palaeoenvironments of the last neanderthals in sw europe mis 3 cova del coll verdaguer barcelona ne of iberian peninsula abstract marine isotope stage 3 mis 3 was characterised by marked oscillations of extreme cold episodes with very short warm events during the stadial and several regional differences have been recorded in the ice cores and marine deposits the aim of this study is to reconstruct this period by evaluating both terrestrial and regional responses cova del coll verdaguer a site located on the iberian peninsula preserves a sedimentary deposit dated to between 34 and 56 ka bp and provides an opportunity for evaluating the impact of climate changes on the regional landmass during a period that coincided with the last neanderthal population on the iberian peninsula several dating methods including u series electron spin resonance amino acid racemization and radiocarbon 14c were applied to the site and the ages obtained show good agreement the biotic evidence obtained is substantial comprising floristic data from palynology and charcoal analysis and faunal data from large and small mammals birds and gastropods environmental reconstruction points to an initially open meadow landscape at the base of the sequence 56 ka that progressively changes to a woodland environment dominated by conifers 34 ka the presence of few thermophilous taxa in contrast with lower latitudes of the iberian peninsula is also detected the environmental conditions of mid altitude mediterranean limestone mountains for the last neanderthal populations appear to have been dominated by a forested landscape comprising boreal or mixed coniferous forest characterised by a low usable biomass with poor comestible plant resources and dispersed herbivore populations

the archaeology and paleoenvironment of an upper pleistocene hyena den an integrated approach abstract data of high resolution for reconstructions of archaeological site formation processes can be obtained only by the use of precise excavation methods and comprehensive recovery techniques using fine mesh water screening followed by meticulous sorting and quantitative studies of all the small organic components from the screens these methods are generally used at human occupation sites but are not often employed at paleontological or mixed human carnivore sites at the site of bois roche an upper pleistocene hyena den we have used these meticulous recovery techniques in combination with absolute dating geoarchaeological observations taphonomic analyses studies of microvertebrates and pollen analysis correlation of the site environmental data from pollen and microvertebrate assemblages with the vegetation record of a deep sea core taken in the bay of biscay have allowed us to constrain the ages provided by esr dating of bovid teeth and to reconstruct the physical environment of the site with a degree of confidence rarely achieved by the use of fossil remains from archaeological sites alone prior to our excavations the site was interpreted as containing a mixed assemblage with evidence of hyena activities and human occupation in situ quantitative analysis of the small organic components present in large quantities in the sediments deciduous hyena teeth coprolite fragments digested small bone fragments prove more than all other lines of evidence that hyenas were in residence at bois roche thus providing diagnostic criteria for distinguishing between occasional visitors and the main inhabitants of mixed human carnivore sites the analytical procedures presented in this paper have a value beyond the significance of the bois roche site because they can be applied to other sites

characterizing hyena coprolites from two latrines of the iberian peninsula during the early pleistocene gran dolina sierra de atapuerca burgos and la mina barranc de la boella tarragona abstract coprolites are commonly identified in the pleistocene archaeo palaeontological record they have often been described as indirect evidence for the presence of carnivores usually hyenids during the formation of a depositional sequence however coprolites are a much larger source of information that can provide data relating to factors affecting an archaeological assemblage including its taphonomic history and palaeoecology in this paper two fossil coprolite accumulations dating to the late early pleistocene are described level td6 1 of gran dolina sierra de atapuerca burgos and unit ii of la mina barranc de la boella tarragona the results highlight the morphological homogeneity of these hyena coprolites despite a considerable variation in size the presence of microspherulites is clearly identified in all of the analysed hyena coprolites their composition is rich in elements characteristic of bone origin such as calcium ca and phosphorus p a major difference however differentiating the remains from these sites was a higher frequency of bone fragments in the la mina coprolites regarding to td6 1 pollen spores and palynomorphs are scarce in the samples from both sites which in fact share similar ecological characteristics such as the presence of pine wild grasses and coprophilous fungi hyena coprolites are relatively easy to differentiate from those of other taxa however they show intra specific similarities in their micro and macro morphology and composition despite their wide size range the species of hyenids responsible for the coprolites is not possible to identify based exclusively on the size range and the importance of a multidisciplinary study of the latrines and the coprolites is discussed as a source of palaeoecological and taphonomic information in this study coprolites are analysed compared and attributed to a hyenid identified as crocuta crocuta in the case of td6 1 but without specific attribution in the case of la mina

