut Catala de Paleoecologia Humana I Evolucio Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the "Maria de Maeztu" program for Units of Excellence (CEX2019-000945-M)., Over the last few decades, several types of evidence such as presence of hominin remains, lithic assemblages, and bones with anthropogenic surface modifications have demonstrated that early human communities inhabited the European subcontinent prior to the Jaramillo Subchron (1.07–0.98 Ma). While most studies have focused primarily on early European lithic technologies and raw material management, relatively little is known about food procurement strategies. While there is some evidence showing access to meat and other animal-based food resources, their mode of acquisition and associated butchery processes are still poorly understood. This paper presents a taphonomic and zooarchaeological analysis of the Fuente Nueva-3 (FN3) (Guadix-Baza, Spain) faunal assemblage, providing a more in-depth understanding of early hominin subsistence strategies in Europe. The present results show that hominins had access to the meat and marrow of a wide range of animal taxa, including elephants, hippopotami, and small- and medium-sized animals. At the same time, evidence of carnivore activity at the site suggests that these communities likely faced some degree of competition from large predators when acquiring and processing carcasses., CRUE-CSIC agreement, Springer Nature, Junta de Andalucia BC.03.032/17, PALARQ Foundation, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia PRE2019-089411 RTI2018-099850-B-I00, University of Salamanca, Spanish Government CEX2019-000945-M

Human populations have been known to develop complex relationships with large carnivore species throughout time, with evidence of both competition and collaboration to obtain resources throughout the Pleistocene. From this perspective, many archaeological and palaeontological sites present evidence of carnivore modifications to bone. In response to this, specialists in the study of microscopic bone surface modifications have resorted to the use of 3D modeling and data science techniques for the inspection of these elements, reaching novel limits for the discerning of carnivore agencies. The present research analyzes the tooth mark variability produced by multiple Iberian wolf individuals, with the aim of studying how captivity may affect the nature of tooth marks left on bone. In addition to this, four different populations of both wild and captive Iberian wolves are also compared for a more in-depth comparison of intra-species variability. This research statistically shows that large canid tooth pits are the least affected by captivity, while tooth scores appear more superficial when produced by captive wolves. The superficial nature of captive wolf tooth scores is additionally seen to correlate with other metric features, thus influencing overall mark morphologies. In light of this, the present study opens a new dialogue on the reasons behind this, advising caution when using tooth scores for carnivore identification and contemplating how elements such as stress may be affecting the wolves under study., L.A.C. is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities by an FPI Predoctoral grant PRE2019-089411 associated to project RTI2018-099850-B-I00. R.H. is supported by MICINN-FEDER PGC2018-093925-B-C32, the AGUAR project number SGR 2017-1040; the Universitat Rovira I Virgili (2014, 2015, and 2016 PFD-URV-B2-147) and CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. D.H.-R. is also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under the contract PEJ2019-005420-A as part of the i+D+I Garantía Juvenil program. Finally, this work was also supported by the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca under the Plan TCUE 2018-2020; Project “WOLF_FOOTPRINT” (PC-TCUE18-20_2013)

Recent studies using geometric morphometrics for taphonomy have yielded interesting results, opening new horizons of research in both archaeological and paleontological sites. Here we present the analysis of tooth pits left by male and female individuals of two different carnivore species (Panthera tigris and Panthera pardus) in order to see if sexual dimorphism influences the morphology of tooth pit marks. In the process, 3D-scanning and applied statistics were used. Based on samples derived from two individuals of different sexes, the present results indicate sexual dimorphism in these felid species to not be a conditioning factor of tooth pit morphology.

The domestication of wolves is a topic of great interest. To date, the most accepted hypotheses associate this phenomenon to the end of the Upper Palaeolithic, while many propose an earlier date closer towards the Aurignacian. The latter proposal hinges on extensive research using palaeontological, morphometric, biomolecular-isotopic, genetic data and microwear contributing valuable information to the current debates. Nevertheless, few confront the theoretical reasoning behind this process, analysing the sociocultural implications that link humans with canids. Under this premise the current overview considers the motivation behind this process while proposing new lines of investigation that may help confront these questions across the indirect methods using new technologies applied study of tooth marks of the sites.