Fish bones are common in Pleistocene cave deposits in Europe. In this paper, we report on fish remains from the Gran Dolina cave (Trinchera del Ferrocarril) in the Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, to increase what is known of the freshwater ecosystems close to the cave. The 19-m-thick section, divided into 11 stratigraphic levels, represents an Early to Middle Pleistocene time span as dated by biostratigraphy, ESR, U-series, and magnetostratigraphy. We focus on the Sondeo South site, excavated from 1993 to 1999, which has yielded 1087 fish bones comprising the following taxa: brown trout (Salmo trutta), the common European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and chub (Squalius sp.). Taphonomic studies suggest that the European eagle owl (Bubo bubo) was the most likely predator responsible for the accumulation. Changes observed in the body size of brown trout through the sequence cannot be attributed to climate change (contravening Bergmann's rule). Our study documents the presence of a pre-mountain river system characterized by permanent, oxygen-rich, relatively cold flowing waters around the Sierra de Atapuerca during Early-Middle Pleistocene times.

鱼骨在欧洲的更新世洞穴沉积物中很常见。在本文中，我们报告了西班牙阿塔普尔卡山脉（Sierra de Atapuerca）的Gran Dolina洞穴（Trinchera del Ferrocarril）的鱼类残留，以增加对该洞穴附近的淡水生态系统的了解。19米厚的断层分为11个地层，代表了生物地层学，ESR，U系列和磁地层学所确定的早更新世至中更新世的时间跨度。我们将重点放在从1993年到1999年发掘的Sondeo South站点上，该站点已产生1087条鱼骨，其中包括以下类群：鳟鱼（Salmo trutta），欧洲鳗鱼（Anguilla anguilla）和and鱼（Squalius sp。）。音速学研究表明，欧洲鹰（Bubo bubo）是最有可能造成这种情况的掠食者。在整个序列中观察到的褐鳟鱼体型的变化不能归因于气候变化（违反了伯格曼法则）。我们的研究记录了山前河系的存在，其特征是在中新世早期，阿塔普尔卡山脉周围有永久的，富氧的，相对较冷的流动水。