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Caves provide a wealth of information about past life, particularly in the form of skeletal remains from vertebrates. Of these remains, large mammals are typically the most obvious and are therefore often reported by cavers. Such material generally ranges in age from relatively recent to the Pleistocene, otherwise known as the Ice Ages.
While such remains can teach us about the lifeways of extinct mammals, such as flat-headed peccaries (Platygonus compressus), dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus), giant short-faced bears (Arctodus simus), and others, that information is only a small part of the ecological story recorded in caves and their sediments. Fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and small mammal remains are typically much more abundant in cave deposits, but because of their size, are often overlooked.
This presentation focuses on finding and recognizing small vertebrate remains in caves, particularly small mammals. Of these groups, small mammals are generally the easiest to identify to species level, and their occurrences can be highly informative in terms of climatic and environmental conditions of the past.
Olivia Williams, Blaine W. Schubert, Shay Maden, and Davis Gunnin