Taphonomical and palaeoenvironmental analyses of the microvertebrate fossil material from the Late Pleistocene cave of Kalamakia (Mani peninsula), Greece

The present study focuses on the microvertebrate fossil material retrieved from the three fossiliferous units of Kalamakia cave dating from ca. 90–25 kya BP, to identify the accumulation agents of the assemblage and the processes that affected it post-depositionally. This was done through the quantification of specific indices described in the literature concerning breakage, digestion and other types of modifications observed upon the surface of the specimens. Furthermore, the Taxonomic Habitat Index was calculated to reconstruct the possible habitat types in the surrounding area. Regarding the results on taphonomy, significant amounts of post-depositional breakage were observed, possibly resulting from trampling and, secondarily, modifications from the occasionally naturally occurring high humidity within a cave. The main accumulators of the microvertebrate assemblage seem to have been barn owls either independently or jointly with long-eared owls and/or owlets. Concerning the habitats possibly present in the area, the existence of mixed habitats varying between relative expansions of shrublands, grasslands, rocky areas and (limited) deciduous forests was identified, while the occasional presence of water bodies was also revealed. Shifts between the percentages of different habitats were not great but could be correlated with climatic events within a geochronological context.