Research paper
Morphological, isotopic and proteomic study of the Pleistocene and Holocene fauna of Cova dos Santos (Abadín, Lugo, NW Spain)
ANA GARCÍA-VÁZQUEZ
Instituto Universitario de Xeoloxía Isidro Parga Pondal, Universidade da Coruña. ESCI, Campus de Elviña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain. ana.garcia.vazquez@gmail.com
ArchaeoScience#RO Platform, Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (ICUB), University of Bucharest, B-dul Mihail Kogalniceanu, no. 36-46, 050107 Bucharest, Romania.
Corresponding author
MARCOS VAQUEIRO-RODRÍGUEZ
Instituto Universitario de Xeoloxía Isidro Parga Pondal, Universidade da Coruña. ESCI, Campus de Elviña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain.
Clube de Espeleoloxía A Trapa (CETRA). Vigo, Spain. mvaqueiro@frialia.es
ESTEBAN GUITIÁN-FERNÁNDEZ
Unidade de Espectrometría de Masas e Proteómica. Área de Infraestruturas de Investigación, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Edificio CACTUS, Campus VIDA, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. esteban.guitian@usc.es
AURORA GRANDAL-D’ANGLADE
Instituto Universitario de Xeoloxía Isidro Parga Pondal, Universidade da Coruña. ESCI, Campus de Elviña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain.
Clube de Espeleoloxía A Trapa (CETRA). Vigo, Spain. aurora.grandal@udc.es
ABSTRACT
Cova dos Santos is a karstic cavity in Abadín (Lugo), in a hitherto unexplored area that may have been the natural route between the well-known Quaternary faunas of the Cantabrian Mountain Range and those located further south in Galicia, such as in the Serra do Courel. The surface surveys carried out during the topographic layout revealed the presence of deposits of bone remains, usually extremely fragmented, of medium and large vertebrates. Due to the nature of these remains, different molecular techniques (ZooMS, stable isotopes), radiocarbon dating, and morphological and metric analysis were used to characterise the remains present at the site. Combining these methods, it has been possible to identify different taxa such as Ursus speleaeus, Ursus arctos, Panthera pardus, Cervus elaphus, Rhinocerotidae, and to confirm the occupation of this cave since at least 43000 years ago calBP. The presence of domestic species, such as Ovis aries, Equus sp. and Gallus gallus, also shows the use of this cave in more recent times.
Key words: stable isotopes, ZooMS, leopard, cave bear, rhinoceros.
How to cite: García-Vázquez, A., Vaqueiro-Rodríguez, M., Guitián-Fernández. E. & Grandal-D’anglade, A. 2021. Morphological, isotopic and proteomic study of the Pleistocene and Holocene fauna of Cova dos Santos (Abadín, Lugo, NW Spain). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 36 (2), 163-190.
Received 21 April 2021, Accepted 3 November 2021, Published online: 3 December 2021
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.36.2.21870
