Venta Micena: Early/Lower Pleistocene, Spain

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
unclassified
cf. Dmanisibos sp.
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Bovini cf. Dmanisibos
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Discoglossidae
Discoglossus sp. Otth 1837
Holman 1998
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Ranidae
Rana sp. Linnaeus 1758
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Rana perezi
Holman 1998
    = Pelophylax cf. perezi Frost et al. 2006
Agustí et al. 2010
Mammalia - Rodentia - Hystricidae
Hystrix major
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Rodentia - Gliridae
Eliomys intermedius Priant 1953
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Rodentia - Muridae
Apodemus aff. mystacinus Danford and Alston 1877
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Castillomys crusafonti Michaux 1969
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Rodentia - Cricetidae
Allophaiomys pliocaenicus Kormos 1932
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Oryctolagus cf. lacosti
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Lagomorpha - Ochotonidae
Prolagus calpensis
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Talpidae
Desmana sp. Guldenstaedt 1777
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Dicerorhinus etruscus (Falconer 1868)
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Dicerorhinus etruscus brachycephalus
    = Stephanorhinus etruscus Falconer 1868
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae
Equus stenonis Cocchi 1867
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Equus stenonis granatensis
    = Equus altidens
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
Mammalia - Artiodactyla
Homo sp. Linnaeus 1758
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Highly controversial (See other Venta Micena refs.)
    = Equidae indet. Gray 1821
Agusti and Moya-Sola 1987
    = Artiodactyla indet. Owen 1848
Martinez-Navarro 2002
a juvenile female of a large ruminant species
Mammalia - Hippopotamidae
Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus 1758
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Hippopotamus amphibius antiquus
Mammalia - Cervidae
Cervidae indet. Gray 1821
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Praemegaceros solilhacus
Martinez-Navarro 1992
    = Megaloceros (Megaceroides) solilhacus
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
spelled with current rank as Megaceroides
Mammalia - Bovidae
Caprini indet. Gray 1821
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Soergelia minor
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Capra alba
Martinez-Navarro 1992
    = Hemitragus alba
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
Praeovibos sp. Staudinger 1908
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Carnivora - Felidae
Megantereon whitei Broom 1937
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
Homotherium latidens (Owen 1846)
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Lynx aff. issiodorensis (Croizet and Jobert 1828)
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
Mammalia - Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Gervais 1850)
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Pachycrocuta brevirostris ruizi
Mammalia - Carnivora - Mustelidae
cf. Meles sp. Brisson 1762
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Carnivora - Ursidae
Ursus etruscus Cuvier 1823
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae
Canis (Xenocyon) falconeri Forsyth-Major 1877
Arribas and Palmqvist 1998
recombined as Xenocyon falconeri
Canis etruscus Forsyth Major 1877
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Vulpes praeglacialis (Kormos 1932)
Martinez-Navarro et al. 1998
original and current combination Alopex praeglacialis
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti 1825)
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Reptilia - Testudines - Testudinidae
Testudo sp. Linnaeus 1758
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Reptilia - Ophidia
Ophidia indet. Latreille 1804
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Reptilia - Colubridae
Natrix maura (Linnaeus 1758)
Agustí et al. 2010
Reptilia - Lacertidae
Lacerta sp. Linnaeus 1758
Martinez-Navarro 1992
    = Timon sp. Tschudi 1836
Agustí et al. 2010
Reptilia - Charadriiformes - Laridae
aff. Laridae indet. Vigors 1825
Martinez-Navarro 1992
Charadriiforme indet. (aff. Laridae)
see common names

Geography
Country:Spain State/province:Granada County:Orce
Coordinates: 37.7° North, 2.5° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:37.8° North, 2.6° West
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Quaternary Epoch:Pleistocene
10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Early/Lower Pleistocene
Age range of interval:2.58800 - 0.78100 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Belonging to Guadix-Baza basin. dated to 1.2+-0.2Ma. Lower Pleistocene. According to Augustì et al. (2010) 1.6-1.4Ma.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:concretionary,white carbonaceous mudstone
Lithology description: 'white carbonate facies (mudstone) with palaeosols, carbonate concretions and abundant skeletal remains of fossil mammals'. Forms a layer 2.5km long. Venta Micena stratum is 80-120cm thick. 'Previous studies indicate that the Venta Micena assemblage is included in 90-98% pure micritic limestone, which precipitated in freshwater ponds emplaced on a caliche paleosol of diagenetic origin'
Environment:lacustrine - large
Geology comments: The palaeosol containing the Venta Micena assemblage 'surrounded a more or less stable and shallow lake with swampy margin zones that existed in the valley of Orce during the Plio-Pleistocene'. The Mudstone (see lithology) is interpreted as a 'lake with various periods of partial dessication, during one of which the Venta Micena assemblage was formed'.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,bone collector
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Feeding/predation traces:tooth marks
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Metadata
Database number:34898
Authorizer:A. Turner, E. Vlachos, P. Mannion Enterer:H. O'Regan, L. Macaluso, E. Vlachos
Modifier:L. Macaluso Research group:PACED
Created:2003-10-14 09:18:16 Last modified:2019-06-11 07:03:11
Access level:the public Released:2003-10-14 09:18:16
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

