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94
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Introduction
My research interests are focused upon taxonomy, systematics, and evolution of Late Miocene - Holocene deer (family Cervidae), Plio-Pleistocene paleobiogeography of Western Palearctic, alchaeozoology (from Paleolithic to Middle Age), and paleobiogeography of early human dispersals in Eurasia.
Additional affiliations
October 2015 - present
January 2015 - present
Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme
Position
- Researcher
January 2014 - March 2019
Education
October 1993 - October 1996
September 1988 - July 1993
State University of Chisinau
Field of study
- Biology
Publications
Publications (94)
The ecological structure of the carnivore community remained stable during the Late Pliocene – Early Pleistocene period and does not reveal the influence of climate change over the community structure. Important structural changes started during the transition between Early and Middle Pleistocene, marked by extinction of solitary hypercarnivores an...
A multivariate cluster analysis of western Eurasian regional herbivorous mammalian faunas is applied in order to reveal the paleobiogeographic context of early human dispersal in the area under study. During the Early Pleistocene, the north Mediterranean area and Caucasian Land acted as refugia for warm-loving Pliocene faunal holdovers. The Italian...
The article presents a description of cervid remains from the Middle Pleistocene Acheulean site of Gruta da Aroeira (= Galerias Pesadas) in central Portugal. The assemblage comprises the remains of four deer species: Cervus elaphus, Praedama cf. savini, Haploidoceros mediterraneus, and Dama cf. vallonnetensis, making Gruta da Aroeira the first site...
The article presents a description of a new species of the genus Praesinomegaceros from the Early Pleistocene of Pabbi Hills (Upper Siwaliks) in Pakistan. This is a first record of Praesinomegaceros in the geological past of the Indian Subcontinent. Unlike Praesinomegaceros from the Late Miocene of Central Asia, the Siwalik form is characterized by...
A well-preserved antlered braincase of wapiti (Cervus canadensis) from the Late Pleistocene of Saint-Hippolyte (Puy de Dôme, France) is described herein. The specific morphology of antlers suggests peculiar adaptations to the open landscapes of periglacial tundra-steppe that permitted to identify a new fossil subspecies Cervus canadensis combrayicu...
The palaeontological material from the Dacian Basin provides a complete and well-represented record of faunal succession during the important faunal turnover called the Pachycrocuta event. The present study describes fossil remains of ruminants (Cervidae, Bovidae, Giraffidae) from the Early Pleistocene of Valea Grăunceanului, Fântâna lui Mitilan an...
The article presents the application of K-means clustering algorithm to sorting female and male pedicles of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) from the Paleolithic site of Cosăuţi from Soroca District (the Republic of Moldova). According to the obtained results, 29.8% of frontal bones with pedicles belong to males, while the rest of 70.2% of specimens be...
The article describes the paleobiogeographic history of the modern subfamilies so-called "crown deer" of the family Cervidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in the world from the late Miocene to the late Pleistocene. The study overviews the taxonomic diversity and evolutionary radiation of Cervidae from all zoogeographic realms where this systematic group...
The paper discusses the geographic origin and the cultural context of pearl-shaped beads/pendants from the Late Paleolithic site of Cosăuți. The morphological and biometric characteristics of the pendants reveal the fact that they are made of the upper canines of red deer Cervus elaphus, a species adapted to mild climate conditions. The osteologica...
This article presents a description of new antler remains from five fossiliferous sites (Sardhok, Panjan Sher Shahana, Puran, Jari Kas, and Potha) of the Upper Siwaliks in Pakistan. The systematic study of the antler material revealed the presence of six cervid forms: Metacervocerus punjabiensis, Rucervus sp., Panolia sp., Hyelaphus sp., Praesinome...
Several Late Palaeolithic sites from the Middle Dniester area are characterized by specific artefact associations and archaeozoological assemblages that permit to include them in a particular category of reindeer hunting camps of the Palaeolithic communities. Among the Palaeolithic reindeer hunting camps, the multi-layered site of Cosăuţi has a par...
The old archaeozoological collection from the Tournal Cave (originally reported as Bize Cave) was donated to the National Museum of Natural History from Paris in 1869 by the French palaeontologist Paul Gervais. The small osteological collection contains the remains of reindeer (including the holotype of Capreolus tournalii) and horses. The detailed...
The article presents a preliminary morphological description of the holotype of Mega-loceros giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799) that serves for the description of the species. The article proposes a taxonomical and morphological revision of the nominotypical subspecies M. giganteus gi-ganteus and morphological comparison with other subspecies of M. gigan...
