Through time Iberian Ursus spelaeus Ros. Hein. cheek-teeth size distribution

Abstract

This paper deals with a metrical comparison of cheek-teeth length of Ursus spelaeus Ros.Hein. Iberian population representatives. Spanish cave bear localities are grouped in four different areas, Torres 1989) which we can tentatively suppose were connected during palaeoenvironmental optimi periods, but were isolated during the most of their existence. It is possible to interpret that the cave bear population was on borrowed time in the Iberian Peninsula, in fact at the species border, being strongly affected by sudden palaeonvironmental worsenings and growing human (middle and lower Palaeolithic representatives) pressure. In any case to compare dental sizes was a process full of uncertainties because of the lack of radioactive datings. Sex-dimorphism and sizetrends were the origin of constraints too.