Punta Lucero Quarry
Basic information
Sample name: Punta Lucero Quarry
Reference: A. Gomez-Olivencia, N. Sala, D. Arceredillo, N. Garcia, V. Martinez-Pillado, J. Rios-Garaizar, D. Garate, G. Solar, and I. Libano. 2015. The Punta Lucero Quarry site (Zierbena, Bizkaia): a window into the Middle Pleistocene in the Northern Iberian Peninsula. Quaternary Science Reviews 121:52-74 [ER 3882]
Geography
Country: Spain
State: Bizkaia
Coordinate: 43.359901° N, -3.102949° W
Coordinate basis: estimated from map
Time interval: Middle Pleistocene
Max Ma: 0.8
Min Ma: 0.4
Age basis: other
Geography comments: Work completed at the quarry on the NE side of the Punta Lucero mountain revealed a "large cave that was visible from the right side of the Ria de Bilbao"
Coordinate estimated from the map in Figure 1 using provided altitude (200-220 m)
"Presence of Homotherium and an elaphine deer indicate that this is an association roughly between 400 and 800 kyrs"
Coordinate estimated from the map in Figure 1 using provided altitude (200-220 m)
"Presence of Homotherium and an elaphine deer indicate that this is an association roughly between 400 and 800 kyrs"
Environment
Lithology: claystone
Taphonomic context: cave,pitfall trap
Habitat comments: Lithology is of a "clayish" nature, partially cemented with "small limestone fragments"
"The karst of Punta Lucero extends throughout in the Lower Albian limestones from the southern flank of the synclinorium of Bizkaia"
"It was initially interpreted as a pit by Castanos (1988)"
"Very scarce" presence of tooth and percussion marks in the assemblage means "we cannot rule out the possible sporadic access" by hominins and large carnivores to the carcasses after natural accumulation in the pitfall trap
"The karst of Punta Lucero extends throughout in the Lower Albian limestones from the southern flank of the synclinorium of Bizkaia"
"It was initially interpreted as a pit by Castanos (1988)"
"Very scarce" presence of tooth and percussion marks in the assemblage means "we cannot rule out the possible sporadic access" by hominins and large carnivores to the carcasses after natural accumulation in the pitfall trap
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates
Sampling methods: quarry
Sample size: 185 specimens
Sampled by: P. Castanos, I. Libano
Years: 1988, 1992
Sampling comments: Material from Punta Lucero Quarry comprises the entire collection stored at the Arkeologi Museoa (Bilbao)
Geochemical analysis of the sediments from the site was performed on two different samples. The first was taken during the excavation. The second was sediment still attached to the fossils that was removed prior to cleaning.
The fragmentary nature of the remains "precluded any attempt to reach the subspecies level"
plus 109 Bovini indet.
plus 7 Carnivora indet
15 Canis mosbachensis, 3 questionably referred
Geochemical analysis of the sediments from the site was performed on two different samples. The first was taken during the excavation. The second was sediment still attached to the fossils that was removed prior to cleaning.
The fragmentary nature of the remains "precluded any attempt to reach the subspecies level"
plus 109 Bovini indet.
plus 7 Carnivora indet
15 Canis mosbachensis, 3 questionably referred
Metadata
Sample number: 4262
Contributor: Jack Nesbitt
Enterer: Jack Nesbitt
Created: 2023-05-11 11:55:16
Modified: 2023-05-11 02:26:50
Abundance distribution
9 species
0 singletons
total count 185
geometric series index: 10.4
Fisher's α: 1.979
geometric series k: 0.6665
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.7518
Shannon's H: 1.7004
Good's u: 1.0000
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| Cervus elaphus | 77 | 142 kg browser-grazer |
| Megacerini indet. | 4 | |
| †Bos primigenius | 25 | |
| compared to | ||
| Bison sp. | 38 | |
| compared to | ||
| Stephanorhinus sp. | 3 | |
| †Homotherium latidens | 8 | |
| †Panthera gombaszoegensis | 11 | |
| Vulpes sp. | 4 | |
| †Canis mosbachensis | 15 | 43 kg carnivore |