Prehistoric Europe: Ice Age Megafauna and Atapuerca Discoveries

Chapter 5: Prehistoric Europe's Ice Age Legacy

The Mammoth's Return from the Cold

Buried mammoths, preserved in the icy soil of the tundra (permafrost), are still brought to light by river erosion or human excavation. Not only the bones of mammoths, but in many cases, more or less complete remains of their skin, hair, flesh, and viscera have been found.

Mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) known by our Cro-Magnon ancestors in Iberia were not as tall as today's African elephants, but they possessed formidable defenses and tusks that curled in spirals. Their heads were somewhat pointed. Naturally, their ears were small, adapted to the cold. Woolly mammoths had thick hair for protection from the cold, along with a thick layer of fat under their skin.

The Age of Reindeer and Ancient Art

When the last Ice Age ended, mammoths disappeared with it. Another large, equally hairy mammal, the woolly rhinoceros, also died when the Pleistocene ice melted.

Besides fossils, we have another way to learn about the animals that lived alongside our ancestors: the animals painted or engraved on rock walls (rock art), bone, or ivory, crafted by the Cro-Magnons. Spain and France have the privilege of being the European countries where most manifestations of Paleolithic rock art can be found.

The geographical distribution of reindeer is interesting because they are an indicator species for cold weather and tundra/taiga environments. They are so strongly associated with the last Ice Age that it has come to be called the "Age of Reindeer."

Predators of the Glacial Period

Some of the carnivores of the last glaciation are familiar, such as wild cats, lynx, common fox, and wolf. However, few people know the cuon (or dhole) in Europe, a relative of the latter two.

Both Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons coexisted and competed with leopards and lions. But if Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons are called "cavemen," there is a bear that truly deserves the adjective "cave" as part of its scientific name: Ursus spelaeus, literally "cave bear." These were animals that achieved enormous size, surpassing current grizzly bears.

Atapuerca: A Window into the Past

Atapuerca's Geological Formation

The Sierra de Atapuerca is a large limestone formation. This limestone formed at the bottom of the sea more than 85 million years ago, during the last period (Cretaceous) of the Secondary Era, the age of the dinosaurs. Later, in the Age of Mammals, the immense forces that move the Earth's crust caused the limestone to emerge and deform, forming a small mountain. Once the marine waters had receded forever, erosion leveled the summit of the Sierra de Atapuerca, which now has a flat top with a maximum height of 1,082 meters above sea level.

Fauna and Flora of Ancient Atapuerca

The three sites where most work has been done so far are named Gran Dolina, Galería, and Sima de los Huesos, and they are very close to each other. They contain fossils ranging from approximately one million years to about a quarter of a million years old. The varied fauna that once occupied the ancient Sierra de Atapuerca included:

• A large predatory saber-toothed cat, Homotherium latidens (the size of a lion), which disappeared from Europe half a million years ago.
• Another great feline of that time was the European jaguar, Panthera gombaszoegensis, which became extinct about 400,000 years ago.
• A smaller feline was the lynx.
• Among canids were Vulpes praeglacialis, an ancestor of the arctic fox, and Canis mosbachensis, a small wolf. This canine was large, evolving into the current species of wolf approximately 400,000 years ago.

Let's now discuss plants. Pollen found in the Sierra de Atapuerca tells us that the forests were not unlike those found there today.

The Sierra de Atapuerca is a unique place in the world because it documents changes in climates and ecosystems. Here, the oldest human fossils in Europe have been found, leading to the naming of a new species.