characterization and depositional evolution of hyaena crocuta crocuta coprolites from la valina cave northwest spain archaeological excavation of la valina site a karstic cave located in northwest spain documented a level of human occupation and a later one of carnivores that can be attributed to upper plesitocene 35 000 bp by the 14 c dating obtained from bone samples among carnivore remains many coprolites were recovered which based on morphological and biometrical characteristics correspond to crocuta crocuta micromorphological analysis of thin sections mineralogical and palynological analysis let us deduce the deposition period of scats during the year and also the postdepositional changes undergone by coprolites to reach their present state

deep sea ecosystem revealed by teleost fish coprolites from the oligocene of poland abstract non spiral coprolites likely produced by teleost fish were studied from deep sea sediments of the oligocene rupelian of poland the materials were collected at the futoma and wola czudecka localities of the dynow marl member of the menilite formation western carpathian mountains the coprolites are elongate linear slightly to strongly sinuous and vary in size maximal diameter from 1 25 to 10 mm but appear to show a morphologic continuum rather than represent several morphotypes phosphatic matrix is preserved in 81 13 16 of the specimens and is composed primarily of putative fossilized bacteria the matrix contains numerous cavities possibly formed by gas bubbles or decomposition of organic matter and also an oval object resembling invertebrate eggs or another organic object at least 81 13 16 of the coprolite specimens contain fish remains bones scales a tooth which in some specimens include elements attributable to the predatory fishes palimphyes oligophus and an indeterminate gadiform this is indicative of fish predation upon other predatory fishes in this marine environment which probably exceeded 500 m of depth the coprolites are interpreted as produced by pelagic fish that lived in the oxygenated higher parts of the water column while the fecal matter sank and was deposited in anoxic conditions on the sea bottom identification of non spiral coprolites of fish and the fossil record of teleost coprolites are discussed

on the southward motion of mediterranean salt lenses abstract a new mechanism is proposed to account for the southward motion of salt lenses in the canary basin it relies on the active mixing that is observed at the periphery of such eddies between the warm salty mediterranean waters of the core and the surrounding fresher and cooler atlantic waters intrusions driven by this thermohaline contrast feed on the eddy potential energy and drain off the eddy volume anomaly submitted to the continuous entrainment of its own fluid by the frontal turbulence the salt lens suffers a velocity divergence at its periphery induced by a geostrophic adjustment process this causes in turn a squashing of the density surfaces and the salt lens must then move southward to conserve its potential vorticity a possibility offered by the spherical nature of the earth it appears that mixing may load to the coherent latitudinal displacement of an ensemble of fluid parcels on a plant while at the same time dissipating the energy of the structure itself

the structure dynamics and origin of a small scale lens of water in the western north atlantic thermocline abstract a small scale isolated anticyclonically rotating lens of water was observed in the western north atlantic thermocline during the polymode local dynamics experiment using a combination of sofar float hydrographic nutrient and moored current and temperature data we deduce that the lens was about 20 km across with a thickness not greater than 300 m centered on 750 m that its shape was not dissimilar to that of a vertical radial gaussian eddy and that at its center the lens had strong anomalies of salinity dissolved oxygen nitrate and vortex stretching the water mass properties within the eddy are not inconsistent with an origin for the feature near 15 n 54 w several thousand kilometers from where it was observed in the western north atlantic although an unambiguous origin cannot be discerned from the data if such features are not uncommon they may be an important mechanism for large scale mixing of water properties in the ocean

