engleski

The Upper Pleistocene fauna from Hijenska pećina (Croatia): Identifying the causes of accumulation

Hijenska pećina (“Hyena cave”), an Upper Pleistocene cave site, is located in the Plovanija quarry, north of Buje in Istria, Croatia. After being discovered in 1972, the fossil cave was excavated and described by Mirko Malez, who focused more on the geological features of the cave, only briefly mentioning the paleofaunal composition. Our study deals specifically with the fossil material, which consists of 453 bones, bone fragments and teeth, plus eight hyena coprolites. Twenty different taxa were identified, including large and small mammals and one reptile. Fossil bones and teeth belonging to Crocuta crocuta spelaea are the most common (41% of the total number of identified specimens, NISP), followed by Equus ferus (13.7%), which is mostly represented by teeth, Bos/Bison (7.6%), Ursus spelaeus (6.8%) and Canis lupus (6.5%). Three possible main factors responsible for the accumulation were suggested: humans as accumulators, hyenas as accumulators and an opening in the ground acting as a natural trap. Humans, as being entirely responsible for the accumulation, were eliminated, because from 453 bones present in the assemblage, only one bone (HP365 – Bos primigenius tibia) contains possible cut marks. However, their potential contribution to the accumulation cannot be ruled out. Several criteria were used in order to determine if hyenas were responsible for the accumulation: presence of cub remains, presence of hyena coprolites, gnawing damage on at least 50% of the bones in the assemblage, presence of digested bones, carnivore to ungulate minimum number of individuals (MNI) ratio of 20% or more, 15-45% of hyena remains in the assemblage, limb bones being the most represented skeletal parts, larger minimum number of elements (MNE) of distal epiphyses than the MNE of proximal epiphyses. All of these criteria were fulfilled except one: hyena gnawing damage was found on only three bones. If the possible gnawing marks and gnawing marks from unidentified animals are also assigned to the activity of hyenas, still the percentage of carnivore gnawed bones would be only 7.67%, which is way below the required 50%. However, as there are no indications that the cave used to act as a natural trap, it seems most likely that Hijenska pećina was a hyena den and hyenas were responsible for at least part of the accumulation. Other factors contributing to the accumulation are not excluded.

Hyena cave; Upper Pleistocene; cave hyena; taphonomy

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