The end of the Pleistocene in south-western Europe: The avian assemblages from Heinrich event 3 to the Last Glacial Maximum in the Prades mountains (north-eastern Iberian Peninsula)

The study of bird assemblages recovered from archaeological sites provides palaeoclimatic and environmental information, as well as data on the formation processes assemblages and the agents that have acted upon them. In this paper, we present the results of palaeontological and taphonomic analysis of seven avian assemblages recovered from two sites located in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula: Galls Carboners (GC; 31,380–31,170 cal. BP) and Cudó (CU; CU107 31,245–24,404 cal. BP and CU105 15,585–10,199 cal. BP). GC has yielded four different assemblages (GC105, GC106, GC107, GC108) corresponding to the Heinrich event 3, with only three different taxa, dominated by the presence of Columba. Most of these remains belong to immature individuals. At CU, we studied two assemblages (CU107–CU105) corresponding to Heinrich 3, Heinrich 2 and the Last Glacial Maximum with a similar taxonomic diversity to GC. Assemblage CU105 exhibits the greatest diversity, and small Passeriformes are the most abundant taxa recorded. Of particular interest is the presence of cf. Pinicola enucleator in CU107, today absent in the area and present in boreal areas. Taphonomic results suggest that the origin of accumulations for both sites (GC and CU) was natural death. In addition, different agents modified these accumulations: small carnivorous mammals and nocturnal raptors affected GC’s assemblages, while nocturnal and diurnal raptors would have been the main predators of the birds documented at the CU site. Despite the differences between the accumulations, Heinrich 3 assemblages from GC and CU show a similar low degree of diversity, dominated by rock-dwelling taxa. This may be related to the harsh environment of the area during Heinrich event 3, and not to a taphonomic bias. The more diverse assemblage of CU105 points to an ecosystem recovery after the LGM.