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Research Interests: Geology and Pleistocene
Summary Pastoralism is globally significant in social, environmental, and economic terms. However, it experiences crises rooted in misconceptions and poor interdisciplinary understanding, while being largely overlooked in international... more
Summary Pastoralism is globally significant in social, environmental, and economic terms. However, it experiences crises rooted in misconceptions and poor interdisciplinary understanding, while being largely overlooked in international sustainability forums and agendas. Here, we propose a transdisciplinary research approach to understand pastoralist transitions using (1) social, economic, and environmental dimensions, (2) diverse geographic contexts and scales to capture emerging properties, allowing for cross-system comparisons, and (3) timescales from the distant past to the present. We provide specific guidelines to develop indicators for this approach, within a social-ecological resilience analytical framework to understand change. Distinct systems undergo similar transitions over time, crossing critical thresholds and then either collapsing or recovering. Such an integrated view of multidimensional interactions improves understanding of possible tipping points, thereby supporting better-informed decision making. The need for a paradigm shift in pastoralism science and policy is pressing. This research approach, including participatory methods, can provide the solutions urgently needed.
Research Interests: Sociology and Pastoralism
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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... more
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 Luzon 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. © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
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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... more
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 Bar...
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The evolution of western Eurasian Neogene faunas: a chronologic, systematic, biogeographic, and paleoenvironmental synthesis
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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... more
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 first analyses regarding the taphonomic and spatial nature of this new site, defining two stratigraphic boundaries corresponding to two different depositional events. Furthermore, the taphonomic analyses of fossil remains seem to indicate a dif...
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After a long period of inactivity, recent excavations at the late Miocene Maragheh Formation unexpectedly resulted in the discovery of the first fossil hominoid and second Mesopithecus remains from this area. The discovery motivated a new... more
After a long period of inactivity, recent excavations at the late Miocene Maragheh Formation unexpectedly resulted in the discovery of the first fossil hominoid and second Mesopithecus remains from this area. The discovery motivated a new international initiative to conduct research in these rich fossil sites. These studies focused on the fossil hominoid and its locality, aiming to reveal more about the context of this fossil discovery. Detailed stratigraphy, sedimentology and magnetostratigraphy studies were conducted. New samples from volcaniclastic key horizons (pumice beds) in Dareh Gorg, where the hominoid fossil site is located, were dated by radiometric methods. The radiometric age determinations provide a firm tie-point for the geochronology. The polarity pattern in the palaeomagnetically investigated section corroborates the K-Ar results. The preliminary magnetostratigraphic results suggest that the hominoid locality can be correlated to the normal polarity chron C4n.2n (8.108–7.695 Ma), C4n.1n (7.642–7.528 Ma) or C3Br.1n (7.285–7.251 Ma), placing it at intervals corresponding to the mammal units MN11 or possibly early MN12. The study of fossil hominoid indicates broad affinities with a number of contemporaneous taxa from the Balkan-Iranian palaeoprovince, as well as Siwaliks and southeast Asia. A preliminary analysis of the accompanying (in situ) fauna at the hominoid site indicates the highest similarity of this level to Turolian hominoid- and Mesopithecus-bearing localities in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. However, some environmental differences are observed among these localities, based on their faunal structure and taxon properties, as well as in the different masticatory adaptations of their hominoids.
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The Maragheh Formation is an important deposit, which yields the savanna-type large mammal assemblage known as the “Pikermian Fauna.” Our high-resolution facies analysis of the interval between the Lower Pumice and the White Tuff... more
The Maragheh Formation is an important deposit, which yields the savanna-type large mammal assemblage known as the “Pikermian Fauna.” Our high-resolution facies analysis of the interval between the Lower Pumice and the White Tuff demonstrated that debris-flow deposits and paleosols are dominant in the studied sequence. Fluvial channel-fill and small pond facies are the subordinate components in this interval. Most of the channel-fill deposits are interpreted as having been accumulated from ephemeral streams. The wide distribution of the Middle Pumice, the fact that it contains grains with older ages than those of the Lower Pumice, and the presence of “traction carpet” deposits allow the interpretation of the pumice interval as having been deposited from a hyperconcentrated flow probably caused by crater-lake destruction around the peak of Mt. Sahand, which supplied older rocks to the flow. The internal architecture of fluvial channel-fill deposits and the structures of paleosols (rhizoliths, cracks and slickensides: probable Vertic Inceptisols) imply a seasonal climate during deposition of the studied interval. This is consistent with previous environmental reconstructions based on mammal fossils (woodland-dominated savannah) as well as the results of phytolith analysis and δ18O data obtained from northern Iran. However, flood deposits covering the paleosols, showing sheet-like geometry, may not have been affected by large trees on the flood plain: the extent of woodland around the study site appears to have been limited.
