Additional vertebrate remains from one of the Late Pleistocene—Holocene Kurnool Caves (Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi) of South India

Abstract

Additional remains of small mammals (rodents—Hystrix sp., Bandicota cf. bengalensis, Millardia cf. kathleenae, cf. Rattus rattus; Lagomorph—Lepus sp.) reptiles (Python sp. and serpentes indet., Varanus sp.), amphibian (cf. Bufo melanostictus) and aves (cf. Gallus gallus) are reported from deposits spanning the last ∼20,000yrs BP of Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi (MCG). In the Late Pleistocene, the area around the Kurnool Caves had a very diverse fauna indicating the presence of wooded grassland, gallery forest and a well-watered landscape. In contrast, today the area is an arid shrubland and only a fraction of the Late Pleistocene vertebrate fauna has survived. The disappearance of several vertebrate taxa was probably due to a very arid phase of the Last Glacial Maxima (LGM). Excessive hunting by prehistoric man largely in Holocene time could have caused the demise of the mammals such as Rhinoceros, Equus, Bubalus, Bos, Boselephas, Antilope and Gazella.