Taphonomic analysis on the Lower Pleistocene Pirro Nord fossil locality (Pirro 10 Site, Puglia, Southern Italy): a depositional model for vertebrate assemblages in a karstic environment.

摘要

Taphonomic analyses have been conducted on the macromammal remainsudfound in Sedimentary Unit 7 of the lower Pleistocene Pirro 10 site of theudPirro Nord locality in Italy. Recent field research has concentrated onudinvestigating the fossil content of this site and the genesis of the karstudnetwork and its related deposits. In the present study, we distinguishudbetween preburial and synsedimentary (during burial) processes in orderudto group the vertebrate remains into different taphonomic categoriesudaccording to their various states of preservation, thus introducing theudconcept of taphorecord—borrowed from invertebrate taphonomy—intoudmacrovertebrate taphonomy for the first time. Element quantification,udevaluation of transport effects, and state of preservation of the skeletaludelements were studied and all elements separated into four taphorecordsudaccording to their relative chronology. The use of taphorecords alsoudimproves the accuracy of the data obtained from the various methods ofudelement quantification. The analysis of bone sorting and orientationudindicates that the fossiliferous deposits originated by water flows carryingudboth fossils and sediments, alternating with phases of carcass accumulationudand reelaboration of bones from previously deposited layers. Theudstudy presented here serves as a proof of concept for the use ofudtaphorecords in analyses of fossiliferous deposits in caves.