Confirming Human Antiquity: Spain and the Beginnings of Prehistoric Archaeology

During his first visit to Spain in 1862, Louis Lartet together with Edouard de Verneuil and the Spanish mining engineer Casiano de Prado visited the San Isidro archeological site in Madrid. There they obtained a worked silex tool, which the former two then described and illustrated in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. Three years later, Edouard Lartet together with Henry Christy and Hugh Falconer designed a project to extend the exploration in the field of prehistoric and archaeological works to the Iberian Peninsula. After Christy¿s death at the beginning of 1865, and Edouard¿s illness, it was Louis Lartet who undertook the research program of Prehistoric Archaeology South of the Pyrenees. He conducted excavations in caves in Álava and the Cameros Mountains (La Rioja region, Spain). At the same time as these excavations, an influential group of geologists was emerging in Spain who disseminated the findings, principles and practices of the new disciplin

Confirmando la antigüedad humana: España y los comienzos de la arqueología prehistórica

During his first visit to Spain in 1862, Louis Lartet together with Edouard de Verneuil and the Spanish mining engineer Casiano de Prado visited the San Isidro archeological site in Madrid. There they obtained a worked silex tool, which the former two then described and illustrated in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. Three years later, Edouard Lartet together with Henry Christy and Hugh Falconer designed a project to extend the exploration in the field of prehistoric and archaeological works to the Iberian Peninsula. After Christy’s death at the beginning of 1865, and Edouard’s illness, it was Louis Lartet who undertook the research program of Prehistoric Archaeology South of the Pyrenees. He conducted excavations in caves in Álava and the Cameros Mountains (La Rioja region, Spain). At the same time as these excavations, an influential group of geologists was emerging in Spain who disseminated the findings, principles and practices of the new discipline.Durante su primera visita a España en 1862, Louis Lartet, junto con Edouard de Verneuil y el ingeniero de minas Casiano de Prado, visitó el sitio arqueológico de San Isidro en Madrid. Allí descubrieron un intrumento tallado en sílex que publicaron en el Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. Tres años más tarde, Edouard Lartet, junto con Henry Christy y Hugh Falconer, diseñaron un proyecto para llevar a cabo investigaciones prehistoricas y arqueológicas en la Península Ibérica. Tras la muerte de Christy a principios de 1865, y debido a la enfermedad de Edouard, fue Lartet quien llevó a cabo dicho programa de investigaciones prehistóricas al sur de los Pirineos. Bajo su dirección, se llevaron a cabo excavaciones en cuevas de Álava y en la Rioja. Al mismo tiempo, emergió en España un grupo de geólogos influyentes que consolidaron los principios y las prácticas de la nueva disciplina

Revisión sistemática y bioestratigrafía del género Alueva Sdzuy, 1961 (Ellipsocephalidae, Trilobita, Cámbrico).

Se revisa la sistemática del género Alueva Sdzuy, 1961 y de las tres especies incluidas en él: Alueva undulata Sdzuy, 1961, Alanisia hastata Sdzuy, 1958, y Strenuaeva sampelayoi moratrix Sdzuy, 1958, todas ellas definidas en la localidad zaragozana de Murero. Alueva venulosa Dean, 2005 se considera un sinónimo subjetivo más reciente de Protolenus dimarginatus Geyer, 1990. También se revisan los hallazgos de Alueva hastata en la Sierra de Córdoba, Cordillera Cantábrica y, posiblemente, los de las Montañas del Taurus (Turquía). Con los datos actuales, este género parece ser endémico de la Subprovincia Mediterránea. Alueva presenta una distribución muy breve, desde un punto de vista bioestratigráfico, en niveles entorno al límite Cámbrico inferior medio, en el sentido clásico, concretamente desde el techo del Bilbiliense superior y la mayor parte del Leoniense inferior en la escala cronoestratigráfica establecida para el Cámbrico español. Estos niveles son correlacionables con los que en la actualidad se están estudiando para situar el límite entre las Series 2 y 3 del Cámbrico por la ISCS

Diagenesis, provenance and tectonic setting of siliciclastic rocks. A case study from Upper Devonian of the Iberian Chain (Tabuenca, Spain)

This paper describes the petrography and infers the provenance of siliciclastic rocks from the Upper Devonian of the Iberian Chains (Tabuenca, NE Spain), and outlines the tectonic setting associated with the Ebro Massif. These Devonian deposits are constituted by four different siliciclastic units: the Rodanas, Bolloncillos, Hoya and Huechaseca Formations. The provenance and diagenesis of over 400 sedimentary rocks samples are studied with a combination of petrographic polarizing microscope, scanning electron microscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction. In this sense, AAS and XRF analysis were used to determine the content of Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Na, K and Sr, among others; and XRD analysis was used to determine the clay's crystalline phases. These rocks experienced intense compaction and quartz cementation processes after deposition. No primary porosity remains nowadays and secondary porosity is rare. The formation of these siliciclastic rocks occurred mainly under subtropical climatic conditions, given the paleogeographical position of the current Iberian landmass during the Devonian

