# Preliminary data of reptiles and amphibians from el salt Xb (middle palaeolithic, Alcoy, Spain) : Palaeoclimatic implications

Rafael Marquina-Blasco, Arturo Gamonal, Ana Fagoaga, Vicente D. Crespo, Francisco Javier Ruiz-Sánchez, Salvador Bailon, Cristo Manuel Hernández Gómez, Bertila Galván Santos

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Rafael Marquina-Blasco, Arturo Gamonal, Ana Fagoaga, Vicente D. Crespo, Francisco Javier Ruiz-Sánchez, et al.. Preliminary data of reptiles and amphibians from el salt Xb (middle palaeolithic, Alcoy, Spain) : Palaeoclimatic implications. 15th Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists 2017, Jul 2017, Munich, Germany. . hal-03886448

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# PRELIMINARY DATA OF REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS FROM EL SALT Xb (MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC, ALCOY, SPAIN): PALAEOCLIMATIC IMPLICATIONS

Marquina, R.¹,², * Gamonal, A.¹, Fagoaga, A. ¹, Crespo, V. D. ¹,², Ruiz-Sánchez, F. J. ¹,²,³, Bailon, S. ⁴,⁵, Hernández, C. M. ⁶, & Galván, B. ⁶
* rafael.marquina@uv.es

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The locality of El Salt (Middle Paleolithic, Alcoy, Spain) is mainly known by having one of the youngest Neanderthals records of the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula. The upper part of stratigraphic unit Xb, dated at 52.3 ± 4.6 ka (MIS 3), is characterized by the presence of several archaeological assemblages, comprising vertebrate faunal remains, lithics elements and anthropogenically modified cobbles. The stratigraphic column of El Salt consists of 6.3 m-thick of sediments divided in 13 lithostratigraphic units (Fumanal, 1994). The field campaign of 2013 in unit Xb, have yielded for the first time in this locality a small sample of amphibian and reptiles remains

<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 1. A, Geographical location of El Salt archaeological site. B, General view of the locality. C, Stratigraphic column of El Salt showing the different lithostratigraphic units described by Fumanal (1994).</figcaption></figure>

The faunal list for unit Xb is composed by: three taxa of anurans (*Alytes obstetricans*; *Bufo bufo* sensu lato and *Epidalea calamita*), one taxon of blanid (*Blanus cinereus* sensu lato), two taxa of lizards (*Chalcides bedriagai* and cf. *Acanthodactylus erythrurus*) and one taxon of snakes (cf. *Rhinechis scalaris*).

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<figure><img src="image_17.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 2. Palaeoherpetological remains from El Salt Xb. A) *Alytes obstetricans*, left humerus. B) *Bufo bufo*, s. l., left humerus. C) *Epidalea calamita*. a, right scapula, b, left ilim). D) *Blanus cinereus*, s. l., left dentary. E) *Chalcides bedriagai*. a, right premaxilla, b, right dentary. F) cf. *Acanthodactylus erythrurus*. a, premaxilla, b, right pterygoid, c, right dentary. G) cf. *Rhinechis scalaris*, dorsal vertebra in dorsal (right) and ventral (left) view. Scale bars equal to 1 mm for amphibians and 0.5 for reptiles. Images of live animals taken from Wikimedia Commons.</figcaption></figure>

In order to reconstruct the climate at the moment of formation of the unit, we studied the current distribution of the reptiles and amphibians species described by using Mutual Ecogeographic Range (MER) methodology. Preliminary results obtained suggest a mean annual temperature (MAT) of 14.5±2.4 °C and a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of 665.2 ± 219.6 mm. These results show a slightly warmer and wetter climate than those recorded in Alcoy nowadays. The surrounding area of El Salt would be dominated by bushland and forest, alternating with open areas.

### ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The present work was supported by the Sociedad Española de Paleontología (SEP) grant (Ayuda a la Investigación de la SEP 2015-2016 003 "La herpetofauna fósil como herramienta para la reconstrucción paleoclimática: el caso de El Salt (nivel Xb, Paleolítico medio; Alcoy, Alicante)").

### REFERENCES

Fumanal, M.P., 1994. El yacimiento musteriense de El Salt (Alcoi, País Valenciano). Rasgos geomorfológicos y climatoestratigrafía de sus registros. *Saguntum*, 27, 39-55.

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3. A), 10 x10 km UTM squares in the Iberian Peninsula where all the species described in ST-F11-SUXb-U3 nowadays occur together. B) Reconstruction of landscape in ST-F11-SUXb-U3 by applying the Habitat Weighting Method. C) Estimated MAT and MAP using MER method. Δ, difference between current values and the results obtained. ALCOY, current bioclimatic parameters of the municipality of Alcoy.</figcaption></figure>