DIVJE BABE I. Upper Pleistocene Palaeolithic site in Slovenia
Part I: Geology and Palaeontology

14. Stable isotopes and the metabolism of cave bear from Divje babe I

Erle NELSON, Anders ANGERBJÖRN, Kerstin LIDÉN and Ivan TURK

Abstract

Isotopic analyses of fossil bones of the extinct cave bear indicate that this animal was a hibernator with the same unusual metabolic processes as some modern bear species. This finding provides useful biological and archaeological information on an extinct species, and the methods themselves may prove generally useful in studies of the metabolisms of modern bears, other hibernators and perhaps of starving animals.

<<< The average carbon (a) and nitrogen (b) isotope ratios for the different age classes of the bears. The bar on each point gives the measured standard error for that class, with the exception of the nitrogen result for age-class IV, which gives the range for the two measures made.

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2007, (Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae, 13), 480pp, 10 colour photoogaphs, 178 b-w drawings, photoogaphs and maps, 89 tabels and 38 annexes; 20 x 29 cm, hardcover, ISBN 978-961-254-019-7.

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