Alfred Sanchis

• PhD Prehistory
• Curator and researcher at Museu de Prehistòria de València, Spain

En los últimos diez años se han producido avances sustanciales que han permitido precisar con mayor detalle las fases iniciales del Paleolítico superior en la zona central del Mediterráneo peninsular. En este sentido, ha sido clave el incremento de la información resultado de nuevas excavaciones en yacimientos como la Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-M...

La Cueva de los Murciélagos se encuentra situada en Las Pedrizas de Vilamarxant. El yacimiento fue objeto de actividades mineras en la primera mitad del siglo XX, a partir de las cuales se recuperaron una serie de materiales arqueológicos por parte de los miembros de la Sección de Espeleología del Centro Excursionista de Valencia, actualmente depos...

Palaeolithic human groups in the Mediterranean and Portugal regions of the Iberian Peninsula consumed several small prey species. Leporids are an abundant small game in the archaeological assemblages, representing between approximately 50% (Middle Palaeolithic) and over 80% (Upper Palaeolithic) of the faunal remains. Neanderthals demonstrate the sa...

Mesolithic groups in Mediterranean Iberia lived during a period of bioclimatic and cultural changes. Thus, their economic behaviour and the availability of plant and animal resources show some interesting variation compared to previous periods that indicate changes in mobility patterns and social connectivity networks. This paper presents informati...

In this work we study several canid bone and dental remains, hitherto unpublished, with morphometric characteristics typical of dholes (genus Cuon). The material comes from the excavations carried out in the 1980s in the Cova Negra (Xàtiva), corresponding to occupation levels of Neanderthal human groups during the Middle Palaeolithic (Middle and La...

In the Mesolithic site of El Collado (Oliva, Valencia), the relatively abundant presence of auroch remains (Bos primigenius Bojanus, 1827), uncommon in contexts of this chronology, stands out. Located 100 m above sea level and 3 km from the current coastline, the site was excavated in two urgent campaigns from 1987 to 1988 (Aparicio 2008). Its sign...

This research aims to offer fresh insights into the management of small prey resources by Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans. Leporids are a significant prey for human populations in the Mediterranean and Portugal regions of the Iberian Peninsula during the Palaeolithic period. Despite their small size, humans also used lithic tools to pro...

Aurignacian and Gravettian sites in the Valencian region have been the subject of reevaluation and new fieldwork in recent years. Over and beyond the question of the timing of the start of the Upper Palaeolithic in central and southern Iberia, the features of the lithic techno-typology have been precisely defined. These reveal differences in region...

This paper presents a preliminary data from the archaeozoological and taphonomic study of macrofauna corresponding to two layers belonging to the Middle Palaeolithic and Gravettian levels from Cova Foradada (Oliva, Valencia). The main objective of this work is to provide new information to serve as a comparison with other faunal assemblages from th...

The diet of Palaeolithic human groups is known for its diversification, with ungulates traditionally playing a central role. However, in southern Europe, small prey, such as rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and hares (Lepus sp.), have gained increasing importance for human subsistence. Nonetheless, numerous questions persist regarding the utilizatio...

El estudio arqueozoológico y tafonómico de los conjuntos de fauna recuperados en la Cova de les Malladetes aporta información destacada sobre el origen de las acumulaciones. La localización de esta cueva y las características del entorno permiten el desarrollo de prácticas de predación centradas mayoritariamente en la cabra montés, la especie mejor...

Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis were performed on the macrofaunal remains from Solutrean levels XIII and XIV (ca. 17 and 20 ka cal BP) of Cova de les Cendres. The faunal assemblage shows predominance of red deer, followed by Spanish ibex and equids, among which wild ass (Equus hydruntinus) was identified. Carnivores are well represented i...

The database is an important tool to collect all the necessary information by any archaeozoologist. However, the specialists do not use a recurring methodology to describe the bone remains, and that complicates the possibility to compare the results from different sites. For these reasons, first, it is necessary to provide a complete and versatile...

This paper presents a refined Mesolithic chronocultural sequence as a result of matching data provided by the set of archaeological research conducted at Cueva de la Cocina (Valencia, Spain) in the 20th and 21st centuries and the new radiocarbon dates record. Because available data are of different quality, we apply a methodological framework based...

