Closing the gap: new data on the last documented Myotragus and the first human evidence on Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean Sea)

Abstract

The chronology of the extinction of the Balearic fossil bovid Myotragus balearicus in Mallorca and Menorca has been under discussion since its discovery in 1909, and especially in the last decades, thanks to the radiocarbon dates that have been obtained from several deposits of the island of Mallorca. Here, we present new radiocarbon dates of M. balearicus bones (including the most recent date ever obtained for the species, 4035 ± 32 BP, 2830–2470 cal. BC) that together with a newly published radiocarbon date for the evidence of the first human presence in the island (introduced Caprinae bone, 3884 ± 36 BP; 2470–2210 cal. BC) allow us to reduce the uncertainty period for the Myotragus extinction (UPME) in Mallorca from 1660 to 620 years (p > 95%) or even to 350 years (p > 90%) and to reject the hypotheses suggesting a climate change–driven (i.e. non-human) extinction of the species. This new scenario points to the causal relationship between the first human arrival and the M. balearicus extinction. The chronological gap between the earliest documented M. balearicus and the first documented human presence represents one of the shortest time periods documented between endemic megafauna and humans on any Mediterranean island.