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The writings of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) provide a window on early evolutionary thinking of a kind interestingly different from the roots of modern evolutionary theory as it emerged in the years following the French... more
The writings of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) provide a window on early evolutionary thinking of a kind interestingly different from the roots of modern evolutionary theory as it emerged in the years following the French Revolution. Here we relate aspects of Leibniz’s thinking to methods of modern palaeoecology and show that, despite a different terminology and a different hierarchic focus, Leibniz emerges as a strikingly modern theoretician, who viewed the living world as dynamic and capable of adaptive change. The coexistence approach of palaeoecological reconstruction, developed by Volker Mosbrugger and collaborators, with its core assumption of harmoniously co-adapted communities with strong historical legacy, represents, in a positive sense, a more Leibnizian view than functionally based and theoretically history-free approaches, such as ecometrics. Recalling Leibniz’s thinking helps to highlight how palaeoecological reconstruction is about much more than reliably estab...
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Background: The dental characteristics of large plant-eating mammals, such as hypsodonty, quite accurately describe present and past climatic conditions worldwide. However, several peculiar regions give systematically higher predictions... more
Background: The dental characteristics of large plant-eating mammals, such as hypsodonty, quite accurately describe present and past climatic conditions worldwide. However, several peculiar regions give systematically higher predictions of primary productivity than the local average environmental conditions should support. We call these 'anomalies'. Anomalies are prominent in areas dominated by pastoralism, such as the Sahel in Africa, suggesting human-competitive pressure against the wild animal communities. Question: What might explain such dental ecometric anomalies? Data: Occurrence of large, plant-eating mammals worldwide; quantitative characteristics of their teeth; global net primary productivity derived from temperature and precipitation relationships. Analyses: We analyse dental ecometrics of present-day Africa, with the aim to understand the ecology behind such anomalies. By identifying dental traits that are differentially sensitive to human activities, we can dev...
Research Interests: Biology, Productivity, Ecology, Evolutionary Ecology, Habitat, and 3 morePastoralism, Ecosystem, and Arid
espanolEn este trabajo se resumen los estudios llevados a cabo en los distintos yacimientos arqueopaleontologicos de Orce durante las ultimas decadas, haciendo especial hincapie en los resultados obtenidos a raiz de las ultimas campanas... more
espanolEn este trabajo se resumen los estudios llevados a cabo en los distintos yacimientos arqueopaleontologicos de Orce durante las ultimas decadas, haciendo especial hincapie en los resultados obtenidos a raiz de las ultimas campanas de excavacion (2017-2020), enmarcadas en el Proyecto General de Investigacion «Primeras ocupaciones humanas y contexto paleoecologico a partir de los depositos Pliopleistocenos de la cuenca Guadix-Baza. Zona Arqueologica de la cuenca de Orce». Los trabajos realizados en estos ultimos anos son una buena muestra del enfoque inter e intradisciplinar de la Prehistoria, y evidencian ademas que, aunque se lleve trabajando en los yacimientos de Orce casi 50 anos, estos siguen proporcionando datos muy interesantes acerca del contexto del poblamiento humano de Europa en las etapas mas antiguas del Pleistoceno. EnglishThis work summarizes the research carried out at the Orce archaeopalaeontological sites over the last few decades with particular emphasis on th...
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Abstract. The Red Queen's hypothesis portrays evolution as a never-ending competition for expansive energy, where one species' gain is another species' loss. The Red Queen is neutral with respect to body size, implying that... more
Abstract. The Red Queen's hypothesis portrays evolution as a never-ending competition for expansive energy, where one species' gain is another species' loss. The Red Queen is neutral with respect to body size, implying that neither small nor large species have a universal competitive advantage. Here we ask whether, and if so how, the Red Queen's hypothesis really can accommodate differences in body size. The maximum population growth in ecology clearly depends on body size—the smaller the species, the shorter the generation length, and the faster it can expand given sufficient opportunity. On the other hand, large species are more efficient in energy use due to metabolic scaling and can maintain more biomass with the same energy. The advantage of shorter generation makes a wide range of body sizes competitive, yet large species do not take over. We analytically show that individuals consume energy and reproduce in physiological time, but need to compete for energy in...
