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Lunel-Viel (level 9)
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Basic information
Sample name: Lunel-Viel (level 9)

Sample aka: Mas des Caves

Reference: P. Fosse. 1996. La grotte no 1 de Lunel-Viel (Hérault, France): Repaire d'hyènes du Pléistocène moyen. Etude taphonomique du matériel osseux. Paléo 8:47-81 [ER 3986]
Geography
Country: France


Coordinate: 43° 41' N, 4° 5' E
Coordinate basis: based on nearby landmark

Time interval: Middle Pleistocene

Max Ma: 0.424

Min Ma: 0.191

Age basis: zone

Geography comments: this collection is from a single cave gallery in a large complex, also called Lunel-Viel I or Mas des Caves, near the town of Lunel-Viel at an elevation of 50 m (Brugal et al. 2021) (coordinate based on Lunel-Viel)
assigned to the late Middle Pleistocene based on biochronology, and specifically between MIS 11 and MIS 7 (Uzunidis 2020), which is the basis of the age range

Environment
Lithology: not described

Taphonomic context: carnivore accumulation,cave

Habitat comments: layers 6 through 14 include mixed material thanks to alteration "by gravity and run off phenomena" (Uzunidis 2020)
Acheulean lithic artifacts and hearths are present (Brugal et al. 2021) but they are essentially restricted to layers 1 to 5 (Fosse 1995), and the main accumulation agent was hyaenas based on the "presence of coprolites, gnawed bones... and young hyaena remains" (Fosse 1996)

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates

Sample size: 2786 specimens

Years: 1962 - 1983

Sampling comments: the initial excavation was from 1824 to 1827, but the reported material was collected by M.-F. Bonifay from 1962 through 1983 (Uzunidis 2020)

Metadata
Sample number: 4401

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2023-12-09 22:05:24

Modified: 2023-12-09 11:05:24

Abundance distribution
17 species
3 singletons
total count 2786
extrapolated richness: 25.3
Fisher's α: 2.410
geometric series k: 0.6294
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.5949
Shannon's H: 1.2663
Good's u: 0.9989
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Capreolus capreolus suessenbornensis222 kg browser
"Capreolus suessenbornensis"
Cervidae indet.1650
Cervus elaphus and Eucladoceros mediterraneus
Equus hydruntinus19
Sus sp.26
Equus mosbachensis palustris241
Bison cf. schoetensacki2
Bos primigenius trochoceros565
Stephanorhinus etruscus22
"Dicerorhinus etruscus"
Crocuta intermedia199
"Crocuta spelaea intermedia": valid and not clearly ancestral to anything, see Lewis and Werdelin (2022)
Hyaena prisca2
valid and of uncertain affinities: see Ianucci et al. (2021)
Canis lupus luneliensis4343 kg carnivore
Cuon alpinus priscus514 kg carnivore
"Cuon priscus": see Marciszak et al. (2021, J. Quat. Sci.)
Felis lunensis2
"Felis (Panthera) luneliensis": apparently a lapsus
Panthera spelaea1
"Felis spelaea"
Meles thorali spelaeus1
valid and ancestral to Meles meles, see Madurell-Malapeira (2011)
Lynx pardinus spelaeus511 kg
"Felis (Lynx) cf. pardina" and "Felis (Lynx) spelaea": see Fosse et al. (2020, Paleo)
Felis silvestris silvestris14.5 kg carnivore
"Felis monspessulana": see Fourvel and Latuer (2018, Paleo)
Current reference: Shotwell 1968 (ER 3992)