Apidima Cave A: Middle Pleistocene - Late/Upper Pleistocene, Greece

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae
Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus 1758)
1 specimen
Mammalia - Hippopotamidae
Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus 1758
1 specimen
H. amphibius antiquus
Mammalia - Cervidae
Dama dama (Linnaeus 1758)
4 specimens
Mammalia - Bovidae
Capra ibex Linnaeus 1758
8 specimens
Mammalia - Primates - Hominidae
Homo sapiens Linnaeus 1758
2 specimens
    = Homo neanderthalensis King 1864
Harvati et al. 2019
Apidima 2 (also referred to as LAO 1/S2)
see common names

Geography
Country:Greece State/province:Lakonia County:Mani Peninsula
Coordinates: 37.0° North, 22.6° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:37.0° North, 22.6° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Time
Period:Quaternary Epoch:Pleistocene
10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
*Period:Middle Quaternary - Middle - Late/Upper Quaternary *Epoch:Middle Pleistocene - Middle - Late/Upper Pleistocene
Key time interval:Middle Pleistocene - Late/Upper Pleistocene
Age range of interval:0.78100 - 0.01170 m.y. ago
* legacy (obsolete) database fields
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy comments: The Apidima caves are karstic formations within the Middle Triassic-Late Eocene limestone (Plattenkalk) of depth 500m, from 4m to 24m above sea level, in a vertical zone of depth 20m. Very thick and cohesive breccia up to 23m above sea level.
Dated using ESR on travertine calcite and fossils - two samples with dates of 250-450,000 and 200-300,000BP.
"As the Apidima fauna is stratigraphically mixed, careful interpretation is required"
Lithology and environment
Lithology description: Quaternary terrestrial deposits are represented, in some places, by very cohesive cemented breccias, sometimes with fossils; and scree and talus cones compacted during the Mindel, Riss and Wurm. The Apidima caves are karstic formations within the Middle Triassic-Late Eocene limestone (Plattenhalk).
Environment:cave
Geology comments: temperate climate, with mixed and variable steppe like during sea regression, interrupted by forests (mainly of coniferous trees, wild olive trees, pistachio and other Mediterranean flora).
Taphonomy
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Articulated whole bodies:some
Disassociated major elements:many
Disassociated minor elements:many
Encrustation:occasional
Feeding/predation traces:tooth marks
Temporal resolution:time-averaged
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:some macrofossils
Collection methods:bulk,field collection
Collection size:20000 specimens
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collection method comments: Total of 20,000 specimens refers to all four cave sites. Material stored in the Museum of Anthropology, Athens University
Taxonomic list comments:rodent and bird remains are also mentioned
Metadata
Database number:32059
Authorizer:A. Behrensmeyer, E. Vlachos Enterer:H. O'Regan, D. Reed, E. Vlachos
Modifier:H. O'Regan Research group:PACED
Created:2003-06-03 13:49:30 Last modified:2003-08-12 07:03:06
Access level:the public Released:2003-06-03 13:49:30
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

8611. E. Tsoukala. 1999. Quaternary large mammals from the Apidima Caves (Lakonia, S. Peloponnese, Greece. Beitraege zur palaeontologie 24:207-229 [A. Behrensmeyer/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]

Secondary references:

71674 K. Harvati, C. Roding, A. M. Bosman, F. A. Karakostis, R. GrĂ¼n, C. Stringer, P. Karkanas, N. C. Thompson, V. Koutoulidis, L. A. Moulopoulos, V. G. Gorgoulis and M. Kouloukoussa. 2019. Apidima Cave fossils provide earliestevidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Nature 571:500-504 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]