Los hallazgos de la cueva de Es Pas de Ferrerías

Se exponen las circunstancias que llevaron al descubrimiento y excavación de la cueva de Es Pas (Ferrerías), una cueva sepulcral de 3.000 años de antigüedad. La excepcionalidad de los restos arqueológicos hallados reside en la materia orgánica conservada, tanto humana (pelo, pulmones, cerebro, musculatura, coprolitos) como animal y vegetal (sudarios de cuero, dos parihuelas demadera, cuerdas de esparto...). Los restos de los 70 individuos identificadosestaban depositados en el pequeño recinto, en posición fetal y envueltos consudarios de cuero y atados con cuerdas, lo que certifica, por primera vez, elproceso post mórtem de este tipo de enterramientos

The anthracological sequence of the Parco cave (Alòs de Balaguer, Spain): Landscapes and firewood management among the last hunter-gatherers

10.1016/j.anthro.2013.08.00

Precise chronological dating of the Neanderthal Mandible of Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona)

Stratigraphic study of the Cova del Gegant’s sedimentary fill revealed different cycles of accumulation of typical interior cave and delta facies. A precise chronology for these deposits, the faunal remains and stone tools contained therein was obtained by radiocarbon, U–Th and OSL. Our results indicate that the Upper Pleistocene archaeological sequence dates between 49.3 ± 1.8 ka BP, the U–Th age of the overlying flowstone, and 60.0 ± 3.9 ka BP, the OSL age of the basal deposits. We have also directly dated the site’s Neandertal mandible to 52.3 ± 2.3 ka by U–T

The middle-to-upper paleolithic transition occupations from cova foradada (Calafell, NE Iberia)

The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe covers the last millennia of Neanderthal life together with the appearance and expansion of Modern Human populations. Culturally, it is defined by the Late Middle Paleolithic succession, and by Early Upper Paleolithic complexes like the Ch\ue2telperronian (southwestern Europe), the Protoaurignacian, and the Early Aurignacian. Up to now, the southern boundary for the transition has been established as being situated between France and Iberia, in the Cantabrian fa\ue7ade and Pyrenees. According to this, the central and southern territories of Iberia are claimed to have been the refuge of the last Neanderthals for some additional millennia after they were replaced by anatomically Modern Humans on the rest of the continent. In this paper, we present the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition sequence from Cova Foradada (Tarragona), a cave on the Catalan Mediterranean coastline. Archaeological research has documented a stratigraphic sequence containing a succession of very short-term occupations pertaining to the Ch\ue2telperronian, Early Aurignacian, and Gravettian. Cova Foradada therefore represents the southernmost Ch\ue2telperronian\u2013Early Aurignacian sequence ever documented in Europe, significantly enlarging the territorial distribution of both cultures and providing an important geographical and chronological reference for understanding Neanderthal disappearance and the complete expansion of anatomically Modern Humans

Terrasses de la Riera dels Canyars (Gavà, Barcelona): the landscape of Heinrich Stadial 4 north of the “Ebro frontier” and implications for modern human dispersal into Iberia

Terrasses de la Riera dels Canyars is an Upper Pleistocene fluvial deposit containing the remains of large mammals, principally accumulated in the framework of hyena denning in the area, as well as a few artifacts. Radiocarbon-dated tow39.6 ka cal BP, the time of Heinrich Stadial (HS) 4, this site enables us to reconstruct the environmental conditions then prevalent in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula. The concentration in a single locus of finds generated by different agents relates to a flash-flood event, the rapidity of which, combined with the absence of archaeological, ecological or paleontological incongruities in the composition of the assemblage, warrants an assumption of broad contemporaneity for its contents. The ecofactual evidence (fauna, pollen, charcoal, phytoliths) indicates a steppe-dominated environment for the coastal areas between the Pyrenees and the Ebro delta; the dominant elements are cold- and dry-adapted species but a Mediterranean component is present, implying a less rigorous climate than farther north in Europe. The artifacts are clearly Upper Paleolithic, and assignment to the modern human-associated Aurignacian technocomplex is supported by the radiocarbon dates and the typology of a bilaterally retouched blade. This evidence is consistent with the notion that anatomical modernity spread across Europe over open landscape niches. Available pollen data from deep sea cores indicate that, during some of the interstadials of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, a significant vegetation gradient existed at 40 N, broadly coincident with the “Ebro frontier:” temperate and warm temperate trees expanded significantly to the south, while steppe-tundra landscapes remained dominant to the north, a contrast best seen during Greenland Interstadial (GI) 8. Such an environmental boundary must have implied a durable barrier to diffusion and migration during interstadials. Under the cold and arid conditions of HS4, the site of Canyars shows that the Eurasian steppe-tundra extended as far south as the Llobregat delta; however, the environmental reconstructions available for the lower Ebro valley and adjacent mountains of the Iberian Range farther south suggest that they formed at this time a belt of semi-desert or steppe-desert landscapes, thus maintaining the boundary effect despite the climatic reversal. The persistence of such a boundary through HS4 and the interstadials that bracket it must have played a role in the delayed arrival of the Aurignacian (and modern humans) to southern and western Iberia, which continued to be settled by Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals well beyond 40 ka cal BP.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona): a terrestrial record for the Last Interglacial period (MIS 5) in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula

