Carnivores and their prey in the Wezmeh Cave (Kermanshah, Iran): a Late Pleistocene refuge in the Zagros

摘要: WezmehCaveis locatedonthenortheastern edgeoftheIslamabad plain,ahighintermontane valley in the western-central Zagros. In 1999 a disturbed but large faunal assemblage was recovered from this site. The abundant and extremely diverse spectra present at Wezmeh Cave has highlighted importance of assemblage. Carnivore remains constitute bulk assemblage; red fox (Vulpes vulpes) highest number identifiedspecimensfollowed byspottedhyena(Crocutacrocuta),brownbear(Ursusarctos), wolf (Canis lupus), felids (lion, leopard, lynx/caracal wildcat), mustelids (badger, polecat, marten) viverrids (mongoose). Artiodactyls (bovid, cervid, suid), equids, rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sp.) small animals (Cape hare, porcupine, tortoise, snake, birds) are also present. According to U-series dating, site occupied around 70 ka BP through sub-recent periods by carnivores. Amongst rich assemblage, human fossil tooth found dated non-invasive spectrometry gamma dating 20-25 BP. A preliminary zooarchaeological taphonomic study shows that used multiple carnivore species, unique phenomenon Zagros Mountains particular southwest Asia general. Copyright 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.