Elsevier

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volume 96, 15 July 2014, Pages 168-179
Quaternary Science Reviews

Recovering data from historical collections: stratigraphic and spatial reconstruction of the outstanding carnivoran record from the Late Pleistocene Equi cave (Apuane Alps, Italy)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.03.012Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Equi Cave historical data were studied for stratigraphic and spatial recontruction.

  • The study is focussed on the outstanding carnivore record from Equi Cave.

  • The spatial analysis is based on 356 remains limited to the non-ursid carnivorans.

  • The distribution of Panthera pardus is evaluated for its unusual abundance at Equi.

  • We remark on the importance of archive data for historical collections.

Abstract

Equi Terme is a hamlet located in northern Tuscany, in Apuan Alps regional Park. An outstanding fossil vertebrate collection housed in Florence is the result of excavations in the Equi cave and shelter during the period 1911–1919. This faunal assemblage (associated with Mousterian artefacts) may be correlated with the middle of MIS 3. All of the specimens recovered at Equi early in the last century were collected with attention to their stratigraphical positions. Detailed field annotation for nearly every specimen allowed us to organize them and attempt a stratigraphical and spatial reconstruction of the fossiliferous deposits.

We present the results of the study of the spatial and stratigraphic distribution of the carnivoran species in the Equi cave and shelter, and re-evaluate the taphonomic agents of accumulation and the fossil distribution within the stratigraphic record. In particular, we evaluated the distribution of Panthera pardus, which, unusually for Europe, is abundant in the Equi cave assemblage.

This analysis highlights the importance of the re-evaluation of historical collections and allows for future comparisons with data from more recent excavations at the Equi site. The analysis also provides an account of the distribution of carnivorans throughout the stratigraphic record. The constant presence and the predominance of leopards and wolves over lions and smaller carnivorans, allow for evaluations of their ethology and may be related to a short period of sediment accumulation.

Section snippets

Introduction and previous studies

The Equi Cave1

Materials and methods

The distribution of fossil remains was studied and the possible reconstruction of the site was created using a database of the historical information from the original labels and early papers, and a grid of the possible distribution of features superimposed on the original drawing and sketch of the cave by De Stefani (1917). Two open source software products were used: LibreOfficeCalc (version 3.4.6.3), for distribution probability analysis, and Inkscape (version 0.48), for map rendering. We

Re-evaluating and organising the historical data

Until the last 30–40 years, palaeontological excavations were usually characterised by the lack of standardised methodologies. In many cases, the sediments were subdivided into single cuts or the field workers just collected fossils, ignoring information regarding the exact locations of findings, the context and/or many other characteristics of the deposit.

An exception in the Italian scenario was De Stefani's methodology. During the excavation, he trained his collaborators to take notes of the

Discussion

The Equi cave and shelter contain a rich deposit that yielded an outstanding record of a Late Pleistocene (MIS 3) vertebrate assemblage. Until now, the fossils and the information regarding the excavations early in the 20th century had not been integrated. Thus the context was essentially lost, and it was impossible compare the early 20th century work with the new research started in 2009. The present study demonstrates the success of the attempt to relocate various fossils in the excavated

Conclusions

In this study, we demonstrate the importance of reconsidering historical materials stored in museums and the importance of the Equi site in the Italian context in terms of its richness in predators and their interactions.

We highlight the importance of a careful analysis of archive data for historical collections. The old collection from the Equi cave (1911–1917) was excavated using a careful stratigraphic approach and attention to their stratigraphic positions of the collected specimen. Merging

Acknowledgements

The revision of the paleontological collection from the Equi cave, is framed within a wider project aimed to the re-evaluation and valorisation of the historical Paleontological collections of the Museum of Natural History, University of Florence.

We are particularly indebted to E. Cioppi and S. Dominici (Geology and Palaeontology section, Museum of Natural History, University of Florence) for access to collections and profitable discussions, and to E. Paribeni (Soprintendenza per i Beni

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