A rich stone tool assemblage is described of the Sangoan-type from a potentially semi-primary site, in association with a well-preserved fauna, and in paleo-environmental context. The site appears to be late Middle Pleistocene and contains a high proportion of small to medium-sized mammals (e.g. rodents, monkeys) deposited in low energy conditions. The environment is suggestive of a fringing woodland or riverine forest contained in a subarid climate. 相似文献
Parmar, V., Magotra, R., Norboo, R. & Prasad, G.V.R., July 2016. Rodent-based age appraisal of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Kalaunta, Ramnagar, Jammu, India. Alcheringa 41, xx-xx. ISSN 0311-5518.
Rocks of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup exposed around Ramnagar town in Jammu, India, have been known for more than 90 years to yield Chinji-equivalent (14.2–11.2 Ma) hominoid fossils. In 1997, the fossil ape Sivapithecus reported near Kalaunta village in the vicinity of Ramnagar was argued to be about 18 Ma old by its discoverers. This had implications for hominoid evolutionary studies, as molecular clock calibrations are commonly based on Sivapithecus first appearance datum (FAD). In a paper published in 2010, the identification of this hominoid tooth was questioned and reassigned to a suid. Recently, based upon the discovery of an indeterminate fossil bovid from the supposedly hominoid-yielding site near Kalaunta, an age estimate between ca 13.9 and 10.8 Ma was provided. As rodent biochronology has proven to be useful in age assignment of upper Cenozoic terrestrial sequences, the age of the fossil-bearing Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Kalaunta is re-assessed based upon newly recovered cricetid taxa. The cricetid rodents from this site comprise Punjabemys downsi and P. mikros. These two species are known to exist in the well-dated Potwar Siwalik Group succession between 14.3 and 12.6 Ma and between 16.3 and 13.0 Ma, respectively. Based on the overlapping temporal ranges of the cricetid taxa and an indeterminate Bovidae (ca 13.9–10.8 Ma) reported previously from this area, an age of 13.9–13.0 Ma is inferred for rocks occurring in the vicinity of Kalaunta. The new finds refute earlier claims of rocks in the area extending back to ca 18 Ma or as young as 10.8 Ma.
The first caviine rodent referable to Galea Meyen, 1832 is described from the late Pleistocene of southern Brazil based on a left dentary with the p4–m3 series. The specimen derives from the Ponte Velha I locality in the Touro Passo Creek (Touro Passo Formation, upper Pleistocene), western Rio Grande do Sul State. The main characters used to assign this specimen to Galea are: anterior area of horizontal crest at the level of prism I of p4; deep anterior area of masseteric fossa; incisor alveolus on the medial face of the dentary extended up to the level of prism II of m2; and presence of cement in the hypoflexid. Currently, the genus has a disjunct distribution, with a group in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, and another in northern and northeastern Brazil. The presence of this taxon in Pleistocene deposits of Rio Grande do Sul State, Uruguay and the Argentine Mesopotamian, where there are no extant representatives of the genus, indicates its wider distribution during the late Pleistocene. 相似文献