Demografía y cambio ambiental. Hipótesis para el cambio económico en el Cantábrico Oriental durante el Tardiglacial

El registro arqueozoológico disponible en los yacimientos del Cantábrico Oriental durante el Tardiglacial posee claras evidencias de la existencia de un cambio económico gradual desde posiciones especializadas a otras más diversificadas, en una tendencia progresiva de ampliación del nicho ecológico. No existe, sin embargo, un acuerdo general sobre las causas que motivaron esta evolución, pudiéndose distinguir las tesis demográficas, que abogan por un crecimiento sostenido de la población humana y sus necesidades energéticas como factor determinante, de las ambientales, que establecen la mejoría del clima y la reforestación como elementos precursores. En el presente trabajo se aborda esta cuestión a partir de la confección de un modelo matemático de simulación de la interacción entre los ciclos biológicos naturales de varios ungulados y las actividades de caza humana, estableciéndose finalmente la hipótesis demográfica como la más plausible de las dos.The zooarchaeological record available in Eastern Cantabrian sites during the Late Glacial shows clear evidences of a gradual economic change from specialized hunting strategies to more diversified ones, in a progressive trend towards an ecological niche enlargement. However, there is not a general agreement on the causes that triggered this evolution, with two main opposite points of view: a demographic theory, which proposes a continuous growth of human population and its energetic requirements as the determining factor, and an environmental one, which establishes the improvement of the climate and the reforestation as precursor elements. In this paper, the question is assessed by building a mathematical model that simulates the relationship between the biological cycle of some ungulates and the human hunting, finally establishing the demographic hypothesis as the most likely one

Aplicación de un sistema de información geográfica (SIG) al estudio arqueozoológico-tafonómico de la Cueva de La Fragua (Santoña, Cantabria). A GIS System for the archaeozoological and taphonomic study in the Cave of La Fragua (Santoña, Cantabria)

Dado el importante volumen de información arqueozoológica y tafonómica de un yacimiento como el de la Cueva de La Fragua y debido a la necesidad de proceder al estudio de su dispersión espacial, el uso de Sistemas informáticos de Información Geográfica ha permitido agilizar el proceso de análisis y disponer de una herramienta de gestión eficaz en la observación por niveles de la interacción de los restos óseos dentro del espacio arqueológico. En este trabajo se detalla el procedimiento utilizado y sus resultados.Given the great amount of archaeozoological and taphonomical information involved in a prehistoric deposit like La Fragua Cave and due to the need of interpreting its spatial dispersion, the use of Geographical Information Systems has allowed to speed up the analysis process and to manage an efficient tool on the observation of the relationship among bone remains in the archaeological space by levels. In this work it is explained the used procedure and its results

The Chronometric Dating and Subsistence of Late Neanderthals and Early Anatomically Modern Humans in the Central Balkans: Insights from Šalitrena Pecina (Mionica, Serbia)

ABSTRACT: Eastern Europe, particularly the Balkans, played a major role as a likely cul-de-sac for late Neanderthal survival and as a gateway to Europe for Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. Despite the importance of the region, the known archaeological record during this period is still very limited, with little available site information. The recently excavated site of Šalitrena Pe?ina (Mionica, Serbia), south of the Danube River, contains archaeological evidence of late Mousterian, Aurignacian, and Gravettian occupations and presents an opportunity for understanding the behavior of both human populations in this eastern European region. Here we present the first radiocarbon dates for Neanderthal and AMH occupations in Serbia, as well as preliminary evidence on subsistence strategies obtained from the Mousterian and Aurignacian macrofaunal assemblages in Šalitrena Pe?ina. Radiocarbon dates indicate that Neanderthal and AMH groups may not have coexisted and interacted in this site. Nevertheless, zooarchaeological and taphonomic results show that both human populations were the main depositional agents of macrofaunal accumulation at the cave. The general compositions of the faunal assemblages reflect subtle differences between both human types and point to the necessity of further multidisciplinary research in southeastern Europe to increase our knowledge about human behavior and the causes of the demise of the Neanderthals in the Balkans.This research has been supported by a British Academy PDF (2011) and a Small Research Grant (SG102618) and by funds from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge during 2010/11. Currently, the research is involved in projects funded by the European Commission through FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG (Ref.N 322112) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2012-33956). Since 2004, excavation in Šalitrena Pećina has been financed by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia

SUBSILIENCE: Subsistence and human resilience to sudden climatic events in Europe during MIS3

