The Clark’s Cave bone deposit and the late Pleistocene paleoecology of the central Appalachian Mountains of Virginia

Remains of 142 species of vertebrates, ca 4,984 individuals, and 35 species of invertebrates, ca 5,547 individuals, were recovered from a late Pleistocene "owl roost" in the entrance talus of Clark's Cave in the central Appalachian Mountains, lat. 3805'10" N., Bath County, Virginia, U.S.A. Sixty-four percent of the medium-tosmall-sized mammals represented in the cave remains are now found either farther north or conform in size to present boreal population equivalents (Bergmann's Response) and with the New Paris No. 4, Pa. local fauna. Deposition took place during late glacial times, > 10,000 years B P., and ceased before the boreal-to-temperate, post-glacial floral adjustment was completed at the site. Ptarmigan, Lagopus, and least chipmunk, Eutamias, are added to the late glacial fauna of the Appalachians.