Research paper
Distinguishing between Bos and Bison petrous bones. A case study: bovines from the Des-Cubierta Cave (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid)
MARÍA Á. GALINDO-PELLICENA
Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos. C/Monforte de Lemos 5, pab 14, 28029, Madrid, Spain. mariangape79@hotmail.com
Museo Arqueológico Regional. Plaza de Las Bernardas s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. C/Imagen, 3, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain. mangeles.galindo@fgua.es
Corresponding author
JUAN L. ARSUAGA
Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos. C/Monforte de Lemos 5, pab 14, 28029, Madrid, Spain.
Departamento de Geodinámica. Estratigrafía y Paleontología Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Calle José Antonio Novais 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain. jlarfer@gmail.com
CÉSAR LAPLANA
Museo Arqueológico Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid, Plaza de las Bernardas, s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain. cesar.laplana@gmail.com
IGNACIO DE GASPAR
Sección departamental de Anatomía y Embriología. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda. Puerta del Hierro s/n. Ciudad Universitaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain. idegaspar@vet.ucm.es
DIEGO ÁLVAREZ-LAO
Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Oviedo, C/ Jesús Arias de Velasco s/n 33005 Oviedo, Spain. diego_alvarezlao@yahoo.es
ALFREDO PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ
Unidad de Investigación Consolidada de la Junta de Castilla y León UIC 182. Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH). Paseo de Atapuerca, 3. 09002 Burgos, Spain. alfredopg41@hotmail.es
ENRIQUE BAQUEDANO
Museo Arqueológico Regional. Plaza de Las Bernardas s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid. Spain. enrique.baquedano@madrid.org
ABSTRACT
The taxonomic identification of large bovine remains in archaeological and palaeontological sites is important in order to infer the palaeoenvironment of these sites and to know if their inhabitants were hunters of Bos or Bison. Their presence may also have biostratigraphic or archaeozoological implications. Although the petrous bone is one of the elements of the skeleton with the greatest preservation potential in prehistoric sites, due to its hardness and compactness, it is not frequently used by the palaeontologists to distinguish between Bos and Bison, the two genera commonly present at the sites during the Pleistocene. Due to the abundance of petrous bones at the Late Pleistocene layers of the Des-Cubierta cave, the aim of this work is to identify Bos and Bison in this site through the morphological features defined by Guadelli (1999) for this bone and using morphometric geometrics with material of Bos taurus, Bos primigenius, and Bison priscus in order to identify the differences among petrous bones of these species.
Key words: Taxonomy, bovines, Pleistocene, petrous bone, Pinilla del Valle.
How to cite: Galindo-Pellicena, M.Á., Arsuaga, J.L., Laplana, C., De Gaspar, I., Álvarez-Lao, D., Pérez-González, A. & Baquedano, E. 2019. Distinguishing between Bos and Bison petrous bones. A case study: bovines from the Des-Cubierta Cave (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 34 (2), 257-268.
Received 12 December 2018, Accepted 24 May 2019, Published 31 December 2019
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.34.2.16115
