Study of the Villafranchian large mammal fauna from Karnezeika (Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece) : systematics, taphonomy, palaeoecology
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Date
2023
Authors
Σιάνης, Παναγιώτης Δημήτριος
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Abstract
The Karnezeika locality lies in the southern part of Argolis prefecture and
chronostratigraphically corresponds to the Lower Pleistocene. It consists a small doline formed in
the local limestone, as the substrate is characterised mainly by Upper Triassic / Lower Jurassic
carbonate rocks of the Pantokrator Formation of the Pelagonian Unit. Most likely the site served as
a natural trap which gradually was filled with sediments, rocks and mainly mammal skeletal
material from the wider area transferred there by the actions of water and gravity, thus creating
favourable conditions for its fossilization. The large mammal fossil collection from Karnezeika is
the subject of the current PhD study.
In total, 3358 identifiable specimens have been recorded. Apart from these, there are
also more than 7000 catalogued and recorded specimens of quite small fragments of all kinds of
bone. The large number of fragmented specimens shows that most of them were transported rather
violently to the final place of burial and the transportation seems to have been quite fast since the
bones show no particular signs of weathering nor abrasion; no traces of carnivore activity were
recorded either. All these, in combination with the presence of bones with various Fluvial Transport
Index values, as well as the lack of articulated elements and any sign of bioclastic sorting shows
that the place of death was peripheral to the doline which means that the bones were transported
from an area in close proximity and around the doline.
The large mammal fauna that was determined in the assemblage is vastly dominated by
bovids including Gazella bouvrainae, Gazellospira torticornis, Gallogoral meneghinii and Caprini
gen. et sp. indet., an assemblage which is quite unusual for post-Pliocene Greek localities where
generally a large number of equid specimens occurs instead. Apart from four bovid taxa and an
equid, three different cervid species, the giraffe Palaeotragus inexpectatus, the rhino species
Stephanorhinus etruscus, seven carnivoran taxa, as well as scarce remains of a large cercopithecid
were also determined, rendering Karnezeika as a primate-bearing Lower Pleistocene locality.
The bovid association G. bouvrainae – G. meneghinii – G. torticornis, combined with
the three cervid species, is rather typical for the Middle Villafranchian faunas of Greece (2.6 – 1.8
Ma). In addition, the presence of numerous G. meneghinii individuals is of interest as well, since
this taxon normally constitutes a quite rare element in the Greek fossil record. Moreover, the
Karnezeika assemblage contains several carnivoran and artiodactyls representatives of mixed habitats.
These facts, in combination with the minimal presence of equids, which are represented
only by a handful of specimens and the absence of typical open-landscape predators, most likely
show that the palaeoenvironment of Karnezeika was represented by rocky limestone terrains with
hills and slopes.
Description
Keywords
Pleistocene, Villafranchian, Mammals, Palaeontology