The Mediterranean basin constitutes one of the best areas to analyse Neanderthal populations and lifestyles in South-Western Europe. In this context, new excavations conducted in the Middle Palaeolithic site of Cova del Puntal del Gat expand the information available regarding this rich region. In this study, new results are reported, including det...

Over the last few years there has been a notable advance in the research of Aurignacian sites in the central Iberian Mediterranean basin. The Evolved Aurignacian is confirmed as the first Early Upper Palaeolithic technocomplex in the region. A phase of greater industrial indefiniteness in a technocomplex with a priori characteristics of pan-Europea...

Due to the nature of its relief, the central Iberian Mediterranean basin has an outstanding contrast between the coastal lowlands and the mountainous hinterland. This characteristic fosters the existence of mountain sites and coastal sites in a small geographical area. In this study, we have selected the levels assigned to the Evolved Aurignacian f...

This paper analyses the lithic collection from Cova Foradada site (Oliva, Valencia), hosted at the Museu de Prehistòria de València, from a techno-typological approach. The main objective is to reconstruct the sequence of the deposit and assess its interest in the regional context. The study has made it possible to establish and characterize the ex...

En esta comunicación se presentan los datos preliminares del estudio arqueozoológico y tafonómico de los macromamíferos y las pequeñas presas de la Cova Foradada (Oliva, Valencia) correspondiente al cuadrado (B16) de la zona oeste la capa 18 adscrita al nivel gravetiense. Los datos obtenidos señalan que el taxón más representado son los lepóridos c...

Neanderthals and modern humans from the Early Upper Palaeolithic had a highly developed knowledge of their environment, where they found the essential resources for their subsistence. Therefore, changes in the local landscape and available resources should have influenced their behaviour, as indicated by faunal and plant remains recovered from arch...

In recent years, the activity carried out within the framework of the HAR2017-85153-P and PROMETEO2017-060 projects has provided new information on the characteristics of the Middle Palaeolithic in the central Mediterranean region, mainly from the excavations carried out in Cova Negra and Abrigo de la Quebrada. Likewise, the excavations carried out...

Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses have been carried out on 89 equid remains coming from the Solutrean level XIII (18,9-16,7 ka BP) of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante). Despite the unsuccessful attempt to distinguish between wild horse (Equus ferus) and feral ass (Equus hydruntinus) within the sample, paleoclimatic information...

Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis has been performed on the Solutrean macromammals remains from Cova de les Cendres (Alicante, Spain). In this communication we present the results on the faunal assemblages of layers XIII and XIV, radiocarbon dated to ca. 18 and 20 kys BP respectively (Martínez-Alfaro et al. 2019; Villaverde et al. 2019). Th...

Many caves and rockshelters have been repeatedly inhabited by Neanderthals and AMH in the Cantabrian region, alternating in some cases with carnivores. This leads us to consider to what extent competition for shelter is a priority for these groups, their interactions and the development of the occupations, which factors determine them as well as th...

The presence of human groups during the Last Glacial Maximum has been witnessed along all Iberian regions [1]. Nevertheless, the paleoenvironmental and biogeography conditions show differences, with clear influence in the settlement dynamics, subsistence strategies and social behaviour of Palaeolithic people. Under this precept, our objective is to...

The lowest presence of large carnivores in the Pleistocene deposits of the Iberian Mediterranean Area, is a phenomenon that contrasts with the rest of the territory, where the evidence of large terrestrial carnivores is significantly higher, especially in the case of hyena, lion and cave bear. This fact directly affects the dynamics of subsistence...

In this paper we present the results of the archaeozoological and taphonomic study of the faunal assemblages recovered in the new excavations carried out in the Middle Paleolithic site of Cova del Puntal del Gat (Benirredrà). This is a highly fragmented sample corresponding to a diverse taxonomic spectrum of mainly anthropogenic origin, which provi...

Birds are abundant in fossil assemblages of Quaternary sites; they can be used in landscape reconstruction as they are well adapted to the environment. Here we present the analysis of the avian assemblage from the Middle Paleolithic levels of the Llonin Cave, where 558 bird remains have been recovered from levels G-VI and CP-VIII, belonging to at l...

This paper presents the first lithic raw material analysis results from Cova de les Malladetes level IX, dated to the Gravettian period. New survey works were developed in the surrounding area, where some Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites—such as Cova del Parpalló, Cova de les Meravelles, Cova Negra, Cova de la Petxina, Cova del Bolomor, Barranc...

