The open air chatelperronian site of Aranbaltza (Barrika, Basque Country)

Se presentan los materiales procedentes de un nuevo yacimiento al aire libre localizado en la costa de Bizkaia. Éste fue localizado como resultado de unas obras de saneamiento por lo que los materiales recuperados están desprovistos de un contexto arqueológico preciso. Aun así un análisis tecnológico y tipológico ha permitido valorar la unidad del conjunto proponiendo la adscripción del grueso del material al Chatelperroniense. Este hallazgo abre nuevas posibilidades para el conocimiento sobre este periodo en la región Cantábrica ya que supondría la primera evidencia de un hábitat al aire libre semejante a los excavados en torno a Bayona.Materials from a new open-air site located on the coast of Bizkaia are presented. The site was located as a result of drainage works so that materials do not have a precise archaeological context. Despite that a technological and typological analysis has served to evaluate the integrity of the assemblage, proposing a cultural adscription to the Chatelperronian. This finding opens new possibilities in the understanding of this period in the Cantabrian region because it is the first Chatelperronian open air habitat evidence, similar to those excavated around Bayonne

A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137±50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities

New insights into the Middle Pleistocene paleoecology and paleoenvironment of the Northern Iberian Peninsula (Punta Lucero Quarry site, Biscay): A combined approach using mammalian stable isotope analysis and trophic resource availability modeling

The northern coastal area of the Iberian Peninsula shows an excellent archaeo-paleontological record with a unique representation of Pleistocene mammalian fossils. While the Late Pleistocene is better recorded, the Middle Pleistocene record remains more fragmentary. The Punta Lucero site (Biscay) has yielded the most important fossil assemblage of the middle Middle Pleistocene for the northern Iberian Peninsula in both, number of identified specimens and taxonomic diversity. Punta Lucero constitutes a unique opportunity to evaluate Middle Pleistocene mammalian resource and habitat use, and trophic dynamics employing a combined approach: biogeochemical analysis and mathematical modeling. Stable isotope analysis points to resource partitioning between Punta Lucero cervids and bovids. Stable isotope analysis and trophic modeling evidence resource overlap and interspecific competition among predators, especially between the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium latidens and the European jaguar Panthera gombaszoegensis. The trophic resource availability modeling assumes that Canis mosbachensis consumed a 20% of preys of more than 10 kg, mainly as carrion. Thus, while there would be a taxonomic overlap with those preys consumed by the large felids, the different strategy would have facilitated the coexistence of these canids with larger carnivores. Trophic modeling indicates a high competition among the predator guild. The potential presence of hominins in the area would have reached to an unsustainable situation. However, the potential presence of other prey species, such as Equus sp., would have made the ecosystem more sustainable. The methodology followed in this study highlights the potential of multidisciplinary approaches in the assessment of Pleistocene faunal dynamics.This study was supported by a Complutense-del Amo grant (LD) and the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia/Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia. LD acknowledges a Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship and project CGL2013-43257-R. AGO is further supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad project CGL2015-65387-C3-2-P -MINECO/FEDER.Peer reviewe

Late prehistoric coastal settlement patterns in the Cantabrian region, northern Spain

Newly discovered archaeological sites in the Uribe Kosta region of northern Spain are illuminating the establishment of late prehistoric coastal farming settlements and specialised tool-production activities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A middle palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137-50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communitie

The wooden pointed tool.

<p>a) Photograph showing the pointed tool immediately following its recovery. b) Current appearance of the point fragment following preservation efforts.</p

A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain - Fig 1

<p>(top) location of the Aranbaltza archaeological complex; (bottom) position and extension of the different excavation areas. Raster data obtained from Eusko Jaurlaritza / Gobierno Vasco. GeoEuskadi and from the European Environment Agency. Rivers and bathymetry vectors obtained from Natural Earth. Map elaborated with QGIS 2.8 Wien and Inkscape 0.91.</p

Selected MicroCT slices.

<p>The red dots indicate the actual or estimated position of the centre of the branch.</p

Lithostratigraphic panel and synthetic stratigraphic column of the Aranbaltza III site.

<p>The locations of wooden remains, OSL, pollen and sedimentological samples are noted.</p