First description of the large mammals from the locality of Penal, and updated faunal lists for the Atapuerca ungulates - Equus altidens, Bison and human dispersal into Western Europe

The Sierra de Atapuerca is well known for the human remains that have been collected from the different localities, but these localities also yielded abundant fossils of other vertebrates, particularly ungulates. The large mammals from a locality called Penal are described and the updated faunal lists of the ungulates and cercopithecids from four localities at Atapuerca are presented. Equus altidens and an early West European Bison occur at Atapuerca. The oldest human remains from Western Europe are from Atapuerca TE9. Human dispersal into Western Europe was probably related to environmental change as detected in the fossil record of large mammals. The dispersal of various species of large mammals, including bison and possibly E. altidens, suggests a temporal extension of open habitats towards the West, which may have allowed humans to spread into the open environments of southwestern Europe. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.