terrasses de la riera dels canyars gava barcelona the landscape of heinrich stadial 4 north of the ebro frontier and implications for modern human dispersal into iberia abstract terrasses de la riera dels canyars is an upper pleistocene fluvial deposit containing the remains of large mammals principally accumulated in the framework of hyena denning in the area as well as a few artifacts radiocarbon dated to 39 6 ka cal bp the time of heinrich stadial hs 4 this site enables us to reconstruct the environmental conditions then prevalent in the ne of the iberian peninsula the concentration in a single locus of finds generated by different agents relates to a flash flood event the rapidity of which combined with the absence of archaeological ecological or paleontological incongruities in the composition of the assemblage warrants an assumption of broad contemporaneity for its contents the ecofactual evidence fauna pollen charcoal phytoliths indicates a steppe dominated environment for the coastal areas between the pyrenees and the ebro delta the dominant elements are cold and dry adapted species but a mediterranean component is present implying a less rigorous climate than farther north in europe the artifacts are clearly upper paleolithic and assignment to the modern human associated aurignacian technocomplex is supported by the radiocarbon dates and the typology of a bilaterally retouched blade this evidence is consistent with the notion that anatomical modernity spread across europe over open landscape niches available pollen data from deep sea cores indicate that during some of the interstadials of marine isotope stage mis 3 a significant vegetation gradient existed at 40 n broadly coincident with the ebro frontier temperate and warm temperate trees expanded significantly to the south while steppe tundra landscapes remained dominant to the north a contrast best seen during greenland interstadial gi 8 such an environmental boundary must have implied a durable barrier to diffusion and migration during interstadials under the cold and arid conditions of hs4 the site of canyars shows that the eurasian steppe tundra extended as far south as the llobregat delta however the environmental reconstructions available for the lower ebro valley and adjacent mountains of the iberian range farther south suggest that they formed at this time a belt of semi desert or steppe desert landscapes thus maintaining the boundary effect despite the climatic reversal the persistence of such a boundary through hs4 and the interstadials that bracket it must have played a role in the delayed arrival of the aurignacian and modern humans to southern and western iberia which continued to be settled by middle paleolithic neanderthals well beyond 40 ka cal bp

taphonomic analysis of an ungulate dominated accumulation at the pleistocene cova del rinoceront site near barcelona spain northeastern iberian peninsula abstract the upper pleistocene mis5 site known as cova del rinoceront near barcelona spain contains a large assemblage of ungulate remains among which the most dominant in the uppermost layer i are those of the rare mediterranean deer haploidoceros mediterraneus in this paper zooarchaeological and coprogenic analyses are used to evaluate the taphonomic and geological processes involved in determining the nature of the layer i assemblage the assemblage cannot have been generated by either hyenids or humans nor does it constitute an accidental collection as seen in other pleistocene accummulations instead the skeletal frequencies coprogenic tracemarkers and the diagnostic biological damage on bones suggest it accumulated as a result of the feeding of a carnivore the homogeneous pattern of carcass utilization and the predation of similar sized ungulates suggest a canid as the main biological agent

submesoscale anomalies in the north pacific subarctic front data analysis of the experiment megapolygon 87 targeted at large scale and mesoscale currents revealed a submesoscale coherent eddy with a core of anomalously cold water south of the north pacific subarctic front sf ts characteristics of the core water are similar to the ones of the subarctic water mass north of sf the core occupies a depth range from 950 through at least 1500 m and has an outer diameter of 40 km the maximum value of thermal anomaly of 0 5 c is located at 1000 m depth anticyclonic orbital velocity reaches 30 cm s at 10 km radius at the edge of the internal core rotating nearly as a solid body the 7 cm s translating eddy is governed by the larger scale currents significant seawater density anomalies above the lens are explained by the interaction of the lens with a mean horizontal flow with strong vertical shear the lens was probably formed either by upper layer cooling during the previous winter spring season able to generate deep convection processes and move surface water to the middle and lower part of the main thermocline or by instability of the countercurrent existing below sf no direct observations of those processes in the northwestern pacific are available at present other similar submesoscale anomalies have been found in the area south of sf

reconstructed mediterranean salt lens trajectories the existence of energetic anticyclonic mid depth vortices of mediterranean water meddies questions the validity of a conventional advective diffusive balance in the eastern atlantic subtropical gyre a mesoscale experiment in the azores madeira region reveals a link of these meddies to large scale subsurface meanders for the first time it is shown that meddies may have strong surface vorticity indicative of a generation process involving the azores current a deep reaching near surface jet

