Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:32:10.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence of Lezetxiki II Cave (Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) inferred from small vertebrate assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2018

Naroa Garcia-Ibaibarriaga ,
Aitziber Suárez-Bilbao ,
Salvador Bailon ,
Alvaro Arrizabalaga ,
María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso ,
Lee Arnold ,
Martina Demuro  and
Xabier Murelaga
Naroa Garcia-Ibaibarriaga*
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, c/ Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Aitziber Suárez-Bilbao
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain
Salvador Bailon
Affiliation:
UMR 7209 – 7194 (CNRS, MNHN); Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 55 rue Buffon, CP 56, 75005 Paris, France
Alvaro Arrizabalaga
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, c/ Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, c/ Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48011 Bilbao, Spain
Lee Arnold
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, Environment Institute, and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
Martina Demuro
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, Environment Institute, and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
Xabier Murelaga
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain
*
*Corresponding author at: E-mail address: naroa.garcia@ehu.eus (N. Garcia-Ibaibarriaga).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We present a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction based on microfaunal assemblages preserved at Lezetxiki II Cave (Arrasate, Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) and synthesize previously published and new chronological work from the cave to better understand the environmental history of the region. The stratigraphic sequence of this short gallery ranges from the end of the middle Pleistocene to the middle Holocene and has great micropaleontological relevance for the Iberian Peninsula, especially because it contains the most ancient small vertebrate remains found in the Cantabrian region, likely deposited during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7–6. Thirty-two small vertebrate taxa, including two extinct species, were identified. Environmental reconstruction based on small vertebrates suggests an open landscape at the base of the sequence (three lower levels) that progressively changed to woodland in the upper levels. Other paleoenvironmental data suggest a similar interpretation of the environmental history of the region, and although some uncertainty in the environmental reconstruction and chronology still exists, our data provide a richly detailed record of small vertebrates from an area that likely represented an important late Quaternary migration corridor for species traveling between the Iberian Peninsula and European continent.

Keywords

Small vertebratesPaleoenvironmentMiddle-Upper PleistoceneHoloceneCantabrian RangeIberian Peninsula
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , July 2018 , pp. 164 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Altuna, J., 1972. Fauna de mamíferos de los yacimientos prehistóricos de Guipúzcoa, con catálogo de los mamíferos Cuaternarios del Cantábrico y Pirineo Occidental. Munibe 24, 1–464.Google Scholar
Álvarez, J., Bea, A., Faus, J.M., Castién, E., Mendiola, I., 1985. Atlas de los Vertebrados Continentales de Alava, Vizcaya y Guipúzcoa. Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.Google Scholar
Álvarez-Alonso, D., Arrizabalaga, A., 2012. La secuencia estratigráfica inferior de la cueva de Lezetxiki (Arrasate, País Vasco). Una reflexión necesaria. Zephyrus 69, 15–39.Google Scholar
Amori, G., Hutterer, R., Kryštufek, B., Yigit, N., Mitsain, G., Meinig, H., Juškaitis, R., 2008. Muscardinus avellanarius. In: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. http://www.iucnredlist.org.Google Scholar
