The End of Magdalenian in Andalusia: Cueva de Nerja (Spain)

The Solutrean - Magdalenian Transition: a view from Iberia

The paper examines the Upper SolutreaneArchaic Magdalenian/Badegoulian succession on the base of lithic and bone tool production, chrono-stratigraphic data and radiocarbon dates from the Cantabrian and Mediterranean regions of Iberia, mainly the areas of Asturias and Valencia (Spain). The discussion considers a reduced number of variables (characteristic stone tools, bone points and decoration techniques) and highlights the elements in common. The analysis concerning the transformation of lithic production at Cova del Parpallo provides new data for the Upper SolutreaneArchaic Magdalenian/ Badegoulian transition.

Isotope evidence for the use of marine resources in the Eastern Iberian Mesolithic

There are relatively few coastal Mesolithic sites in the Iberian Mediterranean region, probably due to a number of factors including sea level changes and the disappearance of sites due to agriculture and urbanisation. However, recent excavations have uncovered inland sites that have marine faunal remains (i.e. molluscs and fish) and lithics from the coastal area, which both indicate interactions between the coast and the upland valleys. These inland sites are located at a distance of 30-50km from today's coastline and are at altitudes higher than 1000m. We report on additional information on the links between the coast and these inland sites through the use of dietary isotope analysis (car…

Occurrence of whale barnacles in Nerja Cave (Málaga, southern Spain): Indirect evidence of whale consumption by humans in the Upper Magdalenian

A total of 167 plates of two whale barnacle species (Tubicinella major Lamarck, 1802 and Cetopirus complanatus Morch, 1853) have been found in the Upper Magdalenian layers of Nerja Cave, Mina Chamber (Maro, Malaga, southern Spain). This is the first occurrence of these species in a prehistoric site. Both species are specific to the southern right whale Eubalena australis, today endemic in the Southern Hemisphere. Because of Antarctic sea-ice expansion during the Last Glacial Period, these whales could have migrated to the Northern Hemisphere, and reached southern Spain. Whale barnacles indicate that maritime-oriented forager human groups found stranded whales on the coast and, because of th…

In glacial environments beyond glacial terrains: Human eco-dynamics in late Pleistocene Mediterranean Iberia

The Iberian Peninsula south of the Ebro River enjoyed one of the mildest climates of Pleistocene Europe, but still experienced significant and rapid environmental shifts caused by global climate regimes. We examine the interplay between technological, social, and land-use dynamics as culturally mediated responses to climate change outside the periglacial zone. We combine information from excavated sites across eastern and southeastern Spain with systematic survey data from an intensive study area within this larger region to examine Upper Paleolithic behavioral adaptations to the environmental shifts of the late Pleistocene (late MIS-3 through MIS-2). We define indexes that serve as proxies…

The Solutrean-Magdalenian Transition: a view from the west

THE PLEISTOCENE–HOLOCENE TRANSITION IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN HUMAN ADAPTATIONS

Abstract Data obtained from recent excavations (as well as from selected older excavations) are used to outline the principal environmental, technological and economic aspects of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in three distinct regions of the Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Cantabrian and Mediterranean Spain. The period covered extends from the terminal Paleolithic Magdalenian period to the initial Neolithic. Despite proximity to SW France and many similarities with that classic prehistoric culture area in terms of artistic/symbolic expression and technology, the Iberian regions show significant differences, especially in terms of subsistence strategies and their development during the Ta…

Land-use dynamics and socioeconomic change: An example from the Polop Alto valley

AbstractThe Polop Alto valley, in eastern Spain, serves as the focus of a study of long-term temporal and spatial dynamics in human land use. The data discussed here derive from intensive, pedestrian, non-site survey. We employ the concept of artifact taphonomy to assess the various natural and cultural processes responsible for accumulation and distribution patterns of artifacts. Our results suggest that the most significant land-use changes in the Polop Alto took place at the end of the Pleistocene and accompanying the late Neolithic, while much less notable changes in land-use patterns are associated with the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition and the initial use of domestic plants and …

Human responses to Younger Dryas in the Ebro valley and Mediterranean watershed (Eastern Spain)

The archaeological and chronological records of the Ebro River valley and the Mediterranean watershed (Eastern Spain) are examined to evaluate the effects of the Younger Dryas (Greenland Stadial 1) on the foragers of an area between 36

Dynamic landscapes, artifact taphonomy, and landuse modeling in the western Mediterranean

The Polop Alto valley, in eastern Spain, is characteristic of many Mediterranean landscapes. It has been sporadically reoccupied over the course of at least 80 kyr. Its landforms have undergone various geomorphic processes resulting from late Quaternary environmental fluctuations. During the Holocene, the valley has been modified by millennia of extensive land clearance, cultivation, and terracing. As a result, the evidence for human activity and landuse is a cumulative, but discontiguous palimpsest of the most durable behavioral residues—primarily stone and ceramic artifacts—whose distributions have been affected by diverse natural and cultural formation processes. Human occupation of the …

The gastropod fauna of the Epipalaeolithic shell midden in the Vestibulo chamber of Nerja Cave (Málaga, southern Spain)

The sedimentary record of the Vestibulo, Mina and Torca chambers in the ancient entrance of Nerja Cave (Malaga, southern Spain) developed between around 30 and 3.6 ka cal BP. The long record of human occupation shows a dominance of terrestrial snails associated with the Gravettian, with a continuation of these types in the Solutrean when marine shells begin to be introduced. During the Magdalenian, marine bivalves are dominant. Marine molluscs reach a maximum during the Epipalaeolithic, giving rise to a shell midden formed primarily by Mytilus edulis and diverse species of Patella. The Epipalaeolithic shell midden occurs in Unit 4 and can be dated to the PleistoceneeHolocene boundary. This …

Long-Term Socioecology and Contingent Landscapes

Long-term social and natural processes reciprocally interact in spatially and temporally dynamic socioecosystems. We describe an integrated program of patch-based survey and subsurface testing aimed at studying long-term socioecology, focusing especially on the transition from foraging to farming in Mediterranean Spain. Measures of landuse ubiquity, intensity, dispersion, and persistence trace late-Pleistocene through mid-Holocene socioecological trajectories in four upland valleys. Although farming replaced foraging in all four valleys, the timing and nature of this transition varied because of cumulative interactions between social and natural processes. These processes continue to struct…