干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Gazelle Cave at Tamaris I in the region of Casablanca was discovered as a result of construction work. The cave is a dissolution pocket in marine calcarenite and contains an Upper Pleistocene deposit. Paleontological examination of the large mammal remains of this deposit revealed the presence of 15 species dominated by herbivores. There are also some human remains along with lithic artefacts and a rich collection of non-mammalian vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles and birds), as well as micromammals (Chiroptera, insectivores, lagomorphes and rodents). As yet only the large mammal remains have been studied in detail. The mammalian fauna indicates a semi-arid savannah-type environment. Because the sediments were deposited by natural rather than anthropogenic processes, the taxa in the cave are representative of the faunal spectrum in the region during the time of deposition.