Andrews, P.J., 1990. Owls, Caves and Fossils. Natural History Museum Publications, London.Google Scholar
Andrews, P.J., 2006. Taphonomic effects of faunal impoverishment and faunal mixing. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 241, 572–589.Google Scholar
Andrews, P., Lord, J.M., Evans, E.M.N., 1979. Patterns of ecological diversity in fossil and modern mammalian faunas. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 11, 177–205.Google Scholar
Andrews, P., O’Brien, E.M., 2000. Climate, vegetation, and predictable gradients in mammal species richness in southern Africa. Journal of Zoology 251, 205–231.Google Scholar
Aranburu, A., Arriolabengoa, M., Iriarte, E., Giralt, S., Yusta, I., Martínez-Pillado, V., Del Val, M., Moreno, J., Jiménez-Sánchez, M., 2015. Karst landscape evolution in the littoral area of the Bay of Biscay (north Iberian Peninsula). Quaternary International 364, 217–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aranzadi, 1989. Euskal Autonomi Elkarteko Ornodunak – Vertebrados de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco. Gobierno Vasco, Servicio Central de Publicaciones, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.Google Scholar
Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., 2015. Insights into TT-OSL signal stability from single-grain analyses of known-age deposits at Atapuerca, Spain. Quaternary Geochronology 30, 472–478.Google Scholar
Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., Parés, J.M., Arsuaga, J.L., Aranburu, A., Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Carbonell, E., 2014. Luminescence dating and palaeomagnetic age constraint on hominins from Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain. Journal of Human Evolution 67, 85–107.Google Scholar
Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., Parés, J.M., Pérez-González, A., Arsuaga, J.L., Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Carbonell, E., 2015. Evaluating the suitability of extended-range luminescence dating techniques over Early and Middle Pleistocene timescales: published datasets and case studies from Atapuerca, Spain. Quaternary International 389, 167–190.Google Scholar
Arnold, L.J., Duval, M., Falguères, C., Bahain, J.J., Demuro, M., 2012. Portable gamma spectrometry with cerium-doped lanthanum bromide scintillators: suitability assessments for luminescence and electron spin resonance dating applications. Radiation Measurements 47, 6–18.Google Scholar
Arnold, L.J., Roberts, R.G., 2009. Stochastic modelling of multi-grain equivalent dose (De) distributions: implications for OSL dating of sediment mixtures. Quaternary Geochronology 4, 204–230.Google Scholar
Arriolabengoa, M., Iriarte, E., Aranburu, A., Yusta, I., Arrizabalaga, A., 2015. Provenance study of endokarst fine sediments through mineralogical and geochemical data (Lezetxiki II cave, northern Iberia). Quaternary International 364, 231–243.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2000. Cueva de Lezetxiki. IV Campaña. In: Arkeoikuska 1999. Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, pp. 85–87.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2001. Cueva de Lezetxiki. V Campaña. In: Arkeoikuska 2000. Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, pp. 79–81.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2003. Cueva de Lezetxiki. VII Campaña. In: Arkeoikuska 2002. Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, pp. 105–107.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2004. Cueva de Lezetxiki. VIII Campaña. In: Arkeoikuska, 2003. Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, pp. 108–110.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2005. Las primeras ocupaciones humanas en el Pirineo Occidental y Montes Vascos. Un estado de la cuestión en 2005. Munibe 57, 53–70.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2006. Lezetxiki (Arrasate, País Vasco). Nuevas preguntas hacerca de un antiguo yacimiento. In: Cabrera Valdés, V., Bernaldo de Quirós Guidotti, F., Maíllo Fernández, J.M. (Eds.), En El Centenario de La Cueva de El Castillo: El Ocaso de Los Neandertales. Centro Asociado de la UNED en Santoña, Santoña, Spain, pp. 293–309.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., 2007. Frontières naturelles, administratives et épistémologiques: L’unité d’analyse dans l’archéologie du Paléolithique (dans le cas basque). In: Cazals, N., González, J., Terradas, X. (Eds.), Frontières naturelles et frontières culturelles dans les Pyrénées préhistoriques. PubliCan-Ediciones de la Universidad de Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain, pp. 27–37.Google Scholar