not only hyenids a multi scale analysis of upper pleistocene carnivore coprolites in cova del coll verdaguer ne iberian peninsula three morphotypes of fossil fecal material coprolites have been identified from the upper pleistocene site of cova del coll verdaguer ne iberian peninsula coprolites are commonly found in pleistocene records and also in places in which human and carnivore activities co occurred however coprolite identification is typically limited to hyenids the most readily recognizable fossilized feces owing to their distinctive shape and good preservation although non hyena carnivore coprolites are also likely to be present in these assemblages several criteria for a multi scale integrative analysis are proposed here for discriminating different morphotypes hence this analysis provides an opportunity to assess the involvement of several carnivores in bone accumulations to identify carnivores not specifically represented by skeletal remains and to evaluate interactions between humans and the carnivore guild especially medium and small carnivores

reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment and anthropogenic activity from the upper pleistocene holocene anthracological records of the ne iberian peninsula barcelona spain abstract this paper presents the results of anthracological analyses conducted to further the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of ne iberia and to provide better insights into the impact of human activity on the landscape this study is based on the analysis of charred plant remains from five archaeological sites located 20 km to the southwest of the city of barcelona the site chronology spans from the upper pleistocene to the mid holocene the mis 5 stage is represented by the cova del rinoceront ca 74 175 ka which yielded scarce anthracological remains composed primarily of angiosperms mis 3 and the hs4 stadial are represented by the cova del coll verdaguer ca 33 4 55 ka and the terrasses de la riera dels canyars 39 6 ka cal bp respectively both pointing to the recurrent presence of pinus sylvestris type the holocene record is represented by the cova bonica ca 7200 4600 cal bp presenting a predominance of quercus pinus and a considerable variability of shrubs and small tree types finally cal maurici ca 6100 3700 cal bp constitutes a natural deposit in shallow marshes and presents charcoals washed down the river the sequence presented is completed and compared with other sequences located in ne iberia the assemblages allow us to evaluate the evolution and transformation of the forested landscapes originated by the climate variations that occurred during the upper pleistocene and holocene and to assess changes in the woody vegetation resulting from cultural or natural transformations these outcomes are discussed in terms of a comparison of natural vs anthropogenic anthracological records and the data are contextualized and examined in the broader context of the other assemblages recovered in the ne iberian peninsula

can meddies be detected by satellite altimetry geosat exact repeat mission altimeter data have been used to estimate the sea surface height anomaly relative to a 2 year mean reference surface in the eastern north atlantic ocean horizontal maps of the sea surface height anomaly for various periods were constructed by means of an objective analysis procedure the mean sea level was approximated by the dynamic topography from climatological hydrographic data results were compared to the dynamic topography calculated from hydrographic ground truth data sampled during march 1988 on an eddy resolving station network in the iberian basin despite the low signal to noise ratio of the altimeter data in this part of the ocean the agreement of the altimeter signal with hydrographic measurements is found to be significant individual cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies in the mediterranean outflow are identified in the altimetric maps the information visible in the sea surface height is significantly correlated with the dynamic topography of the layer 500 3000 dbar containing the core of the mediterranean outflow and maximum velocities of the baroclinic eddies the successive development of the identified eddies as studied from a sequence of sea surface height maps indicates a slight westward drift of the most pronounced feature with approximately 1 9 cm s propagation velocity the inferred path of that feature is consistent with additional information from moored current meter data

kinematics and dynamics of a mediterranean salt lens abstract two surveys of the absolute velocity field of an eddy of mediterranean water meddy in the eastern north atlantic were conducted one year apart in 1984 and 1985 two velocity regimes were revealed within the radius of maximum velocity the meddy rotated anticyclonically as a solid body with a depth dependent rotation period near 6 days at its mid depth 1000 m one year later the radius of the core had decreased by one third the rotation rate of the lens also decreased except at its mid depth where there was a small but perceptible increase there was a sharp 5 km or less transition between the core and the outer region where the velocity decayed exponentially with radius a strong potential vorticity front due to the abrupt change in sign of horizontal shear kept the core isolated from the outer region potential vorticity was nearly constant within the upper confines of the core over the study period whereas there was a notable increase in potential vorticity in the lower portion of

