Arbez L., Mashkour M., Stoetzel E., Darvish J., Chahoud J. Fathi H. Fereidoun Biglari F. Hyrcania without forests? Paleoecology and taphonomic analysis of micromammal remains from the Epipalaeolithic site of Ali-Tappeh (Iran).
Résumé
Caspian south-east seashore is currently characterized by a humid plain rimed by sea in the North and Albroz mountains in the south, which isolate this region from the rest of the Iranian Plateau. It is located at the crossroad between Iran, Turkmenistan, and considered as a biodiversity hotspot because of it specific environment and climatic conditions. Palaeoenvironmental and archaeological history of this region during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition is documented by four different archaeological sites, Hotu and Belt Caves excavated in 1949 and 1951 respectively, Ali Tappeh excavated in 1963 and Komishan excavated in 2003 and 2009. All these sites show very heterogeneous faunal assemblages characteristic of both steppic (Gazelles, Saiga tatarica, Equus hemiones, Spermophilus fulvus) and more forested environments (Sus scrofa, Cervus elaphus, Bos primigenius). Moreover, the impact of Caspian Sea fluctuations, known thanks to specific geological features, is also visible in faunal records with an important number of sea birds and seals during periods of high sea level. But so far no study focused on microfaunal remains recovered in those excavations except a recent ongoing work on spermophiles. The present work aims to compare the evolution of both large and small mammals’ communities from Ali Tappeh in order to precise climatic and environmental changes during Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Taxonomic and taphonomic studies were carried out in order to determine the assemblage’s origin, and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions were performed using indices such as the Habitat Weighting, the Taxonomic Habitat Index and correspondence analyses.