RESUMEN: El clima se ha propuesto como uno de los posibles factores desencadenantes de la extinción de los Neandertales. Las oscilaciones rápidas y abruptas, registradas en diferentes registros climáticos del hemisferio norte, empujaron los ecosistemas hacia resultados catastróficos durante el Estadio Isotópico 3 (MIS3). En estas condiciones, la supervivencia de una especie dependió, fundamentalmente, de sus habilidades de adaptación. Comprender el rol que esos episodios tuvieron en la subsistencia de las ultimas poblaciones neandertales, pero también en la de los Humanos Anatómicamente Modernos en el continente europeo durante la transición del Paleolítico Medio al Superior es, por lo tanto, esencial. El proyecto SUBSILIENCE, financiado por el European Research Council (ERC), aborda esta cuestión mediante la evaluación de la flexibilidad del comportamiento y la resiliencia de ambas especies humanas analizando tanto su dieta como los diferentes patrones de subsistencia adoptados. A la vez, con base en los mismos elementos de su dieta, se centra en reconstruir las condiciones climáticas y ambientales a nivel local y regional. A partir del análisis de los materiales arqueozoológicos de más de 20 yacimientos localizados en las penínsulas del sur de Europa, este proyecto permitirá obtener respuestas sobre qué patrones de subsistencia particulares (si es que los hubo) favorecieron a nuestra especie en condiciones medioambientales tan cambiantes y a su vez, en qué grado las oscilaciones climáticas afectaron en la desaparición final de los Neandertales. La metodología, resultados y conclusiones de este proyecto serán relevantes para el estudio de la Prehistoria a escala paneuropea.ABSTRACT: Climate has long been proposed as a possible trigger factor for the extinction of Neanderthals. Abrupt and acute oscillations of climate, as recorded from different climatic proxies such as Greenland polar ice sheets, are particularly threatening as they can push ecosystems towards catastroph¬ic outcomes. Under these conditions, the survival of a species critically depends on their adaptive skills. Understanding the exact role that these episodes could have had on both Nean¬derthals and Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition is, therefore, es¬sential. SUBSILIENCE, a funded ERC project, is address¬ing this problem by assessing the behavioural flexibility and resilience of both human species based on their subsistence strategies, together with a newly obtained accurate climatic and environmental reconstruction across southern European peninsulas during MIS3. This novel approach will offer pre¬cise answers to questions concerning a) which particular subsistence patterns (if any) favoured AMH while coping with the changing environments and b) the extent to which climatic oscillations affected Neanderthal extinction. This it will be of relevance to the study of Prehistory on a pan- European scale.Esta investigación está financiada por la Consejo Europeo de Investigación, bajo el Programa Horizonte 2020 en Investigación e Innovación de la Unión Europea (convenio de subvención núm. 818299, Proyecto SUBSILIENCE https://www.subsilience.eu)

Patrones de movilidad y control del territorio en el Cantábrico Oriental durante el Tardiglaciar

The territorial use and occupation pattern was one of the main adaptive tools that the hunting-gatherers groups at the end of the Pleistocene developed in order to optimize the access to different resources and to allow an efficient exploitation of the environment in which they lived. The Cantabrian Coast, due to its special topographic and environmental feature is suitable for the research on these types of mechanisms. In fact, a trend towards an intensive use of the closest surroundings of settlements has already been identified, which it is necessary to verify with rigour before drawing general economic conclusions. In this work, the role of topographic relief in human cinegetic decisions is empirically demonstrated through the calculation of the catchment areas of 19 Magdalenian sites. In addition, a new population model is posted, based on recent seasonality and functional data from various sites in the River Asón Valley.El tipo de ocupación y uso del territorio constituyó una de las herramientas adaptativas a disposición de los grupos cazadores-recolectores del final del Pleistoceno para optimizar el acceso a los recursos y permitir una explotación eficiente del medio en el que habitaron. La Cornisa Cantábrica, por sus especiales cualidades topográficas y ambientales resulta idónea para la investigación de este tipo de mecanismos, habiéndose identificado una tendencia hacia el aprovechamiento del entorno más inmediato de los asentamientos, que es necesario constatar con rigor, como paso previo a la obtención de conclusiones económicas generales. En el trabajo que aquí se presenta, se contrasta positivamente el papel de la orografía en las decisiones cinegéticas humanas, a través del cálculo de las áreas de captación de 19 yacimientos magdalenienses. Además, se propone un nuevo modelo de poblamiento a partir de recientes datos de estacionalidad y funcionalidad de yacimientos del Valle del Asón

What Neanderthals and AMH ate: reassessment of the subsistence across the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Vasco-Cantabrian region of SW Europe

