Search results for "Aurignacian"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Precise dating of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Murcia (Spain) supports late Neandertal persistence in Iberia
2017
Abstract The late persistence in Southern Iberia of a Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic is supported by the archeological stratigraphy and the radiocarbon and luminescence dating of three newly excavated localities in the Mula basin of Murcia (Spain). At Cueva Anton, Mousterian layer I-k can be no more than 37,100 years-old. At La Boja, the basal Aurignacian can be no less than 36,500 years-old. The regional Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition process is thereby bounded to the first half of the 37th millennium Before Present, in agreement with evidence from Andalusia, Gibraltar and Portugal. This chronology represents a lag of minimally 3000 years with the rest of Europe, where th…
Refitting lithic laminar fragments to assess Palaeolithic sequences: The case of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante, Spain)
2020
Abstract The integrity of the different levels that form a sequence and the formation processes of the archaeological deposit must be assessed as a previous step to the construction of behavioural, cultural and evolutionary interpretations. This is especially relevant when dealing with long sequences and cultural evolution constructed on them, as is the case in the research on Upper Palaeolithic. Lithic taphonomy provides insight into these issues and refitting is one of its powerful tools. This approach has been applied to the Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean levels of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante, Spain), where fracture refits of laminar fragments –including blades,…
The early Upper Palaeolithic of Cova de les Cendres (Alicante, Spain)
2019
Abstract This paper presents a synthesis of the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Cova de les Cendres. Points of special attention are the sedimentary and micromorphological characterisation of level XVI, the analysis of the vegetal and animal resources and their incidence on the economy of the Gravettian human groups, and the characterisation of the landscape during this period. Furthermore, the paper offers important information of the lithic and bone assemblages, economic behaviour and radiocarbon dates of sub-levels XVIA and XVIB, related to the Gravettian, and XVIC and XVID, corresponding to the Aurignacian. Finally, the Gravettian and Aurignacian regional contexts in the Mediterranean Basin…
New advances on the Aurignacian in the central Iberian Mediterranean basin
2021
Abstract This study aims to obtain a chronological and cultural framework of the Evolved Aurignacian in the central Iberian Mediterranean basin and find agreement between this framework and other sequences of the Iberian southeast. Over the last few years, there has been remarkable progress in the research of the Evolved Aurignacian sites in the Valencian area, making a review of the main characteristics of the technocomplex on a regional scale necessary. The recent fieldwork carried out in Cova de les Malladetes (Valencia) and in Cova de les Cendres (Alicante) have been key to understanding the lithic, osseous and ornament assemblages ascribed to the Evolved Aurignacian. Several Bayesian m…
New chronology for Ksâr ‘Akil (Lebanon) supports Levantine route of modern human dispersal into Europe
2015
Modern human dispersal into Europe is thought to have occurred with the start of the Upper Paleolithic around 50,000-40,000 y ago. The Levantine corridor hypothesis suggests that modern humans from Africa spread into Europe via the Levant. Ksâr 'Akil (Lebanon), with its deeply stratified Initial (IUP) and Early (EUP) Upper Paleolithic sequence containing modern human remains, has played an important part in the debate. The latest chronology for the site, based on AMS radiocarbon dates of shell ornaments, suggests that the appearance of the Levantine IUP is later than the start of the first Upper Paleolithic in Europe, thus questioning the Levantine corridor hypothesis. Here we report a seri…
Land Snails as a Diet Diversification Proxy during the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe
2014
Despite the ubiquity of terrestrial gastropods in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record, it is still unknown when and how this type of invertebrate resource was incorporated into human diets. In this paper, we report the oldest evidence of land snail exploitation as a food resource in Europe dated to 31.3-26.9 ka yr cal BP from the recently discovered site of Cova de la Barriada (eastern Iberian Peninsula). Mono-specific accumulations of large Iberus alonensis land snails (Ferussac 1821) were found in three different archaeological levels in association with combustion structures, along with lithic and faunal assemblages. Using a new analytical protocol based on taphonomic…