A new Pleistocene cave bear site in the high mountains of the Spanish Pyrenees: La Brecha del Rincón (Huesca, Spain)

In the Pleistocene fossil record, bear remains are common, especially in karstic sites due to their hibernation behaviour. However, these fossils are rare in the Spanish Pyrenees, and even more in a high mountain environment. Now, a new karstic site called La Brecha del Rincón has recently been discovered in the Spanish Pyrenees at an altitude of 2160 m. In a preliminary fieldwork, 105 bear fossil remains have been recovered, mostly corresponding to autopodial bones. Dental remains with taxonomic value are not available, so metapodial bones have been used for our taxonomic study. These bones are short and thick, typical of cave bears, and their morphometric analysis supports their assignment to a species of Ursus deningeri group. This makes La Brecha del Rincón the highest cave bear site in the Iberian Peninsula.