Abstract
Every cave has the potential to be a repository of Pleistocene and older bones and past life. The Greenbrier Valley Karst in particular has a rich repository of late Pleistocene faunal remains. Cave entrances lend themselves to be nesting places for birds of prey who deposit the bones of their meals onto cave floors. The very nature of sinkholes and surface pits creates natural traps for animals. Streams are a source for depositing animals in caves where they die and are buried in cave sediments. Caves are also used as dens for a variety of extinct and living animals that died or left the remains of their prey. The unique environment of caves contributes to the entrapment and preservation of Ice Age bones.
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Garton, E.R., Grady, F.V. (2018). Pleistocene Vertebrates from Greenbrier Valley Caves. In: White, W. (eds) Caves and Karst of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65801-8_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65801-8_20
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