A Palaeoenvironmental Study in Semi-arid Southeastern Spain: the Palynological and Sedimentological Sequence at Perneras Cave (Lorca, Murcia)
Abstract Results are presented of palynological and sedimentological research at the Palaeolithic site of Perneras Cave (coastal Murcia, southeastern Spain). Sedimentological features point to a warm, somewhat humid phase corresponding with the lowermost part of the Mousterian sequence, which was followed by a climatic deterioration which lasted throughout the later Mousterian and Upper Palaeolithic. The palynological study described here barely allows palaeoclimatological inferences to be drawn, but it does highlight interesting paleobotanical data, namely, the presence of Ibero-Maghrebian and Mediterranean elements, which suggest that the site was an important refuge for thermophilous tax…
The palaeoecoloical potential of pollen records in caves: the case of Mediterranean Spain
Abstract Important palynological sequences are reviewed from caves with archaeological interest in Mediterranean Spain. Upper Pleistocene sites include Abric Romani and Abric de l’Arbreda in NE Spain, and in SE Spain Cueva de la Carihuela, Cova Beneito, Cueva de Perneras, Cueva del Algarrobo and the Holocene Cova de l’Or and Cova de les Cendres. Carihuela has the longest sequence, starting in the last interglacial and covering most of the last glaciation. A pre-Wurm phase was followed by two glacial maxima separated by an interpleniglacial phase, and in the Lateglacial the Younger Dryas seems present. Whereas at Carihuela harsh pleniglacial conditions caused Mediterranean associations to di…
Presencia de hiena manchada en los depósitos basales (Pleistoceno Superior final) del yacimiento arqueológico de La Cueva de Nerja (Málaga, España)
La Cueva de Nerja (Maro, témino municipal de Nerja, provincia de Málaga, S de España) contiene un importante yacimiento arqueológico en la zona de su antigua entrada (salas de la Torca, de la Mina y del Vestíbulo) cuya cronología se encuentra comprendida entre ca. 25.000 y ca. 3.000 años BP, secuencia que cubre el Pleistoceno superior final y gran parte del Holoceno. En el nivel basal de la Sala del Vestíbulo (NV13, cuadros C-4 y B-8), acotado en una horquilla cronológica comprendida entre ca. 25.000 y ca. 20.000 años BP, se han recuperado cuatro fragmentos de coprolito de color blanco atribuibles la hiena manchada de las cavernas (Crocuta crocuta spelaea).
Expected trends and surprises in the Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation history of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands
18 páginas, 13 figuras.
Abrupt vegetation changes in the Segura Mountains of southern Spain throughout the Holocene
Summary 1 The fossil pollen record of Canada de la Cruz in the Segura mountains of southern Spain yields insights into high-elevation vegetational dynamics over the last c. 8320 years. Phases of xerophytic grassland alternate with high-mountain open pine forests and expansion of deciduous forests and Mediterranean scrub at lower altitudes. 2 Longer-term stable vegetation patterns are interrupted by multidecadal to century-scale shifts at about 7770, 3370, 2630, 1525 and 790 years BP. 3 Some of the vegetation types have no modern analogues and represent high-altitude remnants of widespread last-glacial xerophytic communities. Other species patterns, characteristic of current scrub associatio…