El nivel IXb de Ekain (Deba, Gipuzkoa, Región Cantábrica): Una ocupación efímera del Auriñaciense Antiguo

El yacimiento de Ekain, excavado en la década de los 70, tiene una larga secuencia paleolítica. El nivel IXb había sido atribuido al Auriñaciense, pero el escaso tamaño del conjunto ha impedido que forme parte sustancial de las síntesis sobre este tecnocomplejo. En este trabajo realizamos un completo análisis de la industria lítica, con especial énfasis en los remontados. Este análisis nos ha permitido constatar que se trata de un conjunto sincrónico, del Auriñaciense Antiguo, formado por un escaso número de ocupaciones efímeras en las que la principal actividad fue la fabricación de laminillas. Estos resultados enriquecen la visión sobre este tecnocomplejo concreto en el Cantábrico Oriental

El yacimiento chatelperroniense al aire libre de Aranbaltza (Barrika, Euskadi)

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

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

Changing environments during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the eastern Cantabrian Region (Spain): direct evidence from stable isotope studies on ungulate bones

Environmental change has been proposed as a factor that contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals in Europe during MIS3. Currently, the different local environmental conditions experienced at the time when Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) met Neanderthals are not well known. In the Western Pyrenees, particularly, in the eastern end of the Cantabrian coast of the Iberian Peninsula, extensive evidence of Neanderthal and subsequent AMH activity exists, making it an ideal area in which to explore the palaeoenvironments experienced and resources exploited by both human species during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. Red deer and horse were analysed using bone collagen stable isotope analysis to reconstruct environmental conditions across the transition. A shift in the ecological niche of horses after the Mousterian demonstrates a change in environment, towards more open vegetation, linked to wider climatic change. In the Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian, high inter-individual nitrogen ranges were observed in both herbivores. This could indicate that these individuals were procured from areas isotopically different in nitrogen. Differences in sulphur values between sites suggest some variability in the hunting locations exploited, reflecting the human use of different parts of the landscape. An alternative and complementary explanation proposed is that there were climatic fluctuations within the time of formation of these archaeological levels, as observed in pollen, marine and ice cores.This research was funded by the European Commission through a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (FP7- PEOPLE-2012-CIG-322112), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2012-33956 and Ramon y Cajal-2011-00695), the University of Cantabria and Campus International to ABMA. Radiocarbon dating at ORAU was funded by MINECO-HAR2012-33956 project. J.J was supported initially by the FP7- PEOPLE-2012-CIG-322112 and later by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-656122). Laboratory work, associated research expenses and isotopic analysis were kindly funded by the Max Planck Society to M.R