Gopnath
Basic information
Sample name: Gopnath

Reference: A. G. Costa. 2017. A new Late Pleistocene fauna from arid coastal India: Implications for inundated coastal refugia and human dispersals. Quaternary International 436:253-269 [ER 3831]
Geography
Country: India

State: Gujarat


Coordinate: 21° 12' 35" N, 72° 6' 28" E
Coordinate basis: based on nearby landmark

Time interval: Late Pleistocene

Geography comments: "Gopnath is a small fishing village of Talaja Taluka in southernmost Bhavnagar District, about 5.5 km south of the present mouth of the Shetrunji River" (coordinate based on Gopnath Beach)
"the faunal composition, lithics and geological context indicate a broad Late Pleistocene age ~125-12 thousand years ago" so there is no precise dating information
the fossils are from the "carbonate Unit 3" of the Gopnath Formation

Environment
Lithology: limestone

Habitat comments: from "A carbonate aeolianite" that "forms a sea cliff" and specifically a "cluster (~8 x 8 m) of rubble found on the beach"
the depositional context is clearly marine
there are no archaeological features

Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates,turtles

Sampling methods: surface

Sample size: 60 specimens

Sampling comments: "a salvage operation with an improvised sampling strategy... Preference was given to remains which were relatively complete and well preserved... A small portion of the Gopnath fossil assemblage was collected as loose surface finds on the beach" but most were chiseled from "blocks" of sediment
"numerous" Zootecus insularis shells were not counted

Metadata
Sample number: 4180

Contributor: John Alroy

Enterer: John Alroy

Created: 2023-03-24 16:48:00

Modified: 2023-03-24 05:48:00

Abundance distribution
10 species
1 singleton
total count 60
geometric series index: 13.7
Fisher's α: 3.427
geometric series k: 0.7459
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8616
Shannon's H: 2.1309
Good's u: 0.9833
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
Register
Geochelone sp.1
"star tortoise" (Geochelone sensu stricto)
Nilssonia sp.5
Canis sp.11
Equus cf. sivalensis14
Equus cf. hemionus4 grazer
Rhinoceros cf. unicornis6 grazer-browser
Boselaphus sp.5
Bubalus sp.5
Bos sp.6
Sivacobus sankaliai3
type locality