spatio temporal variability of x band radar backscatter and coherence over the lena river delta siberia abstract satellite based monitoring strategies for permafrost remain under development and are not yet operational remote sensing allows indirect observation of permafrost a subsurface phenomenon by mapping surface features or measuring physical parameters that can be used for permafrost modeling we have explored high temporal resolution time series of terrasar x backscatter intensity and interferometric coherence for the period between august 2012 and september 2013 to assess their potential for detecting major seasonal changes to the land surface in a variety of tundra environments within the lena river delta siberia the terrasar x signal is believed to be strongly affected by the vegetation layer and its viability for the retrieval of soil moisture for example is therefore limited in our study individual events such as rain and snow showers that occurred at the time of terrasar x acquisition or a refrozen crust on the snowpack during the spring melt were detected based on backscatter intensity signatures the interferometric coherence showed marked variability the snow cover onset and snow melt periods were identified by significant reduction in coherence principal component analysis provided a good spatial overview of the essential information contained in backscatter and coherence time series and revealed latent relationships between both time series and the surface temperature the results of these investigations suggest that although x band sar has limitations with respect to monitoring seasonal land surface changes in permafrost areas high resolution time series of terrasar x backscatter and coherence can provide new insights into environmental conditions

tracking three meddies with sofar floats abstract three meddies were tracked for up to two years in the canary basin using neutrally buoyant sofar floats these meddies have cores of warm salty mediterranean water and are approximately 100 km in diameter 800 m thick and are centered at a depth of 1100 m meddy 1 was tracked for two years 1984 86 with five floats as it drifted 1090 km southward with a mean velocity of 1 8 cm s 1 four shipboard surveys made during these two years revealed the nearly total decay of meddy 1 by gradual mixing processes meddy 2 drifted 530 km southwestward over 8 5 months with a mean velocity of 2 3 cm s 1 until it collided with hyeres seamount near 31 n 29 w the floats trapped in this meddy then stopped looping abruptly implying a major disruption of this meddy meddy 3 drifted 500 km southwestward for a year and a half with a mean translation velocity of 1 1 cm s 1 a comparison of the velocity of meddies to the velocity of nearby floats at 1100 m depth outside of the meddies shows clearly that all three m

large lenses of highly saline mediterranean water isolated compact anticyclonic eddies or salt lenses were found in the canary basin hydrographic surveys of three such lenses show large anomalies of salinity and temperature 0 8 2 5 c they are centered at 1100 m have a vertical extent of up to 900 m and radii of 50 km current meter records indicate anticyclonic velocities up to 29 cm s 1 fine structure with vertical scales of 20 m and less possibly due to intrusive decay appears at the outer edges of the lenses whereas the centers are free of such structure the probability of finding a salt lens at any station in the canary basin is fairly high 0 08

palynology of badger coprolites from central spain this paper presents pollen analysis of badger coprolites from cueva de los torrejones central spain eleven of fourteen coprolite specimens showed good pollen preservation acceptable pollen concentration and diversity of both arboreal and herbaceous taxa together with a number of non pollen palynomorph types especially fungal spores radiocarbon dating suggests that the coprolite collection derives from badger colonies that established setts and latrines inside the cavern over the last three centuries the coprolite pollen record depicts a mosaic anthropogenic landscape very similar to the present day comprising pine forests quercus dominated formations woodland patches with juniperus thurifera and a cistaceaedominated understorey with heliophytes and nitrophilous assemblages although influential dietary behavior of the badgers does not preclude palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the coprolite pollen spectra d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

a study of pleistocene and holocene hyaena coprolites abstract hyaena coprolites from a diachronic series of archaeological sites in israel were examined and compared with recent faecal material from striped hyaena dens and zoos three methods were applied in the analysis of all samples gross morphometrical attributes x ray diffraction and petrological thin sections this last method is an innovation in the field of coprolite studies and facilitates the long term preservation of the original textural characteristics and fabric of sections of the coprolite the combination of these three approaches facilitated among other things the assessment of hyaena diet in the past as well as in the present and determination of local environmental factors affecting the composition of the coprolite we also obtained some indication of changes related to ageing of the material

