Small vertebrates (Amphibia, Squamata, Mammalia) from the late Pleistocene-Holocene of the Valdavara-1 cave (Galicia, northwestern Spain)

Abstract

The Valdavara-1 cave, located in the westernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula, is an archaeological site that has been excavated since 2007. At least two main sedimentary units have been identified: an upper one, 30 cm-thick, that has yielded many fragments of ceramic characteristic of the Recent Prehistory (with a radiocarbon age of 4.490 ± 40 years BP), and a lower one, 90 cm-thick, separated from the upper one by an erosive discontinuity and late Pleistocene in age (radiocarbon ages between 13.770 ± 70 and 15.120 ± 70 years BP). The small-vertebrate assemblages recovered from the sieving-washing of all the sediment from the excavation campaigns include a total of at least 34 taxa (six amphibians, nine squamate reptiles, five insectivores, two chiropterans and 12 rodents). The materials from this locality constitutes the first mention in northwestern Spain for Microtus (Iberomys) cabrerae and Micromys minutus, currently absent from this area, as well as the first mention in the fossil record for Chioglossa lusitanica, Discoglossus galganoi and Chalcides striatus. In both layers, such small-vertebrate associations suggest a patchy landscape dominated by humid meadows and woodland areas, with the existence of water areas in the vicinity of the cave. The climate shows a more continental pattern during the late Pleistocene, as evidenced by the presence of Microtus arvalis, Sorex minutus and Rana temporaria, and was milder during the Recent Prehistory, with the occurrence of typically Mediterranean taxa such as Crocidura russula, Chioglossa lusitanica, Discoglossus galganoi, Rana iberica, Chalcides striatus and Timon lepidus. The amphibian and squamate associations suggest that the climate change recorded at the Valdavara-1 cave between the latest Pleistocene and Holocene levels may correspond to a difference of 0.8 °C in terms of mean annual temperature, although the difference is 2.8 °C for the mean temperature of the coldest month.