The Cova del Rinoceront, a site in NE Iberia, contains a thick sedimentary fill preserving a faunal archive from the penultimate glacial and the last interglacial periods. Layers I to III have been dated to between 74 and 147 ka, coinciding with MIS 5a to 5e, a period poorly represented in the Mediterranean terrestrial record. The results from Cova del Rinoceront are of broader interest for the reconstruction of ecological dynamics during warm stages and the understanding of the evolution and geographical variation of several taxa. The palaeoecological evidence suggests a landscape dominated by mixed wooded vegetation with mild climatic conditions, slightly more humid than today. Several vertebrate taxa, including Haploidoceros mediterraneus, Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis and Glis glis, are documented for the first time in the early Upper Pleistocene of Europe, showing that these species persisted across the region for longer than previously thought. In addition, the recovery of a small lithic assemblage indicates human presence in the surroundings of the site. The 11 m-thick stratigraphic section also provides an ideal setting in which to compare several geochronological methods. U–Th dating of the flowstones that cap the deposit, of speleothems formed along the cave walls, and of speleothems buried by the deposit at different elevations provides minimum and maximum ages of 74 and 175 ka, respectively, for the accumulation. The ages obtained by luminescence, electron spin resonance (ESR), amino acid racemisation (AAR), palaeomagnetism and U-series dating of bone are in good agreement with each other and are stratigraphically consistent. This well-dated faunal succession presents a unique opportunity to assess changes in the Pleistocene fauna of the Mediterranean coast over an interval of more than 100 k

Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona): a terrestrial record for the Last Interglacial period (MIS 5) in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

[eng] The Cova del Rinoceront, a site in NE Iberia, contains a thick sedimentary fill preserving a faunal archive from the penultimate glacial and the the last interglacial periods. Layers I to III have been dated to between 74 and 147 ka, coinciding with MIS 5a to 5e, a period poorly represented in the Mediterranean terrestrial record. The results from Cova del Rinoceront are of broader interest for the reconstruction of ecological dynamics during warm stages and the understanding of the evolution and geographical variation of several taxa. The palaeoecological evidence suggests a landscape dominated by mixed wooded vegetation with mild climatic conditions, slightly more humid than today. Several vertebrate taxa, including Haploidoceros mediterraneus, Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis and Glis glis, are documented for the first time in the early Upper Pleistocene of Europe, showing that these species persisted across the region for longer than previously thought. In addition, the recovery of a small lithic assemblage indicates human presence in the surroundings of the site. The 11 m-thick stratigraphic section also provides an ideal setting in which to compare several geochronological methods. UeTh dating of the flowstones that cap the deposit, of speleothems formed along the cave walls, and of speleothems buried by the deposit at different elevations provides minimum and maximum ages of 74 and 175 ka, respectively, for the accumulation. The ages obtained by luminescence, electron spin resonance (ESR), amino acid racemisation (AAR), palaeomagnetism and U-series dating of bone are in good agreement with each other and are stratigraphically consistent. This well-dated faunal succession presents a unique opportunity to assess changes in the Pleistocene fauna of the Mediterranean coast over an interval of more than 100 ka