First data on the Late Quaternary microvertebrate faunas from Rhafas Cave (Morocco): palaeoenvironmental and palaeobiogeographic implications
Résumé
Terrestrial microvertebrates found in archaeological and palaeontological contexts are well known to be good indicators of palaeoenvironments and climate changes over time. Recent excavations performed at Rhafas Cave in 2008 and 2009 allowed the recovering of microvertebrate remains dating to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The main objective of the present work was to evaluate the "microfaunal potential" of the site. Globally, the bone concentration is relatively low, but the diversity is interesting. A preliminary study of selected samples led to the identi cation of around 764 remains (MNI=147) belonging to more than 20 species of rodents, shrews, elephant-shrews, bats, amphibians, lizards and snakes. The global palaeoecological
signal is semi-arid with the maintenance of water ponds in the vicinity of the cave. If the majority of the identi ed species still inhabit eastern Morocco today, some others are rare or do not occur anymore in the area, leading to interesting palaeoenvironmental and palaeobiogeographic inferences concerning both faunal and human populations.