Cave paleozoology in the Judean Desert: assembling records of Holocene wild mammal communities

Long temporal records of Holocene wild mammal communities are essential to examine the role of human impacts and climatic fluctuations in the configuration of modern ecosystems. We show that such records can be assembled through extensive radiocarbon dating of faunal remains obtained from biogenic cave deposits. We dated 110 mammalian remains from 19 different cave sites in the Judean Desert. We use the dates in combination with archaeological survey data and bone collagen/apatite delta C-13 values to study faunal succession in the context of Holocene climate change and human settlement history in the region. Our results suggest a change in the late Holocene, expressed in fewer observations of Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) and gazelle (Gazella spp.), and an increase of Syrian striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena syriaca), fox (Vulpes spp.), Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) and rock hyrax (Procavia capensis); suids (Sus scrofa) appear for the first time. According to the data distribution, however, the probability of finding a bone diminishes exponentially with time, which implies that the Judean Desert cave paleozoological record is temporally biased. The weight of evidence ultimately favors an explanation of the observed patterns as the consequence of a combined anthropogenic and climatic impact on local food webs.

Automated summary

By radiocarbon dating mammalian remains from different caves in the Judean Desert, combined with archaeological survey data and bone collagen/apatite delta C-13 values, the study examines the impact of Holocene climate change and human settlement history on local food webs. The results suggest a shift in faunal composition in the late Holocene, attributed to a combination of anthropogenic and climatic factors.