New excavations carried out at Cova de les Malladetes confirm and improve previous information on the archaeological sequence of this site. A total of 29 new dates allow to specify the chronology of the Aurignacian (levels XIVA–XII) and Gravettian (levels XI–VII). Furthermore, concerning the results obtained during the 1970 excavation, three new le...

This paper assesses the potential and sequence of the Palaeolithic human occupations at La Cova del Moro site and the effects of the irretrievable damage caused by anthropogenic processes, including illicit excavations and urban development. While the site was discovered in 1898, it was never excavated with scientific methods, despite being located...

The morphometric study of a dhole hemimandible found at level X of the Bolomor Cave provides new information on the evolutionary characteristics of its populations at the end of the Middle Pleistocene. The processes of interaction between these canids and prehistoric human groups in the Iberian Mediterranean central area are also reviewed.

Se presentan los resultados obtenidos del estudio de los restos y materiales arqueológicos recuperados en 1969, mediante excavación, en la cueva del Cara-sol de Vernissa (Xàtiva, València). Se trata de una pequeña cavidad utilizada como espacio sepulcral. Las aportaciones más notables son la constatación de que la mayoría de los restos pertenecen a...

The presence of the genus Cuon (dhole) in Pleistocene deposits of the Iberian Peninsula has been determined mainly from cranial and dental remains, where the differences with respect to Canis are more evident. However, there is very little information on the post-cranial skeleton of these canids. In this paper, we present the morphological and metr...

Neanderthal groups from the Iberian Peninsula were excellent hunters of medium and large-sized prey, alongside a proven consumption of small games like leporids, tortoises or birds. Therefore, they had a great knowledge of the surrounding landscape and the available resources (animal and plant biomass, lithic resources, site positions, etc.) Howeve...

This work analyses the diachronic evolution of dental and postcranial size in Pleistocene dhole (genus Cuon) populations from the Iberian Peninsula. Based on these data we consider two questions: is there a direct relationship between the decrease in tooth size and body size? Or is the process of tooth size evolution related to specific adaptations...

This paper focuses on the study of some Middle Palaeolithic assemblages from Mediterranean Iberia to examine Neanderthal occupation patterns and territory management strategies, paying special attention to raw material procurement and technological behaviours, zooarchaeological data and microspatial patterning. The site occupation types are variabl...

The destroyed site(s) of Koskobilo (Olazti, Navarre, Northern Iberian Peninsula) have yielded unique archaeopaleontological evidence in the Western Pyrenees region. The quarry uncovered a karstic site with faunal remains in 1940, and fossils were recovered both in situ and from the quarry dump. Ten years later, while the quarry was still working, a...

The Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) stratigraphic succession comprises nine Middle Palaeolithic levels. Human selection of this rock shelter for occupation owes to its favourable location—at the gates of a blind valley where the trapping of large herbivores would have been practicable. The immediate environment is varied, with both abrupt...

The sites of La Viña and Llonin have an important archaeological sequence corresponding to Marine Isotope Stage 3: Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian periods. La Viña is a complex rock shelter with continuous occupations, being some (basically the Mousterian and the Aurignacian in contact levels) altered by post-depositional processes as a cons...

Analyses devoted to palimpsest dissection and archaeological assemblage formation are currently topics of growing interest in Palaeolithic research. For many researchers, it is becoming increasingly clear that the temporal dimension of archaeo-sedimentary deposits should not be overlooked, because approaches based on the analysis of diachronically...

La Cova del Puntal del Gat (Benirredrà, València) es un yacimiento del paleolítico medio valenciano con materiales líticos y faunísticos que aportan nuevos datos de ocupación y gestión del territorio por parte de los grupos humanos neandertales. A partir de la realización de un estudio arqueozoológico se ha podido determinar el importante papel qu...

En este trabajo se presentan los datos preliminares del estudio zooarqueológico y tafonómico de los macromamíferos correspondientes al nivel XIII (Solutrense evolucionado) de la Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante). La muestra analizada procede del material recuperado en tres capas (10, 11, y 12), adscritas a un metro cuadrado (B20) del...

The presence of marine mammal remains in prehistoric contexts of the Ibe-rian Peninsula is rare. For this reason, the assemblage recovered in an archaeological site located at the Serpis river mouth, with occupations between the ancient epicardial Neolithic and contemporary times is exceptional. In two of the final Neolithic / Chalcolithic structur...

