Bone remains from the pleistocene deposits in the south chamber of Denisova cave: new evidence

The article provides the results of a study of a single complex of osteological materials from excavations in the South Chamber of Denisova Cave in 2019 and 2020, which allows tracing the dynamics of the paleogeographic environment near the cave during the formation of layers 11-19. The identifiable samples, which account for 6 % of the total number of bone fragments, belong to at least 37 mammalian species. Traces of the food activity of large predators, primarily cave hyenas, are well traced in the taphocenosis of the cave layers. They are particularly clearly traced in the materials from the upper part of the profile. Bones with traces of burning, splitting, and cuts are common in layers 16-18. Based on the fauna of large mammals, during the formation of layers 11-16, the natural and climatic situation near the cave, as a whole, remained quite stable. The types of open, steppe spaces prevailed. In layers 17-19, an increase in the proportion of species offorest and forest-steppe biotopes is observed. At the same time, for these layers, a mosaic landscape characteristic of mountainous territories was noted. The species of open spaces, such as horses, woolly rhinoceros, bison, giant deer, gazelle, saiga, and cave hyena, have been preserved, albeit in much smaller numbers. An astragalus of a very large cave lion was found in layer 19. It belongs, most likely, to the Panthera leo fossilis group of steppe lions, which survived in a number of places in Northern Eurasia to the beginning-the first half of the Late Pleistocene. For the first time in Denisova Cave, the remains of the Kyakhta screwhorned antelope were discovered, including a fragment of a horny core, astragalus and a second phalanx. Earlier in Altai Mountains, remains of this species were known from the Ust-Kanskaya Cave and the Kara-Bom site.