The concept of “East Carpathian Refugium” is largely based on reports on temperate-climate species from the Late Paleolithic sites of Moldova. The present report proposes new faunistic data from the key Paleolithic sites of Moldova that question the presence of some temperate species in the East Carpathian Region during the Last Glacial Maximum. Th...
The Palaeolithic site of Raşcov 8, discovered in the 1950's, was recently subjected to new investigations. It yielded archaeological layers from the Upper Pleniglacial. We used zooarchaeological methods to deepen knowledge about this site. We focused on the taphonomy, the anatomical representation of the different species and the anthropogenic acti...
The Early Pleistocene is recognized as a time of major global climatic and environmental change, including increasing aridity, significant spread of grasslands, and substantial faunal turnovers and dispersals. Importantly, this is the first time hominins are found in Eurasia. Reconstructing the types of environments that existed during this time is...
The article proposes a taxonomical and systematic revision of poorly known cervids from the Late Miocene of Europe that often are included in the subfamily Pliocervinae Symeonidis, 1974. The revision of taxonomic acts demonstrated the priority of Damacerus Khomenko, 1913 over Cervavitus Khomenko, 1913. According to the available data on cranial and...
A well-preserved musk ox talus was discovered during the revision of the old archaeozoological collection from the Upper Paleolithic site of Rashkov 7. This is a first finding of this species on the territory of Moldova and the southernmost record of
Ovibos moschatus remains in Eastern Europe. The musk ox talus is characterized by the same size and...
We here describe new cervid material from the rich Early Pliocene fauna of Priozernoe
situated on the western slope of the lower part of the valley of Kuchurgan River (Eastern Moldova). An important part of this study aims the taxonomy and systematics of the Kuchurgan cervids. A new genus is established for the small muntjac-like cervids from the P...
The new archaeozoological and taphonomical data identify the Middle Paleolithic site of Buzdujeni 1 as a periodic cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) den. The most complete taphonomic evidence on hyena den come from the recently excavated squares K-5 and L-5 of layer 3, but the presence of hyena at Buzdujeni 1 site is also recorded in layers 4, 5,...
On the page 148 of the article "A revision of “Cervus” punjabiensis Brown, 1926 (Cervidae, Mammalia) from the Upper Siwaliks of Chandigarh, India" [Quat. Int. 550 (2020) 147–158], the authorship of the subfamily Cervinae was incorrectly stated to be Cervinae Geist, 1971 instead of Cervinae Goldfuss (1820) that was in the originally submitted manusc...
The Early Pleistocene of Eurasia is marked by significant climatic, environmental, and faunal shifts and is the time during which Homo first appears in the Eurasian fossil record. To better characterize the environments that were available to these hominins, accurate data regarding the faunal composition of eastern European sites are necessary, as...
This article reports the findings from a morphological and demographic analysis of the craniodental remains of the endemic continental deer Haploidoceros mediterraneus from the Late Pleistocene (MIS 5) of the Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona, Iberian Peninsula), the most complete assemblage of this species recorded in Europe. The prese...
Modern Eurasian telemetacarpal deer represent a poor remnant of the rich evolutionary radiation of the subfamily Capreolinae from the past. The evolutionary radiation of capreolines took place during the Late Miocene in the middle latitudes of Eurasia, but their diversity was significantly depleted by the subsequent climate changes.
The multivariat...
This article proposes a revision of the best preserved fossil cervid recovered from the Upper Siwaliks, which, thus far, has been insufficiently described in the literature. The combination of antler and craniodental characters place the deer under study in the genus Metacervocerus, an extinct lineage with a vast Eurasian distribution and a sister...
The article describes a new archaeozological material from the Eneolithic settlement Gordinești II-Stînca goală, collected during the archaeological excavations of the 2017 and 2018 field campaigns. The new material comes from sectors A and B of the excavated part of the archaeological site. In addition to the remains of cattle, domestic goat, hors...
This contribution presents a general account and summary of the research carried out over the past decades on the Quaternary faunas of France. This country is located in the center of Western Europe, and presents distinct topographical features and very varied climatic influences. This paper is the result of collaborative work between French teams...
The article attests the presence of the genus Rucervus in the paleontological record of Europe and presents the description of new species of large-sized deer Rucervus radulescui sp. nov. from the Early Pleistocene of Valea Grăunceanului (Southern Romania) and Rucervus gigans sp. nov. from the late Early Pleistocene of Apollonia-1 (Greece). The des...
The ecological and evolutionary interaction during the last 3 million years between communities of large-sized herbivores (67 species, proboscideans and rhinocerotids excluded) and carnivores (30 species with body mass above 10 kg) from western Eurasia is analyzed. This frame can bring information about the ecologic context of early human dispersal...
