Periodic Reporting for period 3 - MULTIPALEOIBERIA (Population dynamics and cultural adaptations of the last Neandertals and first Modern humans in inland Iberia: a multi-proxy investigation)
Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-06-30
This project seeks to understand the processes of population dynamics and human-environment-climate interactions of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers during the Late Pleistocene (127,000 – 11,700 years ago) in an under-investigated area of southwest Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, a key area for this topic due to its geographic position and ecological variability, models on these processes, including the Neandertal demise and the first settlement of the area by anatomically modern humans, are biased by the poor quality of available evidence for its interior lands. The Iberian hinterland has been traditionally depicted as a marginal and few populated region due to its harsh ecological conditions compared to the coastal areas, especially during the coldest stages of the last glaciation. Based on preliminary data suggesting that this picture could be wrong, due partly to a historical research bias, the main hypothesis of MULTIPALEOIBERIA is the following: both the late Neandertal and early modern human settlement of interior Iberia were more stable and complex than previously thought, despite potentially harsh environmental and climatic conditions.
Thus, the project objectives are aimed to reconstruct population dynamics, land use and human-environment-climate interactions of the last Neandertals and first modern humans in inland Iberia based on unprecedented evidence gathered by means of a macro-regional, interdisciplinary and collaborative investigation. The results of this project are expected to significantly change our views on key biocultural and ecological processes of the European prehistory, and the way human societies have dealt with challenging environments. Thus, they present broader implications for understanding processes of cultural evolution and human responses to climate and environmental change.
Thus, the project objectives are aimed to reconstruct population dynamics, land use and human-environment-climate interactions of the last Neandertals and first modern humans in inland Iberia based on unprecedented evidence gathered by means of a macro-regional, interdisciplinary and collaborative investigation. The results of this project are expected to significantly change our views on key biocultural and ecological processes of the European prehistory, and the way human societies have dealt with challenging environments. Thus, they present broader implications for understanding processes of cultural evolution and human responses to climate and environmental change.
To date, our performed research, according to the project’s work packages (WPs), can be summarised as follows:
WP 1 (discover new sites): we have conducted field surveys at different regions of the Tagus valley and, to a lesser extent, the Duero basin and the northern border of the Spanish plateau (see map below). The most relevant finds have been produced in the Sorbe valley, where at least 5 new Middle and potentially Upper Palaeolithic sites have been identified, and OSL dates on fluvial terraces have been obtained. Also, we have discovered a new Magdalenian site at the Charco Verde II rock shelter, which bears potentially relevant data for the late phases of the Last Glacial Maximum.
WP 2 (excavation, sampling and rock art recording): our team has conducted several fieldwork campaigns at the sites of Peña Capón, Peña Cabra, Los Casares, El Reno and Charco Verde II. Also, we have collaborated with other research groups in the locations of Millán cave (radiocarbon dating, geomorphology, micromorphology, pollen and anthracological analyses), Corazón cave (OSL dating, geomorphology, micromorphology and rock art), Marcenejas cave (study of anthropological remains and radiocarbon dating), Abrigo del Molino (radiocarbon dating and raw material sourcing), Abrigo de San Lázaro (radiocarbon dating and micromammal analyses), Méndez Álvaro open-air site (technological study of lithics, radiocarbon and OSL dating), Cañaveral open-air site (micromorphology, OSL and radiocarbon dating), La Rebollosa open-air site (micromorphology, OSL and radiocarbon dating), La Malia rock shelter (study of lithic assemblages and radiocarbon dating), La Higuera cave (excavation and radiocarbon dating), and El Tornero & El Cojillo caves (rock art recording).
WP 3 (chronometric dating): a total of 94 bone and charcoal samples and 19 sediment samples have been collected for chronometric dating. Of them, we have obtained 56 radiocarbon dates and 4 OSL determinations. The rest are still to be dated at the lab or have failed due to low yield. These samples come from 12 different sites (see WP 2). Precise chronological frameworks based on Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon dates have been already produced for Peña Capón and Los Casares sequences.
WP 4 (palaeoecological analyses): to date, we have sampled for pollen, anthracological and phytolith analyses at 5 sites and got the first results on environmental reconstructions. Stable isotope analyses and the bulk of the phytolithic research will be conducted in the second part of the project
WP 5 (Techno-economic and symbolic studies): our team is conducting technological analyses on lithic assemblages from 6 sites, taphonomic and zooarchaeological studies on 4 sites and rock art recording in 6 sites. We are also conducting experiments on hunting techniques and production and use of lithic artifacts. Use-wear analyses are still to be performed.
WP 6 (Mobility and spatial analyses): studies on raw material sourcing, territoriality and mobility are well advanced and will yield significant results soon. Geochemical analyses have been carried out with flints from 3 archeological sites and 16 outcrops through central Iberia.
WP 1 (discover new sites): we have conducted field surveys at different regions of the Tagus valley and, to a lesser extent, the Duero basin and the northern border of the Spanish plateau (see map below). The most relevant finds have been produced in the Sorbe valley, where at least 5 new Middle and potentially Upper Palaeolithic sites have been identified, and OSL dates on fluvial terraces have been obtained. Also, we have discovered a new Magdalenian site at the Charco Verde II rock shelter, which bears potentially relevant data for the late phases of the Last Glacial Maximum.
