The Upper Pleistocene brown bear (Carnivora, Ursidae) in the Zagros: Evidence from Wezmeh Cave, Kermanshah, Iran

• Published in: Annales de Paléontologie
• Main Authors: Monchot, Hervé, Mashkour, Marjan, Biglari, Fereidoun, Abdi, Kamyar
• Other Authors: ORIENT ET MÉDITERRANÉE : Textes, Archéologie, Histoire (OM), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Équipe Mondes sémitiques (OM-MS), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Archéozoologie, archéobotanique : sociétés, pratiques et environnements (AASPE), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Center for Paleolithic Research, National Museum of Iran, Shiraz University (Shiraz University )
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Brown bear; Ursus arctos; Skeletal representation; Ageing; Biometry; Zagros Mountain; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences
• Online Access: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03959763; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annpal.2019.102381

International audience While bears (Ursidae) are well represented in Western Europe and the Caucasus during the Pleistocene, bear remains from this period are rare in Southwest Asia. Only a limited number of sites, both natural and archaeological, have yielded evidence of brown bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758). Skeletal remains for this species are often represented by a limited number of elements. The discovery of 192 remains identified as brown bear in Wezmeh Cave (Kermanshah Province, Iran) is exceptional. This paper presents a detailed description of the Wezmeh osteological assemblage, which confirms that U. arctos was already present in Zagros during the Upper Pleistocene.