Paleobiogeography is proposed here as a helpful source of information on limiting environmental factors and the shape and range of the archaic hominin ecological niche. The cluster analysis of Early Pleistocene ircum-Mediterranean mammal faunas confirms a single way of early hominin dispersals into the Eurasian mainland via Near East. Despite of th...
This article reports antler remains from the Late Paleolithic site of Climăuți II (Republic of Moldova) confirming the presence of wapiti Cervus canadensis in the Late Pleistocene of Western Eurasia. The occurrence of wapiti in the East Carpathian area by 20 ky BP coincides with the local extinction of Megaloceros giganteus, Crocuta spelaea, and Ur...
The article proposes an interpretation of hunting strategy of Late Paleolithic hunters from Moldova based on demographic structure of reindeer remains (sex ratio and proportion of juvenile remains) and reindeer paleobiology and ecology. The obtained results demonstrate a flexible strategy of game procurement of Paleolithic hunters ensuring the opti...
NEW DATA ON SYSTEMATICAL POSITION OF THE GIANT DEER MEGALOCEROS GIGANTEUS (BLUMENBACH, 1799) FROM THE LATE PLEISTOCENE OF MOLDOVA. The aim of present article is to clarify the chronological frame, the systematical position and the paleo-ecological features of the giant deer Megaloceros giganteus from the Republic of Moldova. The comparative study o...
The article describes the early Middle Age horse skeletal remains yielded by the Saltovo-Mayaki archaeological sites from Eastern Ukraine. According to the obtained results, the Saltovo-Mayaki domestic breed represents an improved riding horse with the medium height at the withers, thin and semi-thin metacarpals, elongated phalanxes, moderately sho...
The articler describes an archaeozoological assemblage from Late Eneolithic settlement of Gordineşti II-Stînca goală. The studied osteological material is characterized by low number of remains of wild animals, the predominant position of cattle and small cattle (with apparent importance of Capra hircus among small cattle), sparce remains of horse...
The present paper describes an archaeozoological assemblage from Late Eneolithic settlement of Gordineşti II-Stînca goală. The studied osteological material is characterized by low number of remains of wild animals, the predominant position of cattle and small cattle (with apparent importance of Capra hircus among small cattle), sparce remains of h...
The article presents a description of horse remains (teeth and limb bones) from two Belozerka Culture sites (Late Bronze and Early Iron Age of Southeast Europe) from South Moldova.
The article describes dental and postcranial remains of ancient domestic horses of various individual ages from the archaeological monuments of Belozerla Culture Novosiolovca-1 and Olanesti (Southern Moldova). Upper cheek teeth of the horses under study are characterized by relatively long and variable in shape protocone. Single preserved metacarpa...
A new deer species Praeelaphus australorientalis sp. nov. is described from the Kuchurgan beds dated back to Lower Pliocene (European Lang Mammal Zones MN14 – beginning of MN15). The new species is characterized by a small “Dama-like” body size, relatively short braincase with respect to its breadth, and advanced morphology of four-pointed antlers....
Remains of Bison (Eobison) sp. from Salcia and Ursoaia, and Bison cf. menneri from Cimichioi-III and Hadjimus are briefly described and discussed. The paper also proposes an overview of most important Early Pleistocene bison findings from Eastern and Southern Europe and a discussion of their taxonomy and paleobiogeography.
The combined systematic, morphologic, and demographic study of Late Pleistocene reindeer remains from several Paleolithic sites of Northern Moldova revealed specific for the each Paleolithic monument demographic structure (male/female and adults/juveniles ratios). Ancient layers of Duruitoarea Veche (pre-Mousterian – early Magdalenian?) and Brinzen...
The unusual cranial morphology of the endemic extinct African deer Megaceroides algericus (Lydekker,
1890) is described. Some details of cranial and dental morphology suggest that M. algericus is closely
related to the Eurasian giant deer Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799). The paper presents also a
discussion on paleoecology and functional m...
Early human dispersals from Africa are often regarded in the context of ecological belonging of archaic Homo to the carnivore guild (as a scavenger) and its commensalistic relationship with saber-toothed cats Megantereon and Homotherium. The scavenging hypothesis meets several contradictions: the hominid eco-physiology is ill-adapted for the scaven...
Монография посвящена анализу археологического материала кизил-
кобинской культуры поселений Инкерманской долины. В основе ана-
лиза — материалы недавних раскопок поселения Уч-Баш, а также ар-
хеологические коллекции предыдущих раскопок. Археологический
источник анализируется в контексте реконструкций окружающей
среды, что необходимо для воссоздания...