Recent research in northern Spain has revealed the disappearance of Neanderthal populations in the Vasco Cantabrian region a few millennia earlier than in eastern and southern Iberia and discovered a short period of overlap with modern humans, at least, in terms of radiocarbon dates. However, the causes of Neanderthal decline understood as a regional and temporal process remain open. Despite the abundance of technological studies, modern?quality chronological dating, and the availability of archaeofaunal and palaeoenvironmental data, there is a lack of consensus about how climatic and environmental conditions could have affected ungulate prey and, therefore, Neanderthal subsistence strategies. In this paper, an analytical summary of the archaeofaunal and taphonomic data available for the Vasco?Cantabrian region, combined with the most recent chronological evidence, present general knowledge about animal biogeography and ecology during the Middle?Upper Palaeolithic transition, and provides an interpretation of the behaviour of both human species in the region. This work reviews the palaeomammal community of animals represented in the record as exploited by human groups in several caves and rock shelters and pointing to continuing lacunae in knowledge. Further research is needed to verify and potentially explain the apparent hominin population gap and the ultimate fate of the NeanderthalsThis research is funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 818299‐ SUBSILIENCE project (https://www.subsilience.eu) and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (ABRUPT ‐ HAR2017‐84997‐P) to ABMA. ASR's PhD is supported within the SUBSILIENCE project. The authors would like to thank J. García Sanchez (Instituto de Arqueología‐ Merida, CSIC‐Junta de Extramadura) for technical assistance with catchment areas analysis and Figs. 1, 5 and 6. Special thanks to L. Agudo (EvoAdapta‐University of Cantabria) for her technical assistance and G. Terlato for comments on the final version of the manuscript. The authors wish to acknowledge L. Straus for editing the manuscript and for his suggestions to improve this manuscript, as kind and effective as always

Evidence of habitual behavior from non-alimentary dental wear on deciduous teeth from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Cantabrian region, Northern Spain

The use of "teeth as tools" (non-masticatory or cultural-related dental wear) has largely been employed as a proxy for studying of past human behavior, mainly in permanent dentition from adult individuals. Here we present the analysis of the non-masticatory dental wear modifications on the deciduous dentition assigned to eight Neanderthal and anatomically modern human subadult individuals from Mousterian to Magdalenian technocultural contexts in the Cantabrian region (Northern Spain). Although preliminary, we tentatively suggest that these eight subadults present activity-related dental wear, including cultural striations, chipped enamel, toothpick grooves, and subvertical grooves. We also found evidence of habitual dental hygienic practices in the form of toothpicking on a deciduous premolar. Orientation of the cultural striations indicates similar handedness development as in modern children. Taken together, these dental wear patterns support the participation of young individuals in group activities, making them potential contributors to group welfare. This study potentially adds new evidence to the importance of the use of the mouth in paramasticatory activities or as a third hand throughout the Pleistocene, which can be confirmed with a more specific reference sample.We thank the curators at the following museums for providing access to the collections: Museo de Arqueología de Asturias (Las Caldas and Tito Bustillo), Museo de Prehistoria y Arqueología de Cantabria (El Castillo) and Arkeologi Museoa (Santa Catalina and Axlor).We are very grateful to the Editors-in-Chief (David Alba and Clément Zanolli), the Associate Editor, and reviewers for their comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the quality of this paper. A.E. was beneficiary of a Juan de la Cierva-Formaci on Postdoctoral Fellowship (grant number FJCI-2016-30122). Partial aspects of this research have been founded by SUBSILIENCE ERCProject (ERCEA-; grant agreement No. 818299), ABRUPT project (HAR2017-84997-P Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) and Santander Bank within the program of Santander Talent Attraction for Research (STAR1) to A.B.M.A., and H2020- MSCA-IF project No. 891529 (3DFOSSILDIET) to A.E

Taphonomy as a methodological framework for understanding surface funerary deposits: the human burial at the cave of El Espinoso (Ribadedeva, Asturias)

