Abstract
We report on the taxonomy and paleodiet of the bear population that inhabited the emblematic palaeoanthropological Early Pleistocene (1.8 Ma) site of Dmanisi (Georgia), based on a dual approach combining morphometrics and microwear of upper and lower teeth. Given that the teeth of Ursus etruscus Cuvier, 1823 from Dmanisi show considerable size variability, their systematic position has been debated. However, a comparative study of the coefficients of variation for tooth size measurements in several modern bear species shows that the variability in tooth size of the ursid population from Dmanisi could result from sexual dimorphism. The analysis of tooth microwear indicates that these bears inhabited a mixed environment of open plain with forest patches, where they had a browsing diet with a substantial contribution of meat and/or fish. Comparative tooth morphometric analyses of modern ursids and fossil U. etruscus indicate that this extinct species had an omnivorous behavior similar to that of extant brown bears. The ecological interactions of the Dmanisi bears with other members of the large mammals community, including the first hominins that dispersed out of Africa, are discussed in the light of this new evidence.
Highlights
We report on the taxonomy and paleodiet of the bear population that inhabited the emblematic palaeoanthropological Early Pleistocene (1.8 Ma) site of Dmanisi (Georgia), based on a dual approach combining morphometrics and microwear of upper and lower teeth
An Early Pleistocene site of Georgia located in the Mashavera river valley in the Lesser Caucasus (85 km southwest of Tibilisi; 44°210E, 41°90N) and dated at 1.85-1.77 Ma1–5, is a key palaeoanthropological site to understand the first dispersal of early Homo out of Africa (Fig. S1)
Ursus etruscus is the typical ursid species recorded in the faunal assemblages of Eurasia during the Middle and Late Villafranchian[16,17,31,39,40,41], and was described originally on the basis of the specimens from Figline (Upper Valdarno, Italy)
Summary
We report on the taxonomy and paleodiet of the bear population that inhabited the emblematic palaeoanthropological Early Pleistocene (1.8 Ma) site of Dmanisi (Georgia), based on a dual approach combining morphometrics and microwear of upper and lower teeth. The bear specimens from Dmanisi share a number of features with the Middle and Late Villafranchian populations of U. etruscus
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