Paleoecología y biocronología mediante el estudio de los roedores del Pleistoceno Superior-Holoceno de la cueva del Toll (Moià, Cataluña, NE de la península Ibérica)

Abstract

Palaeoecology and biochoronology through the analyzed Late Pleistocene-Holocene rodents of the Toll cave (Moià, Catalonia, NE of the Iberian Peninsula)
This paper presents the chronological, environmental and climatic data obtained when analyzing the rodent remains collected from the water-screened sediments from levels 2-4 of the “Sector Entrada” in the Toll cave (Moià, Catalonia, NE Iberian Peninsula), one of the cavities belonging to the karstic system called “Coves del Toll” (Toll Caves). From these levels, a total of 216 rodent remains corresponding to 10 rodent species has been recovered. The biochronological results show a latest Pleistocene-Holocene chronology (< 35 ky BP), with Level 3 being pleistocene (> 13 ky BP), and Level 2 probably holocene (< 13 ky BP). The palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental data indicate an open wet forest with lower temperatures and higher precipitation than nowadays for this region. Level 3 could be correlated with the Last Glacial Maximum, while Level 2 may belong to the Preboreal period. From the comparison with data obtained in other sites with a similar chronology in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, two transitional phases can be inferred for this period. The comparison with the Teixoneres cave studies allows obtaining the climatic and environmental evolution of the surroundings of the Toll Caves between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic/Neolithic. It can be asserted that both neanderthals and anatomically modern humans lived under similar climatic and environmental conditions.