The hyena den of Cueva Victoria (late Early Pleistocene, Spain): additional evidence of the activity of Pachycrocuta brevirostris and a discussion on hyenas foraging on seals in the Pleistocene of Mediterranean Europe

Abstract

Cueva Victoria is a paleontological site of late Early Pleistocene age (ca. 0.9 Ma) located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (Cartagena, Region de Murcia), which yielded diverse and abundant fossil remains, especially of large mammals. This accumulation is regarded as mainly deriving from the action of the giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris, which used the cave as a den. Here, we present some preliminary taphonomic information deriving from the study of a portion of the large mammal collection from Cueva Victoria, including formerly uncatalogued material collected since the 1980s, which has not been considered in previous research. The study of this material started in 2018, when, owing to a suspension of the excavation activities in the cave, permissions were obtained to examine the uncatalogued specimens recovered during previous campaigns. Alongside a large number of remains of terrestrial mammals such as equids and cervids, Pachycrocuta brevirostris carried into the cave remains of groups uncommon in continental settings, such as marine mammals (cetaceans, seals). Beginning with this case, with then discuss the relevance of hyena-seal interactions in the Pleistocene of Europe in terms of ecology, as well as of seal documentation in the fossil record. From a critical review of the available evidence, Cueva Victoria stands out as a clear example of the consumption of seal by hyenas, with another likely case being represented by the much younger site of Lunel-Viel (late Middle Pleistocene, France). In other known cases of co-occurrence of hyenas and seals, the presence of seals is either due to other factors (e.g., hominins, deposition of marine sediments) or its origin cannot be ascertained for sure.