Recent Analyses of the Faunal Assemblage from the Submerged Cave Site of Hoyo Negro: Implications for Late Pleistocene Human Ecology Research on the Yucatan Peninsula

Summary

In addition to a nearly complete human skeleton dating to the Late Pleistocene, the submerged cave site of Hoyo Negro contains a diverse and well preserved assemblage of extinct and extant fauna from the Yucatan Peninsula. Recent and on-going investigations have focused on the documentation, sampling, and partial recovery of select specimens for description and analysis. Of particular interest are bears of the genus Tremarctos, a yet unnamed megalonychid ground sloth, cougars (Puma concolor), and a possible dog-like canid. Cougars were extinct in North America for much of the Pleistocene but returned north at the end of the last glaciation. We seek to know when these animals died-out and how they are related to North and South American forms of the species. The dog appears likely to be more than 9600 years old and thus may be one of the earliest members of this domesticated animal in the Americas.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2016   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 771