The trilobite Serrodiscus Richter & Richter from Iberia, with systematic review of the genus and its international correlation through the Cambrian Series 2

Serrodiscus is considered one of the first trilobite genera showing global distribution during the Cambrian and a key component for the international correlation of this period. However, this genus encompasses many poorly documented species, ambiguous diagnoses or characters that depend on taphonomy and deformation based on one single specimen. Thus, in the present work, we carry out a systematic overview of the genus, evaluating the taphonomic and deformational variability of a large number of specimens from the same locality and horizon. In addition, and due to the difficulty of making synonymy decisions, closely related species are grouped into three different groups taking into consideration morphologic, stratigraphic and palaeobiogeographic data: bellimarginatus group, scattered along Avalonian and western Gondwanan margins; speciosus group, extending over the Laurentian domain; and daedalus group, being restricted to eastern Gondwana (Australia), North China and, partially, Siberia. Besides, the regional correlation through the early Cambrian of Iberia is arranged, describing specimens from both Ossa-Morena and Central Iberian zones, with a time interval restricted to the upper Marianian Stage. Regarding the biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeography of the genus, Serrodiscus has been reported from Laurentia, Taconic Allochthon, Greenland, Baltica, western and eastern Avalonia, western Gondwana margin, Siberia, North China and eastern Gondwana, with a temporal distribution along with the Cambrian Series 2

Systematic and biostratigraphy of the genera Parasolenopleura, Badulesia, and Pardailhania in the Iberian Chains: a useful zonation for the Miaolingian Series (former middle Cambrian) in the Mediterranean region

The trilobite species of three genera included in the Family Solenopleuridae: Parasolenopleura, Badulesia and Pardailhania are revised. These genera have a great biostratigraphic interest due to their broad distribution in the Miaolingian Series (former middle Cambrian) of the Mediterranean Subprovince and because they constitute an evolutionary lineage, that facilitates an accurate regional correlation. Two of these genera (Pardailhania and Badulesia) have been used to define middle Cambrian zones in Spain (lower and middle Caesaraugustan, equivalent to the uppermost Wuliuan and the lower Drumian stages). Although, all authors have been using the same species to establish the Mediterranean biozonation of this interval time, the zone concept has been modified since Sdzuy's original idea. A thorough study of three localities from the Iberian Chains (Murero, Jarque and Villafeliche) have allowed us to revise the lower and middle Caesaraugustan zonation in the Iberian Chains and for extension, in the Mediterranean region by comparison with the other localities where those genera are recorded. We propose now a review zonation based on trilobite phylozones, including new stratigraphic and systematic data from the Iberian Chains in order to clarify the intercontinental correlation of this time interval

Biostratigraphy of the Ribota and Huérmeda formations (Cambrian Series 2) in the Comarca del Aranda (Zaragoza province), Iberian Chains (NE Spain).

This article presents a detailed biostratigraphic analysis of the Cambrian Series 2 Ribota and Huérmeda formations of four sections of the Iberian Chains (NE Spain), and a systematic study of their trilobite faunas. We identified four major assemblages: two in the middle part of the Ribota Formation, one at the base of the Huérmeda Formation and one at the top of the Huérmeda Formation. The studied species permit the assignment of these formations to the middle and upper Marianian and probably lower Bilbilian stages in the regional stratigraphic chart for the Iberian Peninsula, which correlates with an interval around the Cambrian Stage 3-4 boundary. The assemblages exhibit a great correlation potential with the presence of Termierella and the first figured material of Andalusiana from the Iberian Chains, two characteristic taxa of the Marianian of the Ossa-Morena Zone, having been also recorded from the Central Iberian Zone and Morocco. In addition, specimens tentatively assigned to Hebediscus are recorded for the first time from the region, a taxon with a wide geographic distribution which allows a good international correlation in the Cambrian Series 2

Presence of Naraoia Walcott, 1912 (Nektaspida, Arthropoda) in the middle Cambrian of Europe (Murero, NE Spain).

The genus Naraoia Walcott, 1912, a Burgess Shale-type fossil known from the lower and middle Cambrian of British Columbia (Canada), Idaho and Utah (USA), as well as from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces (China), is now reported from the middle Cambrian of Murero (Zaragoza, Spain), which is the first record in the Acadobaltic province. The only fragmented specimen found is determined as Naraoia sp., its age being Pardailhania multispinosa Zone (Drumian Stage). This new datum reinforces the hypothesis of the existence of a cosmopolitan faunal substrate in early Cambrian times, which is to some extent refl ected in the mid Cambrian by faunal groups of low evolutionary potential as the family Naraoiidae and other soft-bodied fossil taxa

Las sucesiones estratigráficas del Paleozoico inferior y medio

13 páginas, 20 páginas.-- Editor: García Cortés, Angel.-- Capítulo 2.Peer reviewe