BALEARIC PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY

 THIS IS A BRIEF INTRODUCTION 
TO THE RICH  PREHISTORY OF THE SPANISH BALEARIC 
ISLANDS 

MYOTRAGUS BALEARICUS

is the extinct, endemic Pleistocene antelope-gazelle, part of some 1500 specimens of the animal and many thousands of the islands microfauna found in the Cave of Muleta on Mallorca. The animal was thought to have disappeared some 40,000 years ago, like the hairy mammouth, sabre-tooth tiger and cave hyena during the Last Great Glaciation. Excavations in Muleta and Matge have shown it survived until the coming of humans to the islands around 6000 BC. and became extinct as late as 3000 BC , as a direct and indirect result of the early settlement of the island along with the importation and competition with mainland , domestic species.

The Muleta cave deposit spans some 250,000 years for which there is an unbroken stratigraphical and chronological record that has over 50 levels and 45 dates including Palaeomagnetic, RAA, Uranium Thoriaum and Radiocarbon readings.

(a CD ROM is available and for sale from the DAMARC Museum)

Myotragus Balearicus Specimen During Excavation of the Cave of Muleta

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Operational,contextual and Methodological CD ROMS and In-House Publications
are available for sale


See EARTHWATCH INTERNATIONAL: www.earthwatch.org/
If you are interested or have comments, requests or suggestions
e-mail me at damarc@redestb.es or william.waldren@prm.ox.ac.uk

Field Mailing Address: Deya Archaeological Museum Research Centre,
Deya, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain

Academic Mailing Address: Donald Baden Powell Quaternary Research Centre
Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, Oxford OX2 6PN, England