Arrizabalaga, A., Altuna, J., Areso, P., Falguerès, C., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Mariezkurrena, K., Pemán, E., et al., 2005. Retorno a Lezetxiki (Arrasate, País Vasco): nuevas perspectivas de la investigación. In: Santonja, M., Pérez-González, A., Machado, M.J. (Eds.), Geoarquelogía Y Patrimonio En La Península Ibérica Y El Entorno Mediterráneo. ADEMA, Madrid, pp. 81–91.Google Scholar
Arsuaga, J.L., Baquedano, E., Pérez-González, A., Sala, N., Quam, R.M., Rodríguez, L., García, R., et al., 2012. Understanding the ancient habitats of the last-interglacial (late MIS 5) Neanderthals of central Iberia: paleoenvironmental and taphonomic evidence from the Cueva del Camino (Spain) site. Quaternary International 275, 55–75.Google Scholar
Bailon, S., 1991. Amphibiens et reptiles du Pliocene et du Quaternaire de France et Espagne. Ph.D. dissertation, Université Paris VII.Google Scholar
Bailon, S., 1999. Différenciation Ostéologique des Anoures (Amphibia, Anura) de France, Fiches d’ostéologie animale pour l’archéologie. Centre de Recherches Archéologiques du CNRS, APDCA, Paris.Google Scholar
Bañuls-Cardona, S., López-García, J.M., Vergès, J.M., 2013. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic approach of the Bronze Age (level MIR 4) from the Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Quaternaire 24, 217–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbault, R., 1994. Ecologie des peuplements. Structure et dynamique de la biodiversité. Masson, Paris.Google Scholar
Bartolomei, G., Chaline, J., Fefjar, O., Jánossy, D., Jeannet, M., Koenigswald, W., von, Kowalski, K., 1975. Pliomys lenki (Heller, 1930) en Europe. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 31, 394–466.Google Scholar
Basabe, J.M., 1966. El húmero premusteriense de Lezetxiki (Guipúzcoa). Munibe 18, 13–32.Google Scholar
Basabe, J.M., 1970. Dientes humanos del Paleolítico de Lezetxiki (Mondragón). Munibe 22, 113–134.Google Scholar
Blain, H.A., 2009. Contribution de la paléoherpétofaune (Amphibia & Squamata) à la connaissance de l’évolution du climat et du paysage du Pliocène supérieur au Pléistocène moyen d’Espagne. Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona 16, 39–170.Google Scholar
Blain, H.B., Rubio-Jara, S., Panera, J., Uribelarrea, D., Laplana, C., Herráez, E., Pérez-González, A., 2017. A new middle Pleistocene (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6) cold herpetofaunal assemblage from the central Iberian Peninsula (Manzanares Valley, Madrid). Quaternary Research 87, 499–515.Google Scholar
Blois, J.L., Mcguire, J.L., Hadly, E.A., 2010. Small mammal diversity loss in response to late-Pleistocene climatic change. Nature 465, 771–774.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brennan, B.J., 2003. Beta doses to spherical grains. Radiation Measurements 37, 299–303.Google Scholar
Castaños, J., Zuluaga, M.C., Ortega, L.A., Murelaga, X., Alonso-Olazabal, A., Rofes, J., Castaños, P., 2014. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of bone collagen of large herbivores from the Late Pleistocene Kiputz IX cave site (Gipuzkoa, north Iberian Peninsula) for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Quaternary International 339–340, 131–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castaños, P., Murelaga, X., Arrizabalaga, A., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., 2011. First evidence of Macaca sylvanus (Primates, Cercopithecidae) from the Late Pleistocene of Lezetxiki II cave (Basque Country, Spain). Journal of Human Evolution 60, 816–820.Google Scholar
