The floral and faunal succession of „Cueva del Toll", Spain

The deposits of "Cueva del Toll" near Moya (province of Barcelona, Spain) have been studied pollen analytically.The sequence shows an oscillation between pine forest (up to 80% pine pollen), representing a humid and temperate climate, and open vegetation (only 30% pine pollen), representing phases of dry and warm climate.The same changes appear in the com position of the mammalian fossil fauna, and also in the lithology of the cave deposits.The two temperate and humid phases represented in "Cueva del Toll" are correlated with the Early and Main Würm respectively; the warm and dry oscillations represent the Eem interglacial, the Gött weig interstadial, and the end of Würm.This climatic sequence is in agreement with the Würm sequence of Middle Europe.The leading fossil mammal of the Göttweig phase in this cave is the cave bear; it appears to be most closely akin to the Gailenreuth form in Middle Europe, and differs by its larger size from the Early Würm and interglacial populations.Resumen.Los depositos de la "Cueva del Toll" ; situada en las cercanias de Moya (Provincia de Barcelona, Espana) han sido estudiados con el metodo de los polenes.El corte demuestra una oscilaeiön entre el bosque de pino (las muestras contienen hasta 80% de polenes de pino) representando un clima hümedo y templado y la vegetacion abierta (las muestras contienen unicamente un 30% de polenes de pino) que representa un clima seco y caliente.Las misma?variaciones aparecen tanto en la composicion de los fosiles de la fauna mamffera como tambien en la litologi'a de los depositos de la mentionada cueva.Las faces, templada y humeda, representadas en la Cueva del Toll estan correlacionadas con las epocas principio y medio de Würm.Las oscilaciones calientes y secas representan las epocas del interglacial Eem, la interstadial Göttweig y la parte final de la epoca de Würm.Este lapso climatologico coincide con el de Würm de Europa Central.En esta cueva el fosil predominante de face Göttweig es el del oso de las cavernas, que parece ser el mas proximo forma de Gailenreuth de Europa Central, difiriendose, sin embargo de fauna de la epoca temprana de Würm y de la epoca interglacial, por su gran tamafio. IntroduclionThe cave named "Cueva del Toll" lies about 50 km north of Barcelona and some 5 km east of Moya (c.750 m above sea-level) in the province of Barcelona, Spain.During a short visit there in the summer of 1956, samples of the cave deposits were taken by DONNER in order to find out if they contain any pollen, and, if they do, whether the pollen composition reflects any vegetational changes in the period during which the cave layers were deposited.The faunal succession, as shown by the remains of different mam malian species, could then be compared with the vegetational succession, and the results used for dating the deposits.Cave layers are probably the most suitable deposits for a study of this kind, as they contain enough remains of mammals for statistical purposes.At the same time, some of the fossil mammals were studied by KURTEN.The authors wish to express their deeply felt gratitude to the leader of the excavations in the Toll, Dr. J. F. DE VILLALTA COMELLA, and to his associates, for their great generosity in placing all their resources and material at our disposal, for numerous courtesies extended to us, and for important information supplied during the subsequent work..The work has been supported by grants from the Finnish State Commission of Natural Science."Cueva del Toll" and its remains of mammalian species are described by THOMAS & VILLALTA in the guide for the excursions B 2 -B 3 during the V INQUA Congress in Spain in 1957.Notes by SERRA and FUSTE on the archaeological finds and human remains respectively are also included in the same guide.The present description of the cave and its stratigraphy is based entirely on the guide.The cave, which is formed in Eocene lime stone, has many galleries, but "Galerie Sud" is the only one in which there is cave-earth