toward the identification of coyote scatological faunal accumulations in archaeological contexts abstract one of the most important and most difficult tasks in zooarchaeological inquiry is distinguishing small animal bones accumulated by natural processes from those accumulated by human subsistence activities to assist in this difficult task attritional characteristics and quantitative data on bones recovered from 40 great basin coyote canis latrans scats are presented digestive attrition is evident in skeletal pitting staining and polishing particularly along fracture edges some distinct breakage patterns are evident especially on jackrabbit sized long bones the data indicate that variability in scatological body part content may be a product of density mediated attrition and or prey availability we propose that bone fragment size may be employed with corrosive attributes to distinguish scatological accumulations from human subsistence refuse

using experimental studies of recent faecal material to examine hyaena coprolites from the west runton freshwater bed norfolk u k abstract coprolites fossilized droppings found during the excavation of the west runton elephant in 1992 and 1995 were studied and attributed to the spotted hyaena crocuta crocuta on the basis of their distinctive morphology and content recent droppings of captive spotted hyaenas were compared with the coprolites in terms of size morphology and content and were used in simple laboratory experiments devised to improve understanding of their behaviour in depositional environments generally and their mode of burial at this locality specifically the coprolites are 22 32 larger than the recent droppings consistent with the interpretation that the european spotted hyaenas of the cromerian interglacial were larger than modern african equivalents the fresh spotted hyaena droppings are hard and durable sink rapidly through water and are able to withstand considerable trampling into sediment whilst maintaining a coherent form the droppings have a high threshold entrainment velocity in water far higher than that for silt or fine sand and consequently it is unlikely that the west runton coprolites were transported to the site with the host sediment this suggests three possible histories of deposition 1 the droppings were deposited around the elephant skeleton possibly by the same animals which caused damage to the skeleton and the fine sediment was then washed in around them 2 they were deposited by hyaenas while fine sediment was being deposited 3 they were deposited after the sediment was deposited and then they were subjected to faunal disturbance by trampling and scattering this approach studying the behaviour of in this case modern fresh droppings in experimental situations to answer specific questions may be of use in investigating other sites with similar natural depositional settings not necessarily involving faecal material

evolution of a mediterranean salt lens scalar properties abstract the evolution of a mediterranean salt lens meddy over a two year period is examined several nondimensional numbers can be used to describe the overall decay in the structure of the moddy two rossby numbers one using the central relative vorticity and another using the radius and velocity of the azimuthal velocity maximum did not change over the two year period however the burger number n2h2 f2l2 increased as the meddy decayed another burger number the ratio of total kinetic energy to total available potential energy decreased from 1 1 to 0 6 over a one year period the rates at which the meddy lost salt and heat are consistent with estimates of horizontal fluxes by intrusions a horizontal diffusivity of o 5 m2 s 1 is needed if this flux by intrusions is parameterized by an eddy coefficient simple models of the evolution of an isolated eddy by horizontal and vertical mixing of mass and momentum are examined these simple attempts to explain the evolution of the meddy suggest more c

two layer quasigeostrophic flow over finite isolated topography abstract a quasigeostrophic two layer model of flow over finite topography is developed the topography is a right circular cylinder that extends through the lower layer and an order rossby number amount into the upper layer finite topography model thus each layer depth remains constant to first order and the quasigeostrophic approximation can be applied consistently the model solutions axe compared to those found when the total topographic height is order rossby number small topography model the steady solution for the finite topography model consists of two parts one similar to the small topography solution and forced by the anticyclonic potential vorticity anomaly over the topography and the other similar to the solution of potential flow around a cylinder and forced by the matching conditions on the edge of the topography the finite topography model breaks down when the interface goes above the topography this occurs most easily when the stratification is weak closed streamlines occur mor

two years in the life of a mediterranean salt lens abstract a lens of mediterranean water meddy was tracked in the eastern north atlantic for two years with sofar floats the meddy was first found between the canary islands and the azores in october 1984 it center moved in an irregular pattern at speeds of a few cm s 1 and translated 1100 km to the south in two years this meddy was surveyed four times by ctd and velocity profilers and once with the microstructure profiler epsonde when observed during the first two surveys the meddy had a core that was stably and smoothly stratified in both salinity and temperature nearly uniform in the horizontal and was saltier than the surrounding ocean by 0 65 psu the meddy was eroded from its edges top and bottom and lost salt and hat with an e folding time of about one year the salinity at the center remained at its original value during the first year and decreased during the second year evidence was seen for mixing by lateral intrusions double diffusion and turbulence the intrusions are thought to