Chaline, J., 1970. Pliomys lenki, forme relique dans la Microfaune du Würm ancien de la Grotte de Lezetxiki (Guipúzcoa, Espagne). Munibe 22, 43–49.Google Scholar
Cuenca-Bescós, G., 1988. Revisión de los Sciuridae del Aragoniense y del Rambliense en la fosa de Calatayud-Montalbán. Scripta Geológica 87, 1–116.Google Scholar
Cuenca-Bescós, G., Straus, L.G., García Pimienta, J.C., González Morales, M.R., López-García, J.M., 2010. Late Quaternary small mammal turnover in the Cantabrian region: the extinction of Pliomys lenki (Rodentia, Mammalia). Quaternary International 212, 129–136.Google Scholar
Cuenca-Bescós, G., Straus, L.G., González Morales, M.R., García Pimienta, J.C., 2008. Paleoclima y Paisaje del final del Cuaternario en Cantabria: los pequeños mamíferos de la Cueva del Mirón (Ramales de la Victoria). Revista Española de Paleontologia 23, 91–126.Google Scholar
Cuenca-Bescós, G., Straus, L.G., González Morales, M.R., García Pimienta, J.C., 2009. The reconstruction of past environments through small mammals: from the Mousterian to the Bronze Age in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 947–955.Google Scholar
Daams, R., 1981. The dental pattern of the dormice Dryomys, Myomimus, Microdyromys and Peridyromys . Utrecht Micropaleontological Bulletins, Special Publication 3, 1–115.Google Scholar
Demuro, M., Arnold, L.J., Parés, J.M., Pérez-González, A., Ortega, A.I., Arsuaga, J.L., Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Carbonell, E., 2014. New luminescence ages for the Galería Complex archaeological site: resolving chronological uncertainties on the Acheulean record of the Sierra de Atapuerca, northern Spain. PLoS ONE 9, e110169.Google Scholar
Demuro, M., Arnold, L.J., Parés, J.M., Sala, R., 2015. Extended-range luminescence chronologies suggest potentially complex bone accumulation histories at the Early-to-Middle Pleistocene palaeontological site of Huéscar-1 (Guadix-Baza basin, Spain). Quaternary International 389, 191–212.Google Scholar
Falguerès, C., Yokoyama, Y., Arrizabalaga, A., 2006. La geocronología del yacimiento pleistocénico de Lezetxiki (Arrasate, País Vasco). Crítica de las dataciones existentes y algunas nuevas aportaciones. Munibe 57, 93–106.Google Scholar
Fleming, T.H., 1973. Numbers of mammal species in north and central American forest communities. Ecology 54, 555–563.Google Scholar
Furió, M., 2007. Los insectívoros (Soricomorpha, Erinaceomorpha, Mammalia) del Neógeno Superior del Levante Ibérico. Ph.D. dissertation, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Galbraith, R.F., Roberts, R.G., Laslett, G.M., Yoshida, H., Olley, J.M., 1999. Optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz from Jinmium rock shelter, northern Australia: Part I, experimental design and statistical models. Archaeometry 41, 339–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., 2015. Los microvertebrados en el registro arqueo-paleontológico del País Vasco: cambios climáticos y evolución paleoambiental durante el Pleistoceno superior. Ph.D. dissertation, Universidad del País Vasco.Google Scholar
Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Arrizabalaga, A., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Rofes, J., Murelaga, X., 2015a. The return to the Iberian Peninsula: first Quaternary record of Muscardinus and a palaeogeographical overview of the genus in Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews 119, 106–115.Google Scholar
Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Murelaga, X., Bailon, S., Rofes, J., Ordiales, A., 2013. Estudio de los microvertebrados de la cueva de Arlanpe (Lemoa, Bizkaia). In: Rios-Garaizar, J., Garate, D., Gómez-Olivencia, A. (Eds.), La Cueva de Arlanpe (Lemoa): Ocupaciones Humanas Desde El Paleolítico Medio Antíguo Hasta La Prehistoria. Kobie. Bizkaiko Arkeologi Indusketak, 3, Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia, Bilbao, Spain, pp. 81–109.Google Scholar
Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Rofes, J., Bailon, S., Garate, D., Rios-Garaizar, J., Martínez-García, B., Murelaga, X., 2015b. A palaeoenvironmental estimate in Askondo (Bizkaia, Spain) using small vertebrates. Quaternary International 364, 244–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Suárez-Bilbao, A., Ordiales, A., Murelaga, X., 2015c. Estudio de los microvertebrados del Pleistoceno Superior de la cueva de Bolinkoba (Abadiño, Bizkaia). In: Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J, Arrizabalaga, A. (Dirs.), Bolinkoba (Abadiño) y su yacimiento arqueológico. Arqueología de la Arqueología para la puesta en valor de su depósito, a la luz de las excavaciones antiguas y recientes. Kobie. Bizkaiko Arkeologi Indusketak, 6, Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia, Bilbao, Spain, pp. 113–120.Google Scholar
Gosá, A., Bergerandi, A., 1994. Atlas de distribución de los Anfibios y Reptiles de Navarra. Munibe 46, 109–189.Google Scholar
Guérin, G., Mercier, M., Adamiec, G., 2011. Dose-rate conversion factors: update. Ancient TL 29, 5–8.Google Scholar
Hammer, Ø., Harper, D.A.T., Ryan, P.D., 2001. PAST: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4, 1–9.Google Scholar
Heinrich, W.D., 1982. Ein Evolutionstrend bei Arvicola (Rodentia, Mammalia) und seine Bedeutung für die Biostratigraphie im Pleistozän Europas. Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe 31, 155–160.Google Scholar
Higham, T., Douka, K., Wood, R., Ramsey, C.B., Brock, F., Basell, L., Camps, M., et al., 2014. The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance. Nature 512, 306–309.Google Scholar
Iriarte, M.J., 2009. Vegetation landscape and the anthropization of the environment in the central sector of the northern Iberian Peninsula: current status. Quaternary International 200, 66–76.Google Scholar
Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Murelaga, X., 2012. El registro microfaunístico y paleobotánico en la región cantábrica durante el Gravetiense. Reconstrucción paleoambiental. In: De las Heras, C., Lasheras, J.A., Arrizabalaga, A., De la Rasilla, M. (Eds.), Pensando el Gravetiense: nuevos datos para la región cantábrica en su contexto peninsular y pirenaico. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Madrid, pp. 302–312.Google Scholar
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 2014. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. http://www.iucnredlist.org.Google Scholar
Kerr, J.T., Packer, L., 1997. Habitat heterogeneity as a determinant of mammal species richness in high-energy regions. Nature 385, 252–254.Google Scholar
Linzey, A.V., Shar, S., Lkhagvasuren, D., Juškaitis, R., Sheftel, B., Meinig, H., Amori, G., Henttonen, H., 2008. Microtus oeconomus. In: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. http://www.iucnredlist.org.Google Scholar
López-García, J.M., Blain, H.A., Burjachs, F., Ballesteros, A., Allué, E., Cuevas-Ruiz, G.E., Rivals, F., et al., 2012a. A multidisciplinary approach to reconstructing the chronology and environment of southwestern European Neanderthals: the contribution of Teixoneres cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain). Quaternary Science Reviews 43, 33–44.Google Scholar
López-García, J.M., Blain, H.A., Sanz, M., Daura, J., 2012b. A coastal reservoir of terrestrial resources for Neanderthal populations in north-eastern Iberia: palaeoenvironmental data inferred from the small-vertebrate assemblage of Cova del Gegant, Sitges, Barcelona. Journal of Quaternary Science 27, 105–113.Google Scholar
López Martínez, N., 1989. Revisión sistemática y bioestratigráfica de los Lagomorpha (Mammalia) del Terciario y Cuaternario de España. Memorias del Museo Paleontológico de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 3. Diputación General de Aragón, Departamento de Cultura y Educación, Zaragoza, Spain.Google Scholar
Margalef, R., 1974. Ecología. Omega, Barcelona.Google Scholar
Maroto, J., Vaquero, M., Arrizabalaga, A., Baena, J., Baquedano, E., Jordá, J., Julià, R., et al., 2012. Current issues in late Middle Palaeolithic chronology: new assessments from northern Iberia. Quaternary International 247, 15–25.Google Scholar