The site of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) is a shelter with several levels with Middle Palaeolithic occupations. The level IV, with two dates of 43,930 ± 750 BP (Beta-244002) and >51.6 ka BP (OxA-24855), has a palimpsest structure and a high density of archaeological remains (lithic industry, fauna, charcoals and combustion structures)....

Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) is a Middle Palaeolithic site with Neanderthal occupations, composed by nine archaeological levels that extend from MIS 3–5 in the upper levels (II-V), up to MIS 5 in the lower levels (VI-IX), with dates for level VI of 80.0 ± 4.7 ky and 83.2 ± 5.4 ka. Level IV show short and repeated human occupations, with...

Se dan a conocer los nuevos datos de las campañas de excavación de los años 2018 y 2019 en el yacimiento del Paleolítico medio del Puntal del Gat (Benirrdrà, Valencia). Los resultados muestran la presencia de dos niveles arqueológicos asociados a una multitud de restos líticos y óseos. En este contexto, podemos afirmar que la zona de La Safor se pr...

Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia) is a site of Neanderthal occupation , which has contributed a sequence spanning from MIS 4-5, in the upper levels, to MIS 5, in the lower levels. Level IV shows short and repeated occupations, with a high density of finds related to hunting, and is representative of the upper part of the sequence. The lower...

Les montagnes sont souvent perçues comme des espaces peu et tardivement peuplés, en marge des grands axes d’échanges. Cependant, les recherches récentes ne cessent de faire reculer dans le temps et augmenter en altitude les plus anciennes traces de présence humaine en milieu montagnard. De nombreuses études environnementales et archéologiques ont p...

In the Mediterranean Iberian region, the subsistence model during the Upper Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic has common characteristics: specialized hunting based on one medium-sized speciments (red deer or ibex), with a complementary consumption of other ungulates, carnivores and small preys (leporids), and even marine resources. At least from the...

This paper presents a study of the macromammalian fauna recovered from Mousterian levels of Llonin Cave. The sample is highly heterogeneous and comprises six species of ungulates, including Rupicapra pyrenaica, Capra pyrenaica, and Cervus elaphus, and seven species of carnivores, predominantly Ursus spelaeus, Crocuta spelaea, Canis/Cuon and Panther...

Neandertals were top predators who basically relied on middle- to large-sized ungulates for dietary purposes, but there is growing evidence that supports their consumption of plants, leporids, tortoises, marine resources, carnivores and birds. The Iberian Peninsula has provided the most abundant record of bird exploitation for meat in Europe, start...

The palaeoecological studies about macro-mammals has been the started point to understand the ancient relationship among environment and different life organisms in a concrete context. In archaeological sites, although the bone assemblages have a biased origin, the combination of palaecological data with zooarchaeo-logical and taphonomical studies...

The Pleistocene faunal accumulations documented in caves have commonly been attributed to the activity of humans or carnivores. According to the palaeontological and archaeological literature, cave hyena (Crocuta spelaea) was the main known bone accumulator in karstic environments. However, in recent times, the role of leopards as bone accumulators...

Los restos de conejo (Oryctolagus cuniculus) son muy abundantes en los conjuntos de fauna de los yacimientos arqueológicos del Pleistoceno y Holoceno inicial del Mediterráneo ibérico. En este sentido se presenta una revisión de los datos disponibles sobre el consumo humano de este lagomorfo desde el Paleolítico medio hasta el Mesolítico en la zona...

Bone accumulations created by carnivores during the Pleistocene have been largely associated with the action of cave hyenas (Crocuta spelaea), with breeding dens identified all over Europe. Yet in recent years it has been shown that leopards (Panthera pardus) played a role in the creation of sites in the Iberian Peninsula. In this study we present...

Rabbit remains (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are very abundant in faunal assemblages of the Pleistocene and initial Holocene archaeological sites of Mediterranean Iberia. We present a review of available data on human consumption of this leporid from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic in the central area of Mediterranean Iberia. We review the rabb...

Zilhão et al 2016. Cueva Antón: A multi-proxy MIS 3 to MIS 5a paleoenvironmental record for SE Iberia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 146. Supplementary Information – Tables.

