The First True Large Canis lupus? Canidae (Carnivora, Mammalia) from Caves of the Połom Mt (Sudetes, Silesia, SW Poland) and Their Significance in Biochronological Analyses in a Eurasian Context

A verification of materials from museum and private collections was conducted from six caves at Połom Mount, dating from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene, and seven rock shelters from nearby Miłek Mt, dated to MIS 2–1. The analysis revealed the presence of five canid species and several of their associated chronosubspecies. Lycaon lycaonoides from the Południowa Cave and Cuon alpinus fossilis from Wschodnia Cave were the least frequently represented, with single finds. Canis lupus, the most abundant, is known from nine sites dated to MIS 8–1. Among these, the finds from Naciekowa, Obok Wschodniej, and Wschodnia Caves stand out, representing some of the oldest and first appearances of large-bodied wolves in Europe in MIS 8. These records document the eastern migration of the species. Canis lupus from these sites is only slightly smaller in size and differs slightly morphologically, although the scale of these features is like that of the contemporary Canis lupus lupus from Silesia. It represents a slightly lower level of evolutionary development, and its morphology still displays some features of Canis lupus lunellensis, although their scale of development is smaller. Given the enormous metric and morphological diversity of extant Canis lupus lupus, and comparing the analysed material from the Naciekowa, Obok Wschodniej, and Wschodnia Caves with several late Middle Pleistocene European sites dated MIS 10–6, the material from these sites was classified as belonging to Canis lupus lupus or Canis lupus ssp. Although several chronosubspecies were established in the MIS 9–6 period, the only reliable criterion, according to the authors, was size, which was used rather arbitrarily to create new chronosubspecies. The enormous variability of Canis lupus, as mentioned above, or local, geographic, and environmental conditions, were not considered. The analysis revealed no basis for classifying the material from the Naciekowa, Obok Wschodniej, and Wschodnia Caves as anything other than Canis lupus lupus. Only bones from the Północna Duża Cave belong to a particularly great and robust Canis lupus spelaeus, a member of the mammoth steppe fauna. These morphological features were specialised adaptations for hunting and scavenging large ungulates and were associated with processing frozen carcasses. Remains of Vulpes vulpes, the second most abundant canid species in Sudetic caves, were found in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene horizons of many localities. On the contrary, Vulpes lagopus is a rare faunal element of the Sudetic paleoassemblages. Specimens of both species from Sudetic caves are large and robust but fall within the upper range of variability of the species from the Late Pleistocene of Eurasia. Similarly, no particular morphological differences have been found between the Late Pleistocene, Holocene, and extant Silesian Vulpes vulpes and Vulpes lagopus. The accumulation and deposition of canid remains in Sudetic caves was rather incidental because of abiotic factors or carnivore activity. Direct proof of human exploitation of canids is marginal.