10967. S. Moya-Sola, S. Agusti, J. Gilbert and J. Pons-Moyá. 1981. El yacimiento cuarternario de Venta Micena (España) y su importancia dentro de las asociaciones faunisticas del Pleistoceno inferior europeo. Paleontologia i Evolució 16:39-53 [J. Alroy/J. Wertheim/J. Wertheim]

Secondary references:

109695% 23480J. Agustí, P. Anadón, J. Gilbert, R. Juliá, E. Martín-Suárez, E. Menéndez, S. Moyá-Solá, J. Pons-Moyá, P. Rivas and I. Toro. 1983. Estratigrafía y paleontología del Pleistoceno Inferior de Venta Micena (Orce, depresión Guadix-Baza, Granada). Resultos preliminares. Paleontologia i Evolució 18:19-38 [J. Alroy/J. Wertheim/J. Head]
69151 J. Agustí, H. A. Blain, M. Furió, R. De Marfá, and A. Santos-Cubedo. 2010. The early Pleistocene small vertebrate succession from the Orce region (Guadix-Baza Basin, SE Spain) and its bearing on the first human occupation of Europe. Quaternary International 223:162-169 [P. Mannion/L. Macaluso/M. Uhen]
9376PACED J. Agusti, S. Moya-Sola, and J. Pons-Moya. 1986. Venta Micena (Guadix-Baza Basin, South-eastern Spain): its place in the Plio-Pleistocene mammal succession in Europe. Geologica Romana 25:33-62 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9371PACED J. Agusti and S. Moya-Sola. 1987. Sobre la indentidad del fragmento craneal atribuido a Homo sp. de Venta Micena (Orce, Granada). Estudios Geologicos 43:535-538 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9364PACED A. Arribas and P. Palmqvist. 1998. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of an assemblage of large mammals: hyaenid activity in the Lower Pleistocene site at Venta MIcena (Orce, Guadix-Baza basin, Granada, Spain). Géobios 31(3):1-47 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/J. Alroy]
69129 D. R. Frost, T. Grant, J. Faivovich, R. H. Bain, A. Haas, C. F. B. Haddad, R. O., A. Channing, M. Wilkinson, S. C. Donnellan, C. J. Raxworthy, J. A. Campbell, B. L. Blotto, P. E. Moler, R. C. Drewes, R. A. Nussbaum, J. D. Lynch, D. M. Green, and W. C. Wheeler. 2006. The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297:1-37 [P. Mannion/L. Macaluso]
9366PACED J. Gibert, D. Campillo, J.M. Arques, E. Garcia-Olivares, C. Borja and J. Lowenstein. 1998. Hominid status of the Orce Cranial fragment reasserted. Journal of Human Evolution 34:203-217 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
66368 J. A. Holman. 1998. Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in Britain and Europe. Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics 1-265 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]
9343PACED B. Martinez-Navarro. 1992. Revision sistematica de la fauna de macromamiferos del yacimiento de Venta Micena (Orce, Granada, Espana). in Gibert, J. ed., Proyecto Orce-Cueva Victoria (1988-1992): Presencia humana en el Pleistoceno inferior de Granada y Murcia. Ayuntamiento de Orce, Granada, Spain. 21-85 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9365PACED B. Martinez-Navarro. 2002. The skull of Orce: parietal bones or frontal bones?. Journal of Human Evolution 43:265-270 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9368PACED B. Martinez-Navarro and P. Palmqvist. 1995. Presence of the African Machairodont Megantereon whitei (Broom, 1937) (Felidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) in the Lower Pleistocene site of Venta Micena, with some considerations on the origin, evolution and dispersal of the genus. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:569-582 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9389PACED B. Martinez-Navarro, P. Palmqvist, and A. Arribas. 1998. The palaeontological site at Venta Micena (Orce, Guadix-Baza Basin, Province of Granade, Spain). In Agusti, J., Oms, O. and Martin-Suarez, E., 1998, The Plio-Pleistocene vertebrate succession of the Guadix-Baza Basin (SE Spain), European Quaternary Mammal Research Association (INQUA-SEQS) 23-25 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9377PACED B. Martinez-Navarro and P. Palmqvist. 1999. Venta Micena (Orce, Granada, Spain): human activity in a hyena den during the Lower Pleistocene. In E. Turner, ed., The role of early humans in the accumulation of European lower and middle Palaeolithic bone assemblages. Romisch-Germanisches Zentral Museum, Monographien 42, Dr Rudolf Habelt DMBH, Bonn. 57-71 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9369PACED P. Palmqvist. 1997. A critical re-evaluation of the evidence for the presence of hominids in Lower Pleistocene times at Venta Micena, Southern Spain. Journal of Human Evolution 33:83-89 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9367PACED P. Palmqvist and A. Arribas. 2001. Taphonomic decoding of the paleobiological information locked in a lower Pleistocene assemblage of large mammals. Paleobiology 27(3):512-530 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]
9370PACED J. Pons Moya. 1987. Los Carnivoros (Mammalia) de Venta Micena (Granada, Espana). Paleontologia I Evolucio, Memoire Especiale 1 109-128 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]