Fossils from the 'Mauerer Sande' - inventory, revision on molars of Elephantidae and palaeocology

Beside the famous mandible of Homo heidelbergensis found in the year 1907, the sand pits around the towns of Mauer and Bammental yielded more than 5.000 fossil remains of a diverse mammalian faunal assemblage. Based on the inventory catalogue created during a project between the years 2004 and 2006 the environment of Homo heidelbergensis will be reconstructed according to geographical, climatic, vegetational, and faunal aspects. For this the taxonomical, taphonomical, paleoecological information of the fossil remains, and their sedimentological surrounding will be analysed. Additionally the molars of the elefantids will be revised. (PhD student: Dieter Schreiber, supervisors: apl Prof Dr. Eberhard „Dino“ Frey SMNK and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stinnesbeck, University of Excellency Heidelberg, no funding).