Faunal remains from the Kalamakia Cave (Peloponnese, Greece)

International audienceThe cave of Kalamakia is situated at Areopolis, western coast of the province of Mani (Peloponnese). Localized on littoral, it opens at 2.30 meters above the sea level at the base of a rocky cliff 40 meters in height. Part of a karstic system, caves and galleries have been explored, especially in Areopolis area; a survey program has shown that these caves were inhabited in the upper Pleistocene (Darlas 1996). The surrounding landscape is harsh and rugged, with beach pebbles, and also with extensive pasture areas for bovids and horses. Adjacent to the cave is the Oitylon's bay which was probably a valley in the Quaternary period, when the sea level was lower (Van Andel, Tjeerd and Shackleton 1982; Wilkinson and Duhan 1990).The quaternary filling has been divided into seven stratigraphic ensembles. A large part of the archaeological remains, lithic implements and faunal remains, come from different levels of ensemble IV. The most recent of these levels have been dated at 36 000±1000 years via the Uranium imbalance method (Lumley and Darlas, 1994)