Fig 1.
Location of the Sima de los Huesos in northern Spain.
Inset map shows the three localities from which specimens derive (i.e., Trinchera Dolina, Trinchera Galería, Sima de los Huesos) highlighted in gray.
Fig 2.
Photograph of laser ablation scans on the hominin teeth.
A, canine AT-825; scans begin at the occlusal surface and are composed of six to eight total laser shots (four shots in two rows), except for the last scan, which is composed of nine shots in a single row. B, incisor AT-146; scans begin at the occlusal surface and are composed of six to eight shots (three to four shots in two rows). Shots from the single vertical scan (11 shots for AT-825, 13 for AT-146) are visible on the both hominin teeth to the right of horizontal scans on each photo.
Fig 3.
Comparison of average laser ablation carbon isotope values (A) to values obtained by the bulk sampling technique (B) for specimens analyzed by laser ablation in this study.
Non-hominin bulk sampling data from [31] (Garcia Garcia et al., 2009). Line represents mean value, while boxes represent one standard deviation from mean. Results show a similar pattern between the laser ablation and bulk sampling data.
Fig 4.
Laser ablation stable carbon isotope data for specimens analyzed in the study.
A, hominin canine AT-825. B, hominin incisor AT-146. C, Cervus elaphus samples: open circles, molar ATA88-TGIIIa- -F21-43; closed circles, lower third molar ATA04-TD10-J21-234. D, Ursus deningeri samples: open squares, left lower first molar SH97-U14-137-Arcillas; closed squares, lower canine SH02-R17-Brecha; diamond, left lower first molar SH02-R/S-16/17-Arcillas. Symbols are larger than the precision (<0.3‰) for each scan.
Table 1.
Taxon, specimen number, element, number of laser isotope scans, and stable carbon isotope values for samples included in this study.
Fig 5.
Comparison of stable carbon and oxygen isotope data of hominins from this study with previously published data of contemporaneous fauna from the Middle Pleistocene of the Sierra de Atapuerca [31] (Garcia Garcia et al., 2009).
Table 2.
Comparison of stable carbon isotope values obtained from laser ablation including the multiple serial laser scans and single vertical scan (this study), and the more traditional single bulk sampling method ([32]; this study).