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Fauna of the Mukhkai 2 site
The Early Pleistocene site of Palan-Tyukan (MNQ18, ca 1.85 Mya) is located in Transcaucasia, northwestern Azerbaijan. More than 300 mammalian bones were laid close to each other in a 25 m² lens-like accumulation, in a stratum of normally magnetised (the upper part of the Olduvai subchron) yellowish-grey Lower Apsheron loams. The Palan-Tyukan fauna includes two species of sabertoothed cats. The medium-sized sabertoothed cat remains are ascribed here to Megantereon cf. cultridens. The large size of the massive fossil ulna from Palan-Tyukan is comparable to that of a broadly lion-sized felid. We attribute the bone to the species Homotherium cf. crenatidens. The morphological characters and the size of the Panthera remains from Palan-Tyukan suggest its similarities with the P. gombaszogensis remains from Olivola, Upper Valdarno and Dmanisi localities (the initial phase of Early Pleistocene). The occurrence of P. cf. gombaszogensis in Palan-Tyukan provides information on stratigraphic range of these taxa: it represents one of the earliest records of the genus Panthera in all of Eurasia. The hyaenid remains are ascribed here to Pliocrocuta perrieri. A Feliformia community of the Palan-Tyukan type presents evidence of the wider variety of environments ranging from wooded areas and savanna landscape.
The Early Pleistocene site of Palan-Tyukan is located in Transcaucasia, northwestern Azerbaijan. More than 300 mammalian bones were laid close to each other in a 25 m2 lens-like accumulation, in a stratum of normally magnetised (the upper part of the Olduvai subchron) yellowish-grey Lower Apsheron loams. The present study is based on the analysis of the Equidae and Suidae remains. The taxonomic scenario of the Early Pleistocene Equidae is intricate and has been a matter of long debate with a multitude of hypotheses. The small-sized horse remains from the locality are ascribed here to species Equus (Allohippus) senezensis. The species likely used here are mostly open landscapes for their main habitat. The main conclusion about the Suidae remains from Palan-Tyukan was reached after a detailed morphological and metrical analysis. The fossil material is here referred to Sus strozzii. Seemingly, during the initial phase of the Early Pleistocene the species lived in humid subtropical Transcaucasian riverine forests and swamps. An Equidae/Suidae community of the Palan-Tyukan type presents evidence of the wider variety of environments ranging from wooded areas including bodies of water to scrub and even savannas as a landscape in a relatively humid subtropical climate.
The origin of man on Earth is directly associated with determining the directions of the flow distribution of ancient man dispersal to adjacent regions. In such studies, landscape and climatological changes are mainly traditionally analyzed. We suggest that regional tectonic-geodynamic factors played a dominant role in the character of dispersal along with the above factors. The African-Levantine-Caucasian region is one of the most geologically complex regions of the world, where collisional and spreading geodynamics processes converge. We determined an essential influence of the Akchagylian hydrospheric maximum (about 200 m above the mean sea level), limiting the early dispersal of hominins from Africa to Eurasia for the first time. We propose that the Levantine Corridor emerged just after the end of the Akchagylian transgression and the landscape forming in the Eastern Mediterranean. The movements between the Dead Sea Transform and the boundary of the Mesozoic Terrane Belt carbonate platform formed this corridor location. All the mentioned events around (and in) the Levantine Corridor have been studied in detail based on the combined geodynamic, paleogeographic, and paleomagnetic analyses performed in northern Israel (Carmel Uplift and Galilee Plateau).
Further landscape evolution was largely determined by the geodynamic behavior of the deep mantle rotating structure occurring below the central part of the region under study. Careful studies of the Evron Quarry geological section indicate that it is a unique site for dating marine and continental archaeological sequences. It sheds light on the early dispersal of hominins along the Levantine Corridor.
Résumé
Le présent article a pour objectif de présenter les résultats d’études de la collection paléontologique issue du site de Muhkai 2 (Daghestan central, Russie). Actuellement, elle est constituée de 2508 ossements déterminés, attribués à 19 espèces de mammifères. Le gisement résulte probablement d’une mort naturelle des animaux. Il est déterminé que toutes les espèces livrées par le site de Muhkai 2 caractérisent des paysages ouverts ou semi-ouverts. L’âge géologique estimé du site est compris entre 2,1 et 1, 77 Ma.
The results of study of faunal materials unique for the north-eastern Caucasus are published, deriving from layer 80 of the Oldowan site of Muhkai II. Twenty-six specimens of four species of carnivorous mammal and six species of herbivorous mammal were identified in this material. In addition, the remains of small mammals, reptiles and amphibians were identified, which are indicators for the dating of the assemblage and the establishment of the specific characteristics of the natural environment at the time of usage of the Oldowan site. While in the modern day the investigated region consists of a belt of medium high mountains, during the chronological period under study open landscapes of savannah type with small areas of forest vegetation dominated. Based on a combination of data from palaeomagnetic analysis and faunal determinations, the time of existence of the complex is established as no later than the lower limit of the Olduvai episode during the Matuyama palaeomagnetic epoch.
Cet article présente les résultats de fouilles et de recherches multidisciplinaires sur le site extraordinaire Muhkai II d’Oldowan, dans le Nord du Caucase (république du Dagestan, Russie) de 2008 à 2012. Les matériaux archéologiques et paléontologiques, de même que les résultats d’analyses paléomagnétiques et palynologiques obtenus à partir de 34 niveaux du site, sont ici présentés. Tout ceci fournit l’opportunité d’une nouvelle approche à propos de l’itinéraire et de l’époque des premiers peuplements humains dans les moyennes latitudes de l’Europe occidentale, incluant l’Europe sub-orientale. D’après les résultats obtenus, leur installation remonterait à environ 2 Ma BP et la trajectoire de migration a été localisée le long du rivage occidental de la mer Caspienne.
Саблин 2016б -Саблин М. В. Фаунистические остатки крупных млекопитающих из слоя 80 стоянки Мухкай 2 (Центральный Дагестан
- Х А Амирханов
- Северный Кавказ
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Саблин 2016б -Саблин М. В. Фаунистические остатки крупных млекопитающих из слоя 80
стоянки Мухкай 2 (Центральный Дагестан; раскопки 2009-2012 гг.) // Там же. С. 221-233.
Vekua 1995 -Vekua A. Die Wirbeltierfauna des Villafranchium von Dmanisi und ihrebiostratigraphische Bedeutung // Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseum
Vekua 1995 -Vekua A. Die Wirbeltierfauna des Villafranchium von Dmanisi und ihrebiostratigraphische Bedeutung // Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseum. 1995.
Bd. 42 (1). S. 77-180.