Marathousa 2: A new Middle Pleistocene locality in Megalopolis Basin (Greece) with evidence of human modifications on faunal remains
Creators: name: Konidaris, George
name: Tourloukis, Vangelis
name: Athanassiou, Athanassios
name: Giusti, Domenico
name: Thompson, Nick
name: Panagopoulou, Eleni
name: Karkanas, Panagiotis
name: Harvati, Katerina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019

description: Following the discovery and excavation of the Lower Palaeolithic butchering locality Marathousa 1 (MAR-1; Megalopolis Basin,<br> Peloponnesus, Greece), conducted by the Ephoreia of Paleoanthropology and Speleology, Greek Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, led to the discovery of a new open-air locality, Marathousa 2<br> (MAR-2), approximately 1.5 km eastern of MAR-1, where stratified fossils were identified on a profile of the Marathousa Member<br> (Choremi Formation), directly below the Lignite Unit III of the Marathousa mine. Two areas were designated, both yielding so far<br> mainly hippopotamid bones: Area A with (cervical and thoracic) vertebrae and ribs belonging to a single individual of Hippopotamus,<br> as well as a mandibular fragment of a fallow deer (Dama sp.), and Area B, about 90 m NW, with isolated dental Hippopotamus<br> specimens. The fossils in both areas occur in the same stratigraphic layer, which consists of brown, organic-rich, clayey fine sands<br> with clay clasts. Although the vertebral plates fuse towards the end of the epiphyseal bone fusing sequence in mammals, the unfused plates of the vertebrae from Area A indicate that they belong to a juvenile-young individual. The study of the dental specimens revealed that they belong to the large-sized Hippopotamus antiquus. This species was present in Europe during the Early–Middle Pleistocene, and although its last occurrences are quite vague, it seems that it was replaced by the extant H. amphibius during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene . Hippopotamus antiquus is already known from MAR-1, dated to between 500 and 400 ka, and the similar stratigraphic position of MAR-2, indicates a comparable age for the locality. Hippopotamus antiquus was a largesized hippopotamid, more than twice as big as the extant H. amphibius, and was highly dependent on water and aquatic vegetation; therefore, its presence indicates the existence of large and permanent freshwater bodies, and, together with the presence of the fallow deer, temperate climatic conditions. The good state of preservation of the MAR-2 bones allows the identification of taphonomic modifications. Of particular importance is a Hippopotamus thoracic vertebra, which shows striations almost at the middle of the lateral side of the spinous process. The three-dimensional virtual reconstructions of the striations with the use of a confocal microscope enabled their micromorphological study and their identification as cut marks. The presence of cut marks indicate human modification of the vertebra by means of butchering activities, possibly attributed to filleting. In addition to the exploitation of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) in MAR-1, MAR-2 constitutes further evidence of megafauna exploitation during the Middle Pleistocene in the Megalopolis Basin and one of the few examples of hippopotami carcass processing during the Lower Palaeolithic in Europe. As such, it contributes to the better knowledge of the food acquisition strategies and subsistence behavior of Pleistocene Homo, and emphasizes the need for further research in the basin.