Martínez-García, B., Pascual, A., Rodríguez-Lázaro, J., Bodego, A., 2013. Recent benthic foraminifers of the Basque continental shelf (Bay of Biscay, northern Spain): oceanographic implications. Continental Shelf Research 66, 105–122.Google Scholar
Meinig, H., Zagorodnyuk, I., Henttonen, H., Zima, J., Coroiu, I., 2008. Sicista betulina. In: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. http://www.iucnredlist.org.Google Scholar
Mejdahl, V., 1979. Thermoluminescence dating: beta-dose attenuation in quartz grains. Archaeometry 21, 61–72.Google Scholar
Meyer, M., Arsuaga, J., de Filippo, C., Nagel, S., Aximu-Petri, A., Nickel, B., Martínez, I., et al., 2016. Nuclear DNA sequences from the Middle Pleistocene Sima de los Huesos hominins. Nature 531, 504–507.Google Scholar
Montuire, S., 1995. Evolution climatique et diversité chez les mammifères en Europe centrale depuis le Pliocène. Geobios 18, 313–327.Google Scholar
Murelaga, X., Mujika, J.A, Bailon, S., Castaños, P., Sáez de Lafuente, X., 2008. La fauna de vertebrados del yacimiento Holoceno (Aziliense) de Aizkoltxo (Mendaro, Gipuzkoa). Geogaceta 45, 71–74.Google Scholar
Nesbit Evans, E.M., Van Couvering, J.A.H., Andrews, P.J., 1981. Palaeoecology of Miocene sites in western Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 10, 99–116.Google Scholar
Niethammer, J., Krapp, F., 1982. Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas. Band III. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Darmstadt, Germany.Google Scholar
Palomo, L.J., Gisbert, J., 2005. Atlas de los mamíferos terrestres de España. Dirección General para la Biodiversidad-SECEM-SECEMU, Madrid.Google Scholar
Pasquier, L., 1974. Dynamique évolutive d’un sous genre de Muridae, Apodemus (sylvaemus). Etude biométrique des caractères dentaires de populations fossiles et actuelles d’Europe occidentale. Ph.D. dissertation, Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc.Google Scholar
Pemán, E., 2000. Los micromamíferos de Labeko Koba (Arrasate, País Vasco). Munibe 52, 183–185.Google Scholar
Pleguezuelos, J.M., Márquez, R., Lizana, M., 2002. Atlas y Libro Rojo de los Anfibios y Reptiles de España. Dirección General de la Conservación de la Naturaleza y Asociación Herpetológica Española, Madrid.Google Scholar
Pokines, J.T., 1998. The Paleoecology of Lower Magdalenian Cantabrian Spain. BAR International Series 713. Archaeopress, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prescott, J.R., Hutton, J.T., 1994. Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: large depths and long-term time variations. Radiation Measurements 23, 497–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pucek, Z., 1982. Sicista subtilis (Pallas, 1773) – Steppenbirkenmaus. In: Niethammer, J., Krapp, F. (Eds.), Handbuch Der Säugetiere Europas, Bd 2/1, Rodentia II. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden, Germany, pp. 501–515.Google Scholar
Rat, P., 1959. Les Pays crétacés basco-cantabriques (Espagne). Publications de l’Université de Dijon, XVIII. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.Google Scholar
Reumer, J.W.F., 1984. Ruscinian and early Pleistocene Soricidae (Insectivora, Mammalia) from Tegelen (The Netherlands) and Hungary. Scripta Geologica 73, 1–173.Google Scholar
Rios-Garaizar, J., Garate, D., Gómez-Olivencia, A., 2013. La Cueva de Arlanpe (Lemoa): ocupaciones humanas desde el Paleolítico Medio Antíguo hasta la Prehistoria. Kobie. Bizkaiko Arkeologi Indusketak, 3, Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia, Bilbao, Spain, pp. 5–36.Google Scholar
Rofes, J., Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Murelaga, X., Arrizabalaga, A., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Cuenca-Bescós, G., Villaluenga, A., 2012. The southwesternmost record of Sicista (Mammalia; Dipodidae) in Eurasia, with a review of the palaeogeography and palaeoecology of the genus in Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 348–349, 67–73.Google Scholar
