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En este trabajo se presenta un amplio conjunto paleontológico recuperado en treinta y cuatro cavidades situadas en la mitad oriental de los Montes Vascos. Los restos estudiados fueron recopilados durante cuatro décadas por Mario Laurino. Han sido estudiados un total de 4930 elementos (NRD), entre los que han sido identificados múltiples individuos de Ursus arctos Linnaeo y Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller-Heinroth del Pleistoceno Superior y Holoceno inicial. Finalmente, se detallan las principales características paleontológicas y taxonómicas de las cavidades y se realiza un estudio comparativo regional.

En este trabajo, presentamos los resultados logrados del estudio del conjunto paleontológico de la Sima de Illobi (Aralar, Navarra). Este estudio consta de dos partes, análisis taxonómico y tafonómico. En la primera, hemos analizado y comparado con otros yacimientos cantábricos y del norte de la meseta castellana, huesos largos y piezas dentales de Illobi. Posteriormente, con el objetivo de analizar la distribución del conjunto, hemos estudiado los rangos de edad existentes a través del desgate dental de los molariformes. Finalmente, hemos completado el estudio mediante el análisis de las probables causas que contribuyeron a crear este conjunto, así como de las características deposicionales del mismo, mediante la acción de agentes físicos y biológicos.

En este trabajo, presentamos los resultados obtenidos tras realizar una revisión bibliográfica de publicaciones arqueozoológicas de conjuntos recuperados en cuevas de la Península Ibérica. Con ello hemos abordado el estado de la cuestión acerca de la alternancia de carnívoros y humanos durante el Pleistoceno Superior. En las siguientes líneas tratamos la distribución de dos especies de carnívoros, Ursus spelaeus y Ursus arctos en dichos contextos, ya que son aquellas que mayor índice de alternancia presentan con el ser humano.

The Schöningen 13II-4 ‘Spear Horizon’ site is famous for the excellent preservation of 300,000-year-old Palaeolithic hunting weapons, including nine wooden spears and a lance, deposited on the shores of a former interglacial lake in association with a large assemblage of well-preserved and butchered animal bones, mainly from horse. Some bones show distinct areas of dark staining, thought to be derived from contact with decaying plant remains along the shores of the lake. It was decided to test this theory and try to determine experimentally where bone staining was most likely to occur on the littoral zone. Modern horse and cow bones were fastened along parallel transects at two locations and the installations were left for several months. Black stains appeared on some bones in the shallows, but not on bones deposited on permanently dry land or in deeper water. Within the 10 m wide band of bones in the main concentration at the Schöningen site, there is a high incidence of bone staining, indicating accumulation of finds along a shallow lake margin. By using GIS, additional clusters of stained bones in the eastern part of the site were revealed and may indicate shorelines when water levels in the lake were lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current phylogeographic pattern of European brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) has commonly been explained by postglacial recolonization out of geographically distinct refugia in southern Europe, a pattern well in accordance with the expansion/contraction model. Studies of ancient DNA from brown bear remains have questioned this pattern, but have failed to explain the glacial distribution of mitochondrial brown bear clades and their subsequent expansion across the European continent. We here present 136 new mitochondrial sequences generated from 346 remains from Europe, ranging in age between the Late Pleistocene and historical times. The genetic data show a high Late Pleistocene diversity across the continent and challenge the strict confinement of bears to traditional southern refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM). The mitochondrial data further suggest a genetic turnover just before this time, as well as a steep demographic decline starting in the mid-Holocene. Levels of stable nitrogen isotopes from the remains confirm a previously proposed shift toward increasing herbivory around the LGM in Europe. Overall, these results suggest that in addition to climate, anthropogenic impact and inter-specific competition may have had more important effects on the brown bear's ecology, demography, and genetic structure than previously thought., Competing Interests: None declared.

Background: Ancient protein sequences are increasingly used to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships between extinct and extant mammalian taxa. Here, we apply these recent developments to Middle Pleistocene bone specimens of the rhinoceros genus Stephanorhinus . No biomolecular sequence data is currently available for this genus, leaving phylogenetic hypotheses on its evolutionary relationships to extant and extinct rhinoceroses untested. Furthermore, recent phylogenies based on Rhinocerotidae (partial or complete) mitochondrial DNA sequences differ in the placement of the Sumatran rhinoceros ( Dicerorhinus sumatrensis ). Therefore, studies utilising ancient protein sequences from Middle Pleistocene contexts have the potential to provide further insights into the phylogenetic relationships between extant and extinct species, including Stephanorhinus and Dicerorhinus ., Methods: ZooMS screening (zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) was performed on several Late and Middle Pleistocene specimens from the genus Stephanorhinus , subsequently followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to obtain ancient protein sequences from a Middle Pleistocene Stephanorhinus specimen. We performed parallel analysis on a Late Pleistocene woolly rhinoceros specimen and extant species of rhinoceroses, resulting in the availability of protein sequence data for five extant species and two extinct genera. Phylogenetic analysis additionally included all extant Perissodactyla genera ( Equus , Tapirus ), and was conducted using Bayesian (MrBayes) and maximum-likelihood (RAxML) methods., Results: Various ancient proteins were identified in both the Middle and Late Pleistocene rhinoceros samples. Protein degradation and proteome complexity are consistent with an endogenous origin of the identified proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of informative proteins resolved the Perissodactyla phylogeny in agreement with previous studies in regards to the placement of the families Equidae, Tapiridae, and Rhinocerotidae. Stephanorhinus is shown to be most closely related to the genera Coelodonta and Dicerorhinus . The protein sequence data further places the Sumatran rhino in a clade together with the genus Rhinoceros , opposed to forming a clade with the black and white rhinoceros species., Discussion: The first biomolecular dataset available for Stephanorhinus places this genus together with the extinct genus Coelodonta and the extant genus Dicerorhinus . This is in agreement with morphological studies, although we are unable to resolve the order of divergence between these genera based on the protein sequences available. Our data supports the placement of the genus Dicerorhinus in a clade together with extant Rhinoceros species. Finally, the availability of protein sequence data for both extinct European rhinoceros genera allows future investigations into their geographic distribution and extinction chronologies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.