Zilhão et al. 2016. Cueva Antón: A multi-proxy MIS 3 to MIS 5a paleoenvironmental record for SE Iberia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 146. Supplementary Information – Figures.

Overlying a palustrine deposit of unknown age (complex FP), and protected from weathering and erosion inside a large cave/rock-shelter cavity, the sedimentary fill of Cueva Antón, a Middle Paleolithic site in SE Spain, corresponds in most part (sub-complexes AS2-to-AS5) to a ca.3 m-thick Upper Pleistocene terrace of the River Mula. Coupled with the...

In this work, we present the archaeozoological and taphonomic study of rabbit assemblages from the Early Upper Paleolithic levels of Cova de les Malladetes and Cova de les Cendres (central Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula). In Malladetes, the rabbit accumulations from Aurignacian levels are mainly due to the activity of birds of prey and...

This paper compares levels IV and VIII of Abrigo de la Quebrada. The study includes knapping technique, raw material, fauna, and the spatial distribution of lithic and bone remains. Although both levels correspond to cumulative palimpsests, patterns of resource management and use of space that suggest changes in the rhythm of occupation and the fun...

This paper compares levels IV and VIII of Abrigo de la Quebrada. The study includes knapping technique, raw material, fauna, and the spatial distribution of lithic and bone remains. Although both levels correspond to cumulative palimpsests, patterns of resource management and use of space that suggest changes in the rhythm of occupation and the fun...

Actas del I Congreso Español de Arqueología Experimental, celebrado en Santander en noviembre de 2005.

In this paper, we present the results of the study on the faunal remains in the Iberian site of Cueva del Sapo (Chiva, Valencia). The faunal sample, which constitute almost the 50% of the materials in the cave, presents a particular taxonomic spectrum, with a predominance of the red deer (Cervus elaphus), a low level of fragmentation and, in genera...

This work is a synthesis about the distribution of the Mediterranean tortoise (Testudo hermanni Gmelin 1789) in the Valencian area (Eastern Iberian Peninsula) during the Middle Palaeolithic. Furthermore, we have compiled available published data related to the origin of tortoise accumulations in the archaeological sites. Also, we present new inform...

We present a state of the art about the current knowledge on Mesolithic open-air sites in the central Mediterranean region of Spain. Three main archaeological sites have been extensively excavated – Casa Corona, Benàmer and El Collado – providing evidence of features and lithic and zooarchaeological assemblages dated to the Early and Late Mesolithi...

In this paper we present the results of a interdisciplinary study in the Iberian site of Cueva del Sapo (Chiva, Valencia). The features of the assemblage have brought to light a very complex ritual context which would be frequented among the vth and iind centuries bc. The chronological and material diversity, as well as the volume of remains, indic...

Study of Iron Age fauna: zoological, iconography and gender perspectives

Despite the ubiquity of terrestrial gastropods in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record, it is still unknown when and how this type of invertebrate resource was incorporated into human diets. In this paper, we report the oldest evidence of land snail exploitation as a food resource in Europe dated to 31.3-26.9 ka yr cal BP from th...

a b s t r a c t This paper presents the results of a study of bones recovered in various current Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) nests in a Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. The Egyptian vulture, a diurnal, scavenging, rupicolous bird of prey, is one of four vulture species that currently inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. An anal...

This paper compares levels IV and VII of Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia). Firstly, the levels are described. Then, by means of the analysis of the distribution of elements related to lithic reduction methods, faunal remains, and combustion features, similarities and differences in the management of space are discussed. Level IV is a cumula...

Despite the ubiquity of terrestrial gastropods in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological record, it is still unknown when and how this type of invertebrate resource was incorporated into human diets. In this paper, we report the oldest evidence of land snail exploitation as a food resource in Europe dated to 31.3-26.9 ka yr cal BP from...

We present a bioanthropological study of dental remains recovered from El Salt Middle Palaeolithic site (Alcoy, Alicante, Spain). The dental remains were found in a sedimentary layer representing a calm depositional environment within a freshwater spring system. The corresponding archaeological context comprises a Middle Palaeolithic faunal and lit...

During recent decades, Neanderthal diet has been a major research topic in palaeoanthropology. This has been accelerated by the maturation of different techniques, which have produced a plethora of new information. However, this proliferation of data has led to confusing and contradictory results. Furthermore, most of the ecological dietary studies...