A mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach 1799, Proboscidea) calf tooth from the Mousterian of Arbreda Cave (Serinyà, NE Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

Mammoth calf remains are rare in the Iberian fossil record. In Catalonia, a dP2 from Teixoneres Cave (Moià) has just been reported (Álvarez-Lao et al., 2017). In this paper, we present a new discovery of a mammoth calf from level J of Arbreda Cave. Its chronology is imprecise because of the lack of reliable absolute dates. However, the presence of Mousterian industry, 14C results from the top of the overlying level (I) and U-series results at the base of the stratigraphic column allow us to conclude that the chronology must be related to the early MIS-3 or MIS-4, older than c. 44 ka BP. The C5 EC135 2302 remain is a left dp3 of a mammoth calf that was around one year old at the time of death. Morphological and morphometric studies taxonomically attribute it to Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach 1799. The faunal context of this remain is not like that of the typical Eurasian tundra-steppe environments, where cold-adapted faunas are clearly predominant. On the other hand, Arbreda's level J shows the typical record of the Last Glacial assemblages in Iberia, where eurythermic and temperate species dominate over cold-adapted faunas, which are represented only by a low percentage of identified remains. Following previous studies about cold-adapted faunas of the Iberian Peninsula, the Arbreda tooth is close to the second woolly mammoth dispersal episode but slightly older. In fact, the Arbreda mammoth remain teaches us that this second dispersal episode probably started earlier than was previously thought.