6533b7d6fe1ef96bd1266449

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Microstratigraphy of the Magdalenian sequence at Cendres Cave (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante, Spain): Formation and diagenesis

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Abstract This microstratigraphic study of the Magdalenian sequence in the Cendres Cave (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante, Spain) shows the detailed evolutionary history of the deposit, revealing a wide variety of pedosedimentary (formation and diagenesis), biogenic and anthropic processes. The sequence begins with Cendres XII, culturally attributed to the Early and Middle Magdalenian, with high probability (95%) dating placing it between 19,270 and 16,530 cal BP with some chronological hiatus. It was formed from biogenic sedimentation associated with bat guano mainly of an insectivorous type, and from anthropic sedimentation related to occupation floors made up of highly complex plant beds with traces of combustion. One of the predominant plant tissue residues is woody angiosperm leaves or stalks. Detrital deposition formed by diffuse runoff increases towards the top of the level. It belongs palaeoclimatically to the Greenland Stadial-2b (GS-2b) and to the first temperate pulsations of GS-2a. Between this horizon and the Upper Magdalenian there is an erosive contact. There follow various levels attributed to the Upper Magdalenian, Cendres XI, dated to between 16,690 and 15,640 cal BP. This shows an abrupt change with respect to the previous level and results from the cryoclastic processes of the walls and solifluction processes, it would coincide with the upper part of GS-2a. With Cendres X, the detrital sedimentation is not very representative and organophosphatic crusts of cryptocrystalline apatite appear, corresponding to accumulations of bird guano at a time when there was little presence of anthropic occupation. The Upper Magdalenian sequence ends with Cendres IX, which in some sectors of the site presents an erosive contact with the previous level. Anthropic activity reappears and is dated to the interval between 15,210 and 14,240 cal BP. Its deposition is due to gelifluction processes in a cold medium with an increase in humidity. It can be allocated to final episodes of GS-2a in transition to Greenland Interstadial-1 (GI-1). At the end of this episode there is a phase of stabilization that can be seen from the biological activity connecting with the horizons of the Early Neolithic.