RESUMEN: Durante la Edad del Bronce en el norte de la Península Ibérica algunos grupos humanos inhumaban a sus congéneres sobre la superficie del suelo de cuevas de difícil acceso. Esta tradición cultural, muy arraigada en el País Vasco y en Cantabria, se extiende hasta la región oriental de Asturias. Este trabajo se centra en el estudio tafonómico de los restos humanos encontrados en 1993 en la cueva de El Espinoso (Ribadedeva, Asturias). La cueva fue utilizada como lugar de inhumación de un número mínimo de veinte individuos, de ambos sexos y diferentes edades. Este yacimiento constituye el único enterramiento múltiple en cueva de la Edad del Bronce documentado hasta ahora en Asturias, sumándose así a otros yacimientos de la Prehistoria Reciente de esta región, como son El Toral III, La Llana y Fuentenegroso y consolidando esta tradición funeraria a lo largo de dos mil años en el Oriente de Asturias. La tafonomía ha ofrecido un marco teórico y metodológico preciso para estudiar este tipo de yacimientos en superficie, afectados por complejos procesos post-deposicionales.ABSTRACT: During the Bronze Age the human groups of Cantabria buried their dead on the surface of narrow caves. This cultural tradition, common to the Basque Country and Cantabria, extends to eastern Asturias. This work focuses on the taphonomical study of the human remains found in 1993 in the cave of El Espinoso, located in Ribadedeva (Asturias). The cavity was used as a burial place for a minimum of twenty individuals of both sexes and different ages. This site constitutes the only collective burial cave currently known from the Bronze Age in Asturias (other later prehistoric burial caves in the region ?El Toral III, La Llana, Fuentenegroso, etc.? have single burials). A funerary tradition of cave burial lasted over two thousand years in eastern Asturias. The taphonomical analysis provides a theoritical and methodological framework adequate to the study this type of superficial deposits, affected by complex post-depositional processes.Este estudio se ha realizado a partir del Trabajo Fin de Máster del primero de los autores. La investigación ha sido apoyada por el Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria y financiada por el Proyecto “Tracing Climatic Abrupt Change Events and Their Social Impact during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene (15–7 ky calBP) (HAR2013-46802-P)” financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España

Economic behaviour of the last hunter-gatherers and the first evidence for domestication in Western Asturias. The Cave of Mazaculos II

RESUMEN: El estudio del comportamiento económico desarrollado por los últimos grupos de cazadores-recolectores del Mesolítico Cantábrico, fundamentalmente dominado por el abundante registro de la explotación del medio marino, cuenta con reducidas evidencias del consumo de mamíferos terrestres, en lo que supone una ruptura con la tendencia observada durante el Paleolítico Superior. Las causas de este cambio y su implicación en la demografía de la región se investigan en este trabajo mediante el análisis arqueozoológico y tafonómico detallado de la macrofauna del yacimiento de Mazaculos II (Ribadedeva, Asturias), un conchero que alberga uno de los depósitos fósiles más importantes del período. Adicionalmente se presentan los primeros indicios de domesticación en el Cantábrico occidental.ABSTRACT: The study of the economic behaviour of the last hunter-gatherers of the Cantabrian Mesolithic, mainly dominated by the rich assemblages related to marine exploitation, has limited evidences of terrestrial mammals consumption, which implies a break with the general trend observed during the Upper Palaeolithic. The reasons behind this change and its implication in the demography of the region are assessed here with the detailed archaezoological and taphonomical analysis of the macromammals of Mazaculos II Cave (Ribadedeva, Asturias), a shell-midden that houses one of the most important fossil deposits of this period. In addition the first signs of domestication in Western Cantabria are presented

Comportamiento económico de los últimos cazadores- recolectores y primeras evidencias de domesticación en el occidente de Asturias. La Cueva de Mazaculos II

The study of the economic behaviour of the last hunter-gatherers of the Cantabrian Mesolithic, mainly dominated by the rich assemblages related to marine exploitation, has limited evidences of terrestrial mammals consumption, which implies a break with the general trend observed during the Upper Palaeolithic. The reasons behind this change and its implication in the demography of the region are assessed here with the detailed archaezoological and taphonomical analysis of the macromammals of Mazaculos II Cave (Ribadedeva, Asturias), a shell-midden that houses one of the most important fossil deposits of this period. In addition the first signs of domestication in Western Cantabria are presented.El estudio del comportamiento económico desarrollado por los últimos grupos de cazadores-recolectores del Mesolítico Cantábrico, fundamentalmente dominado por el abundante registro de la explotación del medio marino, cuenta con reducidas evidencias del consumo de mamíferos terrestres, en lo que supone una ruptura con la tendencia observada durante el Paleolítico Superior. Las causas de este cambio y su implicación en la demografía de la región se investigan en este trabajo mediante el análisis arqueozoológico y tafonómico detallado de la macrofauna del yacimiento de Mazaculos II (Ribadedeva, Asturias), un conchero que alberga uno de los depósitos fósiles más importantes del período. Adicionalmente se presentan los primeros indicios de domesticación en el Cantábrico occidental