Large mammals (carnivores, artiodactyls) from Solna Jama Cave (Bystrzyckie Mts, Southwestern Poland) in the context of faunal changes in the postglacial period of Central Europe

Abstract

Mammals from Solna Jama Cave were parts of two main faunal assemblages. The earlier one, dated as MIS 3, included few bones of the Ursus ingressus and a single m2 of the huge Ursus arctos priscus. The later one, of postglacial age (MIS 1), was represented, among others, by the Canis lupus, Mustela eversmanii and Felis silvestris. The most impressive find, a skull and partial skeleton of a very large and robust Gulo gulo, is the only reliable Polish record of the species from postglacial period. The find expands the knowledge of the Sudetes fauna from the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. Morphometric characteristics of carnivores, which greatly outnumbered the other mammal taxa in the site, showed some adaptation to cool climatic conditions.