Abstract
Spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) remains have been recovered from British Middle and Upper Pleistocene sites at intervals within the period 700–730 ka BP. Morphological studies have suggested that hyaenas of the Last Interglacial sensu stricto (Ipswichian: Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 5e, 130–115 ka BP) and Last Glacial (Devensian: MIS 3, 61–24 ka BP) were two distinct populations, the Ipswichian hyaenas becoming extinct in Britain during MIS 5 and the Devensian ones arriving via a subsequent migration from continental Europe. However, the apparent presence of hyaenas in later MIS 5 deposits has led to the alternative suggestion that there was a southern relict population from which the Devensian hyaenas originated. We obtained ancient DNA (aDNA) sequences from four Devensian hyaena specimens from Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, dated to around 45 ka 14C BP. Each of these four specimens belonged to the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) clade A. This clade is not thought to have been present in Europe until ~360 ka BP, after the initial arrival of hyaenas in Britain. The DNA results, therefore, suggest that there were at least two waves of hyaena dispersals into Britain. The results are consistent with the repeated dispersals into Britain of another Pleistocene social carnivore, Homo sapiens.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the NERC ORADS facility, panel members and staff including Tom Higham and Diane Baker for supporting the 14C dating of the hyaena teeth used in this study, and Mark White, co-director of the recent excavations at Kent’s Cavern, for allowing us to sample teeth from this site. Both Church Hole and Kent’s Cavern are Scheduled Ancient Monuments, and PP thanks English Heritage and HM Government Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport for granting Scheduled Monuments Consent for the excavation of these sites.
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Dodge, D.R., Bouwman, A.S., Pettitt, P.B. et al. Mitochondrial DNA haplotypes of Devensian hyaenas from Creswell Crags, England. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 4, 161–166 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-012-0096-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-012-0096-1