The seasonal Palaeolithic sites from the middle Dniester valley were reported as kill sites by analogy with the modern "caribou kill sites". These sites yielded abundant remains of the extinct reindeer subspecies Rangifer tarandus constantini that was present in the region under study during the coldest phase of the last glaciation. The excavation...
A subfossil antlered braincase of red deer discovered in the Holocene gravel deposits of Eastern Romania
is described. The morphology of antlers suggests that the studied specimen is related to the Caucasian and
Caspian stags and belongs to the oriental subspecies Cervus elaphus maral Ogilby, 1840. An overview and
discussion of taxonomical issues r...
The article presents a description and analysis of archaeozoological material from Early Medieval site Upper Saltiv (Eastern Ukraine).
This article proposes a brief overview of opinions on cervid systematics and phylogeny, as well as some unresolved taxonomical issues, morphology and systematics of the most important or little known mainland cervid genera and species from Late Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene of Western Eurasia and from Late Pleistocene and Holocene of North Africa. T...
The overview of previously proposed hypotheses on morphological and functional adaptations of the Neanderthal face (an adaptation to the cold climate, a biomechanical adaptation to alternative use of the front teeth in processing materials or to manipulate objects, and a random genetic drift in small isolated populations) showed that none of them a...
The article presents a description of an antlered skull of the large-sized deer Praemegaceros (Orthogonoceros) pliotarandoides (De Alessandri, 1903) stored in the Regional Museum of Krasnodar. The paleobiology of this species, and a hypothesized model of evolution and speciation within the genera Eucladoceros and Praemegaceros are also discussed. T...
The article describes morphology and chronological distribution of late Middle e Late Pleistocene fossil remains of giant deer Megaloceros giganteus from the area adjoining the northern and eastern foothills of the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains and some other regions of Eastern Europe. At list two forms of giant deer are reported from the Late P...
The article describes morphology and chronological distribution of late Middle e Late Pleistocene fossilremains of giant deer Megaloceros giganteus from the area adjoining the northern and eastern foothills of the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains and some other regions of Eastern Europe. At list two forms of giant deer are reported from the Late Pl...
The modern genetic and biomolecular studies advanced significantly the state of knowledge on origin of
domestic horse and gave general outlines of the process of horse domestication. Nonetheless, some important details, like, for instance, the place and the exact chronology of domestication, as well as the direct ancestral form of domestic horse, r...
Paleobiology and eco-morphology of Late Villafranchian bovines from Western Eurasia is little understood, but represents an interest for paleoecological reconstructions and paleobiogeo-graphical studies. However, some taxonomical and systematical questions should be clarified before the discussion of paleobiology. The taxonomy of the so-called “Lep...
The report proposes a revision of poorly known fossil cervid forms and a new look on Late Neogene cervid phylogeny with implication of known already data from mitochondrial and nuclear genetic analysis. Pliocervus matheroni from Late Miocene of Europe is poorly known with unclear systematic position. Some characters (parallel orientation of long pe...
The Plio-Pleistocene fossiliferous mammal sites of the Upper Valdarno Basin (Tuscany, Italy) have been known since Renaissance times. Several mammal collections from there are housed at various Museums and Institutes. Various scientists or “fossil-hunters” collected all this material from Upper Valdarno over a long period of time up to the present...
The article proposes an overview of various points of view on extinction of Late Pleistocene megafauna, discusses the ecological potential of humans as predators, as well as the most probable causes of extinction of megafauna from Northern Eurasia. A special discussion is dedicated to the ecological aspect of extinction of the so-called cave predat...
New osteological material of the endemic deer from Lunel-Viel and l’Igue des Rameaux (France) reveals its evolutionary specialization,
and gives reason for establishing a new genus,Haploidoceros, with a single speciesH. mediterraneus (Bonifay, 1967). The cranial proportions and morphology suggest thatH. mediterraneus is close to the Late Villafranc...
This paper refers to the remains of ruminants originating from the Lower Pleistocene site of Monte Riccio situated at northern part of Lazio (Italy). The assemblage of ruminants from Monte Riccio includes Leptobos sp. (possibly, similar to L. etruscus), Eucladoceros ctenoides (NESTI 1841), and Praeelaphus lyra (AZZAROLI 1992) and represents a geogr...
Paleobiogeography of early human dispersal in Western Eurasia is an interesting but little studied topic, which can shed light over human paleobiology, limiting environmental factors and human evolution. The earliest fossil remains of human beings in Europe are unearthed from Sima Del Elefante (Spain) dated 1.1-1.2 Ma (Carbonell et al., 2008). Arch...
