Pleistocene survey of the Olteţ River Valley, Romania
Romania sits at the gateway to Europe and may have represented an important hominin dispersal corridor; determining whether this region was conducive to hominin dispersals into Europe is therefore critical. In particular, the Olteţ River Valley of Romania has yielded a series of fossil sites that can shed light on mammalian, including hominin, dispersal patterns into Europe during the early Pleistocene. For example, in this region is the site of Grăunceanu, which has yielded the richest collection of mammal fossils in Romania from the Pleistocene, and which is similar in purported faunal composition to the site of Dmanisi. Since 2012 our international research team has been working to undertake new surveys of the Olteţ River Valley to identify new paleontological localities and to reidentify previously excavated localities. .
In conjunction with our survey efforts, we are working to reinventory the Grăunceanu faunal assemblage, updating the species list for this site, and conducting a thorough paleoecological study of this assemblage. This includes taphonomic, ecomormophological, stable isotope, microwear, and mesowear analyses. Combined, these investigations allow us to assess the potential for human dispersal through this region during the early Pleistocene.
Results of our work have been published in multiple peer-review journals and presented at multiple scientific conferences (2013 AAPA, 2015 SVP, 2017 ESHE, and 2023 AABA posters).
Croitor R, Robinson C, Curran S, Terhune CE, Dragusin V, Pobiner B, Popescu A, Petculescu A. 2023. Early Pleistocene Ruminants (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the Dacian Basin (South Romania) before and after the Pachycrocuta event: implications for hominin dispersals in western Eurasia. Historical Biology: 1-49.
Terhune CE, Gaudin T, Curran SC, Petculescu A. 2021. The youngest pangolin (Mammalia, Pholidota) from Europe: Pangolin remains from the early Pleistocene locality of Grăunceanu, Romania. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 41(4), e1990075.
Curran S, Terhune CE, Croitor R, Dragusin V, Fox DL, Garrett N, Ironside LB, Petculescu A, Pobiner B, Robinson C, Robu M, Tanţău I, Ungar P. 2021. Multiproxy paleoenvironmental reconstruction of early Pleistocene sites from the Olteţ River Valley of Romania. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 574, 110445.
Terhune CE, Curran S, Croitor R, Dragusin V, Gaudin T, Petculescu A, Robinson C, Robu M, Werdelin L. 2020. Early Pleistocene fauna of the Olteţ River Valley of Romania: Biochronological and biogeographic implications. Quaternary International 553, 14-33.