Publications by authors named "Jose Manuel Garcia-Aguilar"
Venta Micena, an Early Pleistocene site of the Baza Basin (SE Spain), preserves a rich and diverse assemblage of large mammals. VM3, the main excavation quarry of the site, has been interpreted as a den of the giant hyaena Pachycrocuta brevirostris in the plain that surrounded the Baza palaeolake. Taphonomic analysis of VM3 has shown that the hyaenas scavenged the prey previously hunted by the hypercarnivores, transported their remains to the communal den, and consumed the skeletal parts according to their marrow contents and mineral density.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAncient evidence of human presence in Europe is recorded in several Early Pleistocene archaeopalaeontological sites from Spain, France and Italy. This is the case of Barranco León (BL) and Fuente Nueva-3 (FN-3), two localities placed near the town of Orce (depression of Baza and Guadix, SE Spain) and dated to ~1.4 Ma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The Orce region in southern Spain has a significant record of late Pliocene and early Pleistocene fossils.
- A new hominin tooth fossil discovered at Barranco León is estimated to be around 1.4 million years old, based on various dating methods.
- This makes the Barranco León hominin the oldest known example from Western Europe, predating other findings in the area like those from the Sima del Elefante.