Chronological distribution of Pleistocene cold-adapted large mammal faunas in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

During the coldest episodes of the Late Pleistocene, the cold-adapted large mammal faunas moved southward, reaching southern regions such as the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, during the Late Pleistocene, remains of Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis and Rangifer tarandus were found in Iberia. In addition, four other cold-adapted species ( Gulo gulo, Alopex lagopus, Ovibos moschatus and Saiga tatarica) were present, although in very low proportions. All published chronologies from these Iberian findings, as well as new radiocarbon dates, were compiled and subsequently correlated with the published paleoclimatic information for the Iberian Late Pleistocene. These cold-adapted faunas were present in the Iberian Peninsula from at least the late Middle Pleistocene (MIS 6), and several findings, although chronologically imprecise, were dated to the first half of the Late Pleistocene. After about 44 ka BP, these faunas became relatively abundant on the Iberian Peninsula. However, there is a chronological gap between 31 and 26 ka, in which these faunas were practically absent in Iberia. Subsequently, during MIS 2, the presence of these species was again well documented. The last Iberian occurrences of most of these species have been registered during the LGM, except the reindeer, that survived until the end of the Younger Dryas. The chronology of the Iberian findings of cold-adapted large mammal faunas is consistent with the paleoclimatical evidence provided by other sources.