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Newly discovered fossil taxa and preliminary revision of the old collection from the Bahe and Lantian formations allow a re interpretation of the mammalian faunal sequence of the Chinese Late Miocene. The distribution of fossil taxa in... more
Newly discovered fossil taxa and preliminary revision of the old collection from the Bahe and Lantian formations allow a re interpretation of the mammalian faunal sequence of the Chinese Late Miocene. The distribution of fossil taxa in the strata shows a major turnover event within the late Miocene, at a time slightly preceding the sedimentological change represented by the boundary between the Bahe and Lantian Formations (ca. 7Ma). The mammal fauna postdating the change shows a strong resemblance to the classic Baodean mammal faunas of North China. Based on this turnover event a resurrection of the Bahean Land Mammal Age, predating the Baodean LMA within the late Miocene, would be possible. The Bahean/Baodean turnover event was ecological as well as taxonomic and suggests significant climatic change at this time, possibly driven by onset or intensification of the East Asian summer monsoon circulation system.
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A cladistic analysis of the extinct rhinoceros tribe Elasmotherini is presented, based mainly on dental morphology. The result is a new classification of Begertherium (formerly Hispanotherium) grimmi (H eissig) and Begertherium (formerly... more
A cladistic analysis of the extinct rhinoceros tribe Elasmotherini is presented, based mainly on dental morphology. The result is a new classification of Begertherium (formerly Hispanotherium) grimmi (H eissig) and Begertherium (formerly Beliajevina) tekkayai (H eissig). It is possible to recognize a Hispanotherium-clade and an Elasmotherium-clade at a suprageneric le vel, but to do so formally serves no useful purpose.
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Question: Is it either necessary or useful to separate ecological and evolutionary factors as determinants of biodiversity pathways? Organisms: The fossil record of 58 extinct marine invertebrate groups belonging to six different animal... more
Question: Is it either necessary or useful to separate ecological and evolutionary factors as determinants of biodiversity pathways? Organisms: The fossil record of 58 extinct marine invertebrate groups belonging to six different animal phyla, ranging from the early Palaeozoic to the early Cenozoic, and including a total of 21,554 species. Methods: We tested six different models of biodiversity evolution by means of maximum likelihood estimation. The models reproduce familiar, long-standing hypotheses on biodiversity controls (such as adaptive radiation, Van Valen’s Red Queen, and density-dependence). Results: For nearly 90% of the fossil clades analysed, the best model includes an early diversification phase, and increased extinction rate over time. These features are consistent regardless of whether the main determinants of species diversity in the models are ecological or evolutionary. Clades terminated by mass extinctions did not have shorter duration than other clades but were ...
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We have recently reviewed the later Miocene (MN 6-13; ca 15-5 Ma ago) primates, hipparions, rhinocerotids, suoids and carnivores of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. This work is still unpublished and analyses are underway, but a... more
We have recently reviewed the later Miocene (MN 6-13; ca 15-5 Ma ago) primates, hipparions, rhinocerotids, suoids and carnivores of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. This work is still unpublished and analyses are underway, but a preliminary indication of some coarse patterns is given here for the sample consisting of the groups listed above: 1) There is a clear-cut difference between western and Central Europe on one hand and the eastern Mediterranean on the other. This is especially clear for species richness, which shows a rising trend throughout the Vallesian and earlier Turolian for the eastern regions and a falling trend for the western ones. 2) The major drops in species richness occurred between MN 6 and MN 7, between MN 9 and MN 10, and between MN 12 and MN 13. Of these, the "mid-Vallesian crisis" (MN 9-10) seems to have been entirely absent in the eastern Mediterranean, where species richness rose sharply during this interval. Correspondingly, the drop in MN ...
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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... more
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, hippo...
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We know that the fossil record is incomplete. But how incomplete? Here we very coarsely estimate the completeness of the mammalian record in the Miocene, assuming that the duration of a mammalian species is about 1 Myr and the species... more
We know that the fossil record is incomplete. But how incomplete? Here we very coarsely estimate the completeness of the mammalian record in the Miocene, assuming that the duration of a mammalian species is about 1 Myr and the species diversity has stayed constant and is structurally comparable to the taxonomic diversity today. The overall completeness under these assumptions appears to be around 4%, but there are large differences across taxonomic groups. We find that the fossil record of proboscideans and perissodactyls as we know it for the Miocene must be close to complete, while we might know less than 15% of the species of artiodactyl or carnivore fossil species and only about 1% of primate species of the Miocene. The record of small mammals appears much less complete than that of large mammals.