RAPID:Collaborative Research: Excavation of an Underwater Cavern Containing Primates, Other Extinct Vertebrates and Archaeological Remains in Hispaniola-- A Site Under Threat

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

A multidisciplinary survey of the Padre Nuestro cavern, southeastern Dominican Republic is the goal of this research. The cavern is underwater, but its floor was dry at the time of emplacement of extinct vertebrates and archaeological materials. Primates, rodents and sloths originated in South America and had arrived in the Antilles by the early Miocene, but absence of other typical Miocene South American taxa like carnivorous marsupials, armadillos, and notoungulates suggests that a connection between the continent and the islands were intermittent and subject to biotic or cross-water filters. Padre Nuestro contains thousands of loose bones on its floor that so far include many species of native cavioid rodents and several kinds of ground sloths. A skull of an Antillean primate has already been recovered and conserved. A particular emphasis will be the reassessment of the phylogenetic patterns of the primates and sloths using the new material because this contributes important information to the debate over the biogeographic origins of the Antillean fauna: did vertebrates arrive by a filter or via long-distance over-water sweepstakes dispersal and were there a single or multiple dispersal events? In addition, the cavern contains archaeological material that will improve knowledge of the timing and causes of extinction of sloths and primates in Hispaniola, in particular whether extinction was caused by climate change or was induced by the arrival of humans. If the archaeological remains can be shown to be autochthonous and undisturbed since the time of cave flooding, they represent an unusual insight about the culture of some of the earliest immigrants to the Antilles. The improved phylogenetic analyses made possible by the recovery of more complete remains of primates and sloths will allow tests of hypotheses regarding how and when these mammals entered the Greater Antilles. Geochemical analyses will provide the first direct evidence about the local environmental conditions under which these vertebrates lived. The research also contributes significantly to the Museo del Hombre Dominican and assists in training of staff in the conservation of bone preserved under these circumstances. The research is part of the effort to strengthen the fragile status of archaeological and paleontological remains and provide further support for stronger protection measures of this and similar sites.