Human occupations palaeoenvironmental context of Coímbre Cave (Peñamellera Alta, Asturias) during the Upper Pleistocene

[ES] En este capítulo presentamos la síntesis paleoecológica y paleoambiental de la cueva de Coímbre obtenido a partir de las diferentes evidencias proporcionadas paleovegetales y paleofaunísticas y siguiendo los resultados de los estudios polínicos, antracológicas, macro- y micofaunísticos. Los resultados muestran un medio con paisajes abiertos y unas condiciones frías más o menos rigurosas según el momento bajo las cuales tuvieron lugar las ocupaciones humanas del Gravetiense y Magdaleniense inferior y medio. La secuencia arqueológica culmina con una fase más húmeda y una mayor diversidad del ecosistema durante el Magdaleniense superior.[ES] In this chapter we offer a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental synthesis of the Coímbre cave using the evidence provided by plant and animal remains, as well as the results of the studies on pollen, wood charcoal, and microfauna. The result shows a milieu characterized by open landscapes and cold conditions of varying degrees of severity, depending on the time when the Gravettian and Lower and Middle Magdalenian human occupations took place. The archaeological sequence culminates in a more humid phase with a greater diversity of ecosystems during the Upper Magdalenian.Peer reviewe

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

Anthropic resource exploitation and use of the territory at the onset of social complexity in the Neolithic-Chalcolithic Western Pyrenees: a multi-isotope approach

Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope analyses from bone collagen provide information about the dietary protein input, while strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) from tooth enamel give us data about provenance and potential territorial mobility of past populations. To date, isotopic results on the prehistory of the Western Pyrenees are scarce. In this article, we report human and faunal values of the mentioned isotopes from the Early-Middle Neolithic site of Fuente Hoz (Anuntzeta) and the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic site of Kurtzebide (Letona, Zigoitia). The main objectives of this work are to analyze the dietary and territorial mobility patterns of these populations. Furthermore, as an additional aim, we will try to discuss social ranking based on the isotope data and existing literature on this topic in the region of study. Our results show that, based on the bioavailable Sr values, both purported local and non-local humans were buried together at the sites. Additionally, they suggest similar resource consumption based on C3 terrestrial resources (i.e. ovicaprids, bovids, and suids) as the main part of the protein input. Overall, this study sheds light on how individuals from different backgrounds were still buried together and shared the same dietary lifestyle at a time in the Prehistory of Iberia when social complexities started to appear

Arrillor cave (Basque Country, northern Iberian Penisula). Chronological, palaeo-environmental and cultural notes on a long Mousterian sequence

This research has been co-funded by different projects and institutions. In the first place, by the Prehistory Research Group at the UPVEHU (IT-622-13) and the PALEOGATE project (HAR2014-53536-P) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)

Holocene history of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) woodlands in the Ebro Basin (NE Spain). Climate-biased or human-induced?

This paper reviews the past distribution of Aleppo pine woodlands in the Ebro Basin, Northeastern Iberia, from the Mesolithic to Modern times based on wood charcoal data. The aim is to detail the chronological timing and the drivers explaining the long-term presence of Aleppo pine woodlands and associated thermophilous flora. The available charcoal data support the early spread of Pinus halepensis during the Mesolithic (ca. 9000 cal BP) accompanied by Mediterranean trees and shrubs like Quercus sp. evergreen, Juniperus sp., Arbutus unedo, Pistacia lentiscus, Rhamnus/Phillyrea, Cistaceae, and Rosmarinus officinalis, as a local response to global climate change in the Early Holocene. During the arrival and the propagation of the Neolithic culture (ca. 7500–5500 cal BP), anthracological records, as well as regional palynological sequences, demonstrate the progressive replacement of an conifer-dominated open parkland by both Quercus sp. deciduous and evergreen woodlands in response to the Middle Holocene rise in temperature and humidity. This evidence, however, converges with the general idea that the presence and the spread of Pinus halepensis and associated scrubland have usually been attributed to the onset of landscape anthropization. The frequency of xero-thermophilous open scrubland and the use of Aleppo pine for fuel and woodcrafting progressively increased during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and especially in Ibero-Roman and Medieval/Islamic times, when the vegetation landscape in the Middle Ebro Basin was largely deforested as a consequence of increasing demographic pressure, grazing and the establishment of proto-urban centers

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence of Lezetxiki II Cave (Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) inferred from small vertebrate assemblages

We present a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction based on microfaunal assemblages preserved at Lezetxiki II Cave (Arrasate, Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) and synthesize previously published and new chronological work from the cave to better understand the environmental history of the region. The stratigraphic sequence of this short gallery ranges from the end of the middle Pleistocene to the middle Holocene and has great micropaleontological relevance for the Iberian Peninsula, especially because it contains the most ancient small vertebrate remains found in the Cantabrian region, likely deposited during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7–6. Thirty-two small vertebrate taxa, including two extinct species, were identified. Environmental reconstruction based on small vertebrates suggests an open landscape at the base of the sequence (three lower levels) that progressively changed to woodland in the upper levels. Other paleoenvironmental data suggest a similar interpretation of the environmental history of the region, and although some uncertainty in the environmental reconstruction and chronology still exists, our data provide a richly detailed record of small vertebrates from an area that likely represented an important late Quaternary migration corridor for species traveling between the Iberian Peninsula and European continent.Naroa Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, Aitziber Suárez-Bilbao, Salvador Bailon, Alvaro Arrizabalaga, María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso, Lee Arnold, Martina Demuro and Xabier Murelag