A description of the remains of Leptobos etruscus (Bovidae) and Eucladoceros cf. dicranios (Cervidae) from the Late Villafranchian site of Leu (Valea Graunceanului, Oltenia District, South-East Romania) is given. L. etruscus and E. dicranios are oriental faunal elements which dispersed westward during the so-called "Pachycrocuta event". L. etruscus...
The fossil mammal remains and archaeological context from the multilayered Upper Paleolithic site Raşcov-8 are rendered in the present paper. The Paleolithic stone implements belong to Epigravettian and Epiauregnacian cultures (21,000 – 18,000 years B. P.). The most abundant teeth and bones belong to reindeer - Rangifer tarandus constantini and hor...
The fossil mammal remains and archaeological context from the multilayered Upper Paleolithic site Raşcov-8 are rendered in the present paper. The Paleolithic stone implements belong to Epigravettian and Epiauregnacian cultures (21,000 – 18,000 years B. P.). The most abundant teeth and bones belong to reindeer -Rangifer tarandus constantini and hors...
The paper presents a morphological description of the reindeer fossils from the Upper Paleolithic site of Raşcov-8. The studied reindeer has relatively enlarged cheek teeth and small body size and is referred to the fossil subspecies Rangifer tarandus constantini FLEROV 1934. The studied material from Raşcov-8 represents the earliest occurrence of...
The article describes fossil reindeers from main Palaeolithic sites of Moldova: Duruitoarea Veche, Brynzeni 1, Rascov 7, and Cosauti. Biometrical and statistical analyses of osteological remains revealed presence of several diff erent forms of reindeer: a larger ancient woodland form Rangifer tarandus ssp. from Duruitoarea Veche and Brynzeni 1, a s...
Early Pleistocene remains of bison from Moldova belong to two different forms: a some-what smaller and more archaic form with short metapodials similar to Bison (Eobison) sp. from Apollonia (Greece), and a larger bison from Cişmichioi similar to Bison menneri from Unternassfels (Germany). It is noteworthy that large-sized ruminants from Cişmichioi...
Eucladoceros and Praemegaceros are closely related genera of large-sized and giant deer that spread in Eurasia during Quaternary. Eucladoceros is a primitive genus that contains two species from Europe (E. ctenoides with several subspecies and E. dicranios) and two species from China (E. proboulei and E. boulei). E. proboulei is the most ancient an...
A revision of Early Pliocene deer from Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, and South Russia is proposed in the present study. The following forms of Cervidae are described: Muntiacus polonicus/pliocaenicus (most probably, only one species), Eostyloceros pidoplitscbkoi, Procapreolus moldavicus, Croizetoceros ramosus,"Cervus" warthae," Cervu...
The paper presents description of giant deer remains from Upper Paleolithic (Late Pleistocene) sites of Moldova. The
comparison of size and proportions of dentition and lower mandibles revealed the resemblance of Moldavian with giant deer from
Germany and Holland. Both samples of giant deer share the relatively long upper premolar series. Unlike th...
Hominids of the genus Homo are believed to follow an unusual evolutionary direction of scavenger joining the guild of carnivores (Dunbar 1983; Walker 1984; Blumenschine 1987; Bunn, Kroll 1986; Bunn, Ezzo 1993; Marean 1989; Lewis 1997; Brantingham 1998; Stiner 2002; Brugal, Fosse 2004). Arribas and Palmquist (1999) proposed a model of Homo erectus d...
A model of dispersal, geographical correlation and turnover of early Pleistocene large-sized ruminants is proposed. The geographical configuration of Europe and the gradient of climate continentallity increasing from West to East created conditions for easy penetration of new cervid and bovid forms from Asia. The gradual climate dryness in Europe d...
The mammalian communities show specific ecological structures and evolutionary trends according to the nature of ecosystems strongly controlled by geotopographic and climatic factors. Their evolution is a complex process of interactions, intrinsically connected with biomechanical constrains, physiological and ethological features of species or phyl...
A study of the evolution of the herbivore community during the last three million years in Europe is proposed in this paper. The study includes the analysis of evolutionary changes of systematic and ecological structure (taxa diversity, body mass, diet specializations) related both with eco-physiological and environmental factors. Several biochrono...
A taxonomical and systematic revision of the cervid genus Praemegaceros PORTIS is proposed in the article. The genus Praemegaceros is known from the Pleistocene of Europe, from some Mediterranean islands and from the eastern Mediterranean area. It includes five mainland species and an insular small-sized species. The type species, Praemegaceros daw...