WP 2 (excavation, sampling and rock art recording): our team has conducted several fieldwork campaigns at the sites of Peña Capón, Peña Cabra, Los Casares, El Reno and Charco Verde II. Also, we have collaborated with other research groups in the locations of Millán cave (radiocarbon dating, geomorphology, micromorphology, pollen and anthracological analyses), Corazón cave (OSL dating, geomorphology, micromorphology and rock art), Marcenejas cave (study of anthropological remains and radiocarbon dating), Abrigo del Molino (radiocarbon dating and raw material sourcing), Abrigo de San Lázaro (radiocarbon dating and micromammal analyses), Méndez Álvaro open-air site (technological study of lithics, radiocarbon and OSL dating), Cañaveral open-air site (micromorphology, OSL and radiocarbon dating), La Rebollosa open-air site (micromorphology, OSL and radiocarbon dating), La Malia rock shelter (study of lithic assemblages and radiocarbon dating), La Higuera cave (excavation and radiocarbon dating), and El Tornero & El Cojillo caves (rock art recording).
WP 3 (chronometric dating): a total of 94 bone and charcoal samples and 19 sediment samples have been collected for chronometric dating. Of them, we have obtained 56 radiocarbon dates and 4 OSL determinations. The rest are still to be dated at the lab or have failed due to low yield. These samples come from 12 different sites (see WP 2). Precise chronological frameworks based on Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon dates have been already produced for Peña Capón and Los Casares sequences.
WP 4 (palaeoecological analyses): to date, we have sampled for pollen, anthracological and phytolith analyses at 5 sites and got the first results on environmental reconstructions. Stable isotope analyses and the bulk of the phytolithic research will be conducted in the second part of the project
WP 5 (Techno-economic and symbolic studies): our team is conducting technological analyses on lithic assemblages from 6 sites, taphonomic and zooarchaeological studies on 4 sites and rock art recording in 6 sites. We are also conducting experiments on hunting techniques and production and use of lithic artifacts. Use-wear analyses are still to be performed.
WP 6 (Mobility and spatial analyses): studies on raw material sourcing, territoriality and mobility are well advanced and will yield significant results soon. Geochemical analyses have been carried out with flints from 3 archeological sites and 16 outcrops through central Iberia.
At the current state of the project, we made significant progress at different fields, as explained above. Among results already available, those that could be considered beyond the state of the art are the following:
1. We showed that, contrary to widely accepted interpretations, the central part of the Iberian Peninsula was recurrently occupied by anatomically modern humans during the harshest periods of the last glaciation. Multi-proxy evidence gathered at the Peña Capón site demonstrates that Solutrean and pre-Solutrean hunter-gatherers established at this rock-shelter during Heinrich Stadial 2. This phase witnessed the coldest peak of the Late Pleistocene and was dominated by dry environments characterized by a decrease in vegetation cover and forest diversity, as also shown by palaeoecological evidence gathered by our team at the site.
2. Although still preliminary and subject to further scrutiny, our team has obtained archaeological and chronometric evidence pointing to a putative late Aurignacian or early Gravettian presence at different areas of inland Iberia. Since these technocomplexes/phases of the Early Upper Paleolithic have been recorded only at the very fringes of the Spanish plateau, confirmation of these data would result on a significant breakthrough concerning population dynamics and land use of the first modern humans societies inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula.
The expected results until the end of the project are as follows:
1. Confirmation or falsification of the potential Early Upper Palaeolithic settlement of central Iberia, as described above.
2. Confirmation or falsification of the potential late survival or Neandertals in inland Iberia, as both classic and recent research has claimed, despite data suggesting the contrary.
3. Production of a precise chronological framework, associated to an unprecedented multi-proxy palaeoecological reconstruction of inland Iberia, between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago.
4. Sound understanding on how hunter-gatherers, both Neandertals and modern humans of the last glaciation, reacted and interacted with ecological variability in the potentially risky environments of inland Iberia.
5. Reconstruction of putative contacts of Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers along the Tagus valley, from East central Iberia to coastal Portugal.
1. We showed that, contrary to widely accepted interpretations, the central part of the Iberian Peninsula was recurrently occupied by anatomically modern humans during the harshest periods of the last glaciation. Multi-proxy evidence gathered at the Peña Capón site demonstrates that Solutrean and pre-Solutrean hunter-gatherers established at this rock-shelter during Heinrich Stadial 2. This phase witnessed the coldest peak of the Late Pleistocene and was dominated by dry environments characterized by a decrease in vegetation cover and forest diversity, as also shown by palaeoecological evidence gathered by our team at the site.
2. Although still preliminary and subject to further scrutiny, our team has obtained archaeological and chronometric evidence pointing to a putative late Aurignacian or early Gravettian presence at different areas of inland Iberia. Since these technocomplexes/phases of the Early Upper Paleolithic have been recorded only at the very fringes of the Spanish plateau, confirmation of these data would result on a significant breakthrough concerning population dynamics and land use of the first modern humans societies inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula.
The expected results until the end of the project are as follows:
1. Confirmation or falsification of the potential Early Upper Palaeolithic settlement of central Iberia, as described above.
2. Confirmation or falsification of the potential late survival or Neandertals in inland Iberia, as both classic and recent research has claimed, despite data suggesting the contrary.
3. Production of a precise chronological framework, associated to an unprecedented multi-proxy palaeoecological reconstruction of inland Iberia, between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago.
4. Sound understanding on how hunter-gatherers, both Neandertals and modern humans of the last glaciation, reacted and interacted with ecological variability in the potentially risky environments of inland Iberia.
5. Reconstruction of putative contacts of Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers along the Tagus valley, from East central Iberia to coastal Portugal.