Selection and Exploitation of Macro-Vertebrate Resources during the Upper Palaeolithic in Northern Spain. New Evidence from Coímbre Cave (Peñamellera Alta, Asturias)

The exploitation of ungulates in the Cantabrian region during the Upper Palaeolithic is characterized by the appearance of progressively specialized hunting strategies, especially during the Magdalenian. This specialization focused on either Iberian ibex or red deer, depending on environmental or topographic features. Red deer, for instance, was hunted mostly on the plains while ibex and/or chamois was hunted in rocky and mountainous areas. Here we present new zooarchaeological and taphonomic evidence from Coímbre cave (northern Spain), a site located in the rugged region between the Picos de Europa and Sierra del Cuera (Asturias) which has evidence for specialized ibex hunting. We discuss the possible reasons for such a selective hunting pattern. While the predominance of mountain species such as Iberian ibex or chamois in the Magdalenian levels suggests prey selection based on topographic or environmental criteria, the predominance of large bovids in the Gravettian level could imply that other alternatives were available. We also provide evidence of a pattern of rabbit exploitation which is unusual by comparison with other Upper Palaeolithic sites of northern Spain, and which taphonomic evidence suggests was due to human activity.Peer reviewe

The chronology of the earliest Upper Palaeolithic in northern Iberia: New insights from L'Arbreda, Labeko Koba and La Viña

Since the late 1980s, northern Iberia has yielded some of the earliest radiocarbon dated Aurignacian assemblages in Western Europe, probably produced by anatomically modern humans (AMHs). This is at odds with its location furthest from the likely easter

La vid silvestre euroasiática, un recurso fitogenético amenazado ligado a la historia de la humanidad

16 páginas.-- 20 figuras.-- 64 referencias[EN]: The present article, focused on the Eurasian wild grapevine, the dioecious parental of the present cultivars, shows the ancient uses of this vine in the past and its importance as a plant genetic resource in the genetic improvement of existing varieties and to reduce the loss of agrodiversity in the vineyard. It also includes its main natural habitats, its main ampelographic features and the parasites that affect it. Finally, it remarks the main taxon, lacking a legal figure of preservation in Spain, at both the state and autonomic levels[ES]: El presente artículo centrado en la vid silvestre euroasiática, el parental dioico de las actuales variedades de cultivo, recoge los antiguos aprovechamientos que tuvo esta liana en el pasado y su importancia como recurso fitogenético para la mejora de variedades existentes y frenar la pérdida de agrodiversidad en el viñedo. Asimismo, señala sus principales hábitats naturales, sus principales características ampelográficas y los parásitos que la afectan. Finalmente, señala los principales impactos de carácter antrópico que han reducido drásticamente sus poblaciones, convirtiéndolo en un taxón amenazado, carente de una figura legal de protección en España, tanto a nivel estatal como autonómicoN

The Upper Palaeolithic record of Coímbre Cave (Asturias, northern Spain). A symbolic place, a place for living

57th Annual Meeting in Heidenheim, 7-11 April 2015. Erlangen: Hugo Obermaier-Gesellschaft für Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit e. V. = Hugo Obermaier Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age, 2015Coímbre cave (135 meters asl) is located on the southwestern slope of Mount Pendendo (532 m), in the small valley of Besnes river, tributary of Cares river, in a medium-higher mountain are in the central-western Cantabria –northern Iberian Peninsula- (Álvarez-Alonso et al., 2009; 2013b). The landscape in the surroundings of the cave –situated in an interior valley but near to the current coast in a low altitude- can be described as a mountainous environment where valleys, small hills and steep mountains with high slopes are integrated, which confer a relative variety of ecosystems to this area. Coímbre contains an important archaeological site divided in two different areas. B Area, is the farthest from the entrance, and is the place where took place the excavations carried out to date, between 2008 and 2012 (Álvarez-Alonso et al., 2009, 2011, 2013a, 2013b). Coímbre B shows a complete and very interesting Magdalenian sequence (with Lower, Middle and Upper Magdalenian levels), and a gravettian level, that converts this cave in one of the biggest habitat areas in western Cantabria. Its rich set of bone industries, mobiliar art and ornaments, provide key information that shows the connections between this area, the Pyrenees and the south-west of Aquitaine. Moreover, Coímbre cave presents an interesting set of Magdalenian engravings, located in different places of the cavity, both in open and accessible areas, and in narrower and inaccessible places, which clearly define two different symbolic spaces. All this artistic expressions belong to the Magdalenian, and it is possible to establish a division between a set of engravings framed in the first stages of this period (the most abundant and remote); and a more limited set of engravings, in which stand out a block with a engraving of a bison with a deep trace of more than one meter long, that belongs to the recent Magdalenian. This work presents the preliminary results of the analysis of Magdalenian occupations in Coímbre, after the end of the excavations in B Area, and the study of its rock art, shaping this site as one of the most important places of Magdalenian human activities in western Cantabria.Peer reviewe