164187 20251127172930.0 doi 10.1016/j.jhevol.2025.103772 sideral 146365 ART-2025-146365 eng Sánchez-Bandera, Christian Paleoecological context of Homo aff. erectus (ATE7-1) at Sima del Elefante (late Early Pleistocene, Atapuerca, Spain) inferred from the herpetofaunal assemblage 2025 The Sima del Elefante cave is one of the archaeopaleontological sites located in the karstic complex of Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), which is a remarkable locality for documenting an extensive sequence of human evidence. Within the stratigraphic sequence of the Sima del Elefante site, Level TE7 has yielded one of the oldest human remains recovered to date in western Europe. A hominin mid-face has recently been discovered (specimen ATE7-1), attributed to Homo aff. erectus. In this study, the fossil amphibian and reptile remains directly associated with this hominin are analyzed, described, and used to perform quantitative paleoecological reconstructions. The resulting herpetofaunal assemblage comprises a total of eight species: five anurans (Alytes gr. Alytes obstetricans/Alytes almogavarii, Pelodytes punctatus, Bufo gr. Bufo bufo, Epidalea calamita, and Rana temporaria), two lizards (small-sized Lacertidae indet. and Anguis fragilis), and two snakes (Coronella cf. Coronella austriaca and Vipera sp.). The paleoecological reconstruction was performed using the Mutual Ecogeographic Range method in conjunction with the Uncertain Distribution Area-Occupied Distribution Area technique to obtain temperature and precipitation estimates, and habitat weighting was used to infer the surrounding environment. The climate of TE7 was reconstructed as cool and humid, with an overall pattern concordant with a present-day continental Mediterranean climate, exhibiting similar temperatures and higher precipitation than today for the Sierra de Atapuerca location. The associated landscape evidenced a more humid environment, primarily made up of woodlands and open humid habitats with aquatic and periaquatic areas. The results obtained provide novel insights into the ecological tolerances of early hominins and thus contribute to the growing body of knowledge regarding their subsistence capabilities and behaviors. Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/E33-23R info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCINN/PID2021-122533NB-I00 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICIN/PID2024-157622NB-I00 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PID2021-122355NB-C32 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Fagoaga, Ana Blain, Hugues-Alexandre López-García, Juan Manuel Núñez-Lahuerta, Carmen (orcid)0000-0002-2882-6061 Blanco-Lapaz, Àngel Galán, Julia (orcid)0000-0002-0818-6909 Moya-Costa, Raquel Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-2405-341X Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-5125-9651 Rodríguez-Álvarez, Xosé Pedro Huguet, Rosa 2000 655 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ciencias de la Tierra Área Paleontología 0 X Universidad de Zaragoza S. Gral. Apoyo Investig. - SAI División: Serv. Transversales 209 (2025), 103772 [17 pp.] J. Hum. Evol. JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION 0047-2484 7608197 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/164187/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2494121 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/164187/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:164187 articulos driver 2025-11-27-15:16:42 ARTICLE