The lion-bull iconography during the Achaemenian period of ancient Persia has generated different theories of astronomicaland seasonal events besides the suggestions that it could be the symbol of the time cycle of the day, with lion representingthe sun and bull the night. However, the present paper draws the reader’s attention to the hitherto unexplored angle ofzoology to understand physiognom...

Seagrass habitats exhibit high structural variability at local (<1 to 10s of m) and landscape (100 to 1000s of m) scales, which is closely linked with physical setting. In this study, we conducted 2 spring and 2 fall field surveys in 1991 and 1992 over a 25 km long portion of Core and Back Sounds, North Carolina, USA, to relate macrofaunal abundance to measures of seagrass landscape structure a...

The Magdalenian of southwestern France has long been renowned for the frequency with which associated faunal assemblages are dominated by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). The site of Grotte XVI (Dordogne, southwestern France) is no exception: 94% of the Magdalenian ungulate assemblage at this site is provided by reindeer. However, this figure represents the endpoint in a steadily increasing progre...

The newly recognized Konservat-Lagerstätte of Ettling (Bavaria), field site of the Jura-Museum Eichstätt (JME), is unique among Late Jurassic plattenkalk basins (Solnhofen region) in its abundant, extremely well preserved fossil vertebrates, almost exclusively fishes. We report actinopterygians (ginglymodins, pycnodontiforms, halecomorphs, aspidorynchiforms, "pholidophoriforms," teleosts); turt...

Recent discoveries at the new hominin-bearing deposits of Malapa, South Africa, have yielded a rich faunal assemblage associated with the newly described hominin taxon Australopithecus sediba. Dating of this deposit using U-Pb and palaeomagnetic methods has provided an age of 1.977 Ma, being one of the most accurately dated, time constrained deposits in the Plio-Pleistocene of southern Africa. ...

Reconstructing ancient diets and the use of animals and plants augment our understanding of how humans adapted to different environments. Yunnan Province in southwest China is ecologically and environmentally diverse. During the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, this region was occupied by a variety of local culture groups with diverse subsistence systems and material culture. In this paper, we...

Taphonomic modifications on animal bones have the potential to provide a wealth of information on the depositional histories of faunal assemblages. However, certain modifications have received little attention and their interpretation remains complex due to their varied or uncertain aetiology. This has hindered progress in approaches to taphonomic research and it remains relatively rare that a ...

Analyses and interpretations of the human behavioral significance of frequencies of cut-marked mammal bones have been ongoing for at least 50 years. Many of these studies focus on determining the so-called ‘‘butchering pattern.’’ Few analysts comment on the tremendous range of variation in frequencies and anatomical distributions of cut marks across multiple assemblages of remains of a taxon. S...

Here we analyze the fossil remains of Castor fiber from Middle Pleistocene site Gruta da Aroeira, in Almonda karst system, Tagus basin (Torres Novas, Portugal) and discuss archaeological implications presence beavers region. The system has been backdrop for human evolution Portugal, because there are different localities, ages, to Holocene, with hominins as well faunal remains. Beaver fossils h...

Citation: Cruaud P, Vigneron A, Pignet P, Caprais J-C, Lesongeur F, Toffin L, Godfroy A and Cambon-Bonavita M-A (2015) Microbial communities associated with benthic faunal assemblages at cold seep sediments of the Sonora Margin, Guaymas Basin. Front. Mar. Sci. 2:53. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2015.00053 Microbial communities associated with benthic faunal assemblages at cold seep sediments of the Sonor...