Rofes, J., Murelaga, X., Martínez-García, B., Bailon, S., López-Quintana, J.C., Guenaga-Lizasu, A., Ortega, L.A., et al., 2014. The long paleoenvironmental sequence of Santimamiñe (Bizkaia, Spain): 20,000 years of small mammal record from the latest Late Pleistocene to the middle Holocene. Quaternary International 339–340, 62–75.Google Scholar
Rofes, J., Zuluaga, M.C., Murelaga, X., Fernández Eraso, J., Bailon, S., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Ortega, L.A., Alonso-Olazabal, A., 2013. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the early Neolithic to middle Bronze Age Peña Larga rock shelter (Álava, Spain) from the small mammal record. Quaternary Research 79, 158–167.Google Scholar
Salvador, A., 1998. Reptiles. In: Ramos, M.A. (Ed.), Fauna Iberica. Vol. 10. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. CSIC, Madrid.Google Scholar
Sesé, C., 2005. Aportación de los micromamíferos al conocimiento paleoambiental del Pleistoceno Superior en la Región Cantábrica: Nuevos datos y síntesis. In: Lasheras, J., Montes, R. (Eds.), Neandertales Cantábricos, Estado de La Cuestión. Museo y Centro de Investigación de Altamira, Monografías, 20, Ministerio de Cultura, Secretaría General Técnica, Madrid, pp. 167–200.Google Scholar
Sesé, C., 2016. Interpretación paleoambiental de los micromamíferos de los yacimientos del final del Pleistoceno superior de la cueva de Cualventi, cueva de El Linar y cueva de Las Aguas (Cantabria, norte de España). In: Lasheras, J. (Ed.), Proyecto de investigación “Los tiempos de Altamira”: actuaciones arqueológicas en las cuevas de Cualventi, El Linar y Las Aguas (Alfoz de Lloredo, Cantabria, España). Monografías del Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira, 26, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Madrid, pp. 287–319.Google Scholar
Sesé, C., Soto, E., 1988. Los Micromamíferos (Rodentia, Insectivora y Lagomorpha). In: Ripoll López, S. (Ed.), La Cueva de Ambrosio (Almería, Spain) Y Su Posición Cronoestratigráfica En El Mediterráneo Occidental. BAR International Series, 462. Archeopress, Oxford, pp. 157–168.Google Scholar
Speybroeck, J., Beukema, W., Crochet, P.A., 2010. A tentative species list of the European herpetofauna (Amphibia and Reptilia) – an update. Zootaxa 2492, 1–27.Google Scholar
Suárez-Bilbao, A., Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Arrizabalaga, A., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Murelaga, X., 2017. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic approach to the Late Pleistocene site of Artazu VII (Arrasate, northern Iberian Peninsula) using small vertebrates. Ameghiniana 54, 641–654.Google Scholar
Szyndlar, Z., 1984. Fossil snakes from Poland. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 28, 1–156.Google Scholar
Tesakov, A., Lebedev, V.S., Bannikova, A.A., Abramson, N.I., 2010. Clethrionomys Tilesius, 1850 is the valid generic name for red-backed voles and Myodes Pallas, 1811 is a junior synonym of Lemmus Link, 1795. Russian Journal of Theriology 9, 83–86.Google Scholar
Van der Meulen, A., 1973. Middle Pleistocene smaller mammals from the Monte Peglia (Orviedo, Italy), with special reference to the phylogeny of Microtus (Arvicolidae, Rodentia). Quaternaria 17, 1–144.Google Scholar
Villaluenga, A., 2013. La evaluación de los úrsidos en medios karsticos de la Cornisa Cantábrica. Estudio tafonómico de conjuntos arqueológicos y paleontológicos del Pleistoceno Superior y Holoceno. Ph.D. dissertation, Universidad del País Vasco.Google Scholar
Villaluenga, A., Castaños, P., Arrizabalaga, A., Alustiza Mujika, J.A., 2012. Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller Heinroth, 1794) and humans during the Early Upper Pleistocene (Lower and Middle Palaeolithic) in Lezetxiki, Lezetxiki II and Astigarragako Kobea (Basque Country, Spain). Preliminary Approach. Journal of Taphonomy 10, 521–543.Google Scholar
Waddell, P., Okada, N., Hasegawa, M., 1999. Towards resolving the interordinal relationships of placental mammals. Systematic Biology 48, 1–5.Google Scholar
Wilson, D.E., Reeder, D.M., 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar