Montserrat Sanz Borràs

Montserrat Sanz Borràs
University of Barcelona | UB · Department of History and Archaeology

2013. Ph.D. in Archaeology and Prehistory, Universitat de Barcelona (Spain). Mention of European Doctor.
Ramon y Cajal researcher

About

128
Publications
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Introduction
Iberian Peninsula Paleolithic, Upper-Middle Pleistocene, faunal analysis, and applied zooarchaeology of large vertebrates, taphonomy, humans and animal relationships in the past, actualistic carnivore studies and biological anthropology.
Additional affiliations
September 2016 - August 2018
Complutense University of Madrid
Position
  • Researcher
November 2018 - April 2021
University of Barcelona
Position
  • Researcher
April 2014 - April 2021
University of Lisbon
Position
  • Researcher

Publications

Publications (128)
Article
The ochre, a natural pigment, has been a significant element in prehistoric cultures, particularly during the Palaeolithic, with various applications in artistic, ritual, and domestic contexts. This paper focuses on the red-pigmented support found at the Lagar Velho rock shelter (Portugal) and seeks to elucidate its origin, the processes behind its...
Article
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During the Late Pleistocene, stadial and interstadial fluctuations affected vegetation, fauna, and human groups that were forced to cope with these pronounced spatial–temporal climatic and environmental changes. These changes were especially abrupt during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Here, we reconstruct the climatic trends in northern Iberia cons...
Article
Full-text available
The Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal), with evidence of human occupancy dating back ∼ 400,000 years, is one of very few Middle Pleistocene cave sites to provide a fossil hominin cranium in association with Acheulean bifaces and the by-products of fire usage. Zooarchaeological, taphonomic and tooth-wear analyses suggest that the accumulation...
Book
Full-text available
The Northern Garraf Territory, practically disconnected at the archaeological level in the 70s of the twentieth century, has seen in the last 45 years a paradigm shift that has ended up becoming, in the first quarter of the 21st century, one of the greatest coneguts of prehistory. Catalan. It has been based on the final investigations both by the C...
Article
Full-text available
Zooarchaeological and palaeontological assemblages, especially those located in karst cavities, are usually the product of the activity of several taphonomic biological agents. This is also the case of the Upper Pleistocene site of Cova del Coll Verdaguer (Barcelona, Iberian Peninsula), where hyenas accumulated most of the ungulates, bears used the...
Article
Full-text available
Objective This study seeks to contribute to the current understanding of dietary variation in the late Prehistory of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula by examining buccal dental microwear patterns alongside archeological data from the same populations. Materials and Methods Teeth from 84 adult individuals from eight distinct samples spanning the...
Article
Equus is a genus that have generated a lot of debate among the scientific community. Its complex taxonomy led to the set-up of many forms that are questioned nowadays. In Upper Pleistocene Europe, several subspecies have been described in order to qualify chronological evolutions or geographical adaptations. In Peninsulas, while several subspecies...
Article
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Las cavidades han sido lugares utilizados reiteradamente a lo largo de la historia y con distintas funcionalidades tal y como evidencia la tipología de los restos arqueológicos hallados. Así, la presencia de materiales arqueológicos en cuevas y abrigos desde la protohistoria hasta la actualidad está documentada en un buen número de yacimientos, per...
Article
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Upper Paleolithic lithic assemblages have traditionally been considered a paramount example of the high level of complexity characterizing the technological behavior of prehistoric modern humans. The diversity and standardization of tools, as well as the systematic production of blades and bladelets, show the high investment of time, energy and kno...
Article
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New rhino remains recovered from Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona) confirm the presence of Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis (Toula, 1902) at the site and the taxon’s persistence until the late Middle–early Upper Pleistocene in Europe, that is, its latest documented occurrence. The three individuals recovered from the site are compared wit...
Chapter
Full-text available
Em 2018 inicia-se uma nova fase de investigação no Lagar Velho ao abrigo do projecto ALV. Os trabalhos incidiram na escavação dos depósitos subjacentes à EE15, numa área de 16m2, que levaram à identificação de uma sequência sedimentar muito complexa e onde o contributo de distintos agentes biológicos constitui o maior desafio à investigação arqueol...
Article
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En este trabajo se presenta el estudio zooarqueológico y tafonómico del conjunto faunístico recuperado en los niveles de Neolítico antiguo cardial de Cova Bonica (Vallirana, Barcelona). Los restos analizados proceden de un contexto funerario, datado entre el 5470 y el 5220 cal BCE, siendo uno de los más antiguos de la península ibérica. Los restos...
Poster
Full-text available
Zooarchaeological and palaeontological assemblages, especially those located in karstic cavities, are usually the product of the activity of several taphonomic accumulator agents. This is also the case of the Upper Pleistocene site of Cova del Coll Verdaguer (Barcelona, Iberian Peninsula), where hyenas accumulated most of the ungulates, bears used...
Article
Full-text available
Puncture alignments are found on Palaeolithic carvings, pendants, and other fully shaped osseous artifacts. These marks were interpreted as abstract decorations, system of notations, and features present on human and animal depictions. Here, we create an experimental framework for the analysis and interpretation of human-made punctures and apply it...
Article
Here we present the results of a study of the small mammal assemblage recovered from a now disappeared karstic fissure located in a quarry called ‘Pedrera del Corral d’en Bruach’. The site was located at 330 m a.s.l. in the Garraf Massif, ca. 20 km south of Barcelona. An archaeological rescue excavation was conducted in 2006 by the Grup de Recerca...
Article
Full-text available
The archaeological record of the Lagar Velho rock shelter (Lapedo Valley, Leiria, Portugal) bears testimony to several significant Upper Palaeolithic occupations, most notably the Lapedo Child burial (LV1) dating from the Gravettian. Excavations undertaken at the site since 2018 have seen the recovery of a large quantity of coprolites, above all in...
Article
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The emergence of Neolithic societies was transformative, impacting many aspects of life, particularly diet. The process of Neolithization in Iberia is increasingly understood as the arrival of new people from the Central Mediterranean, who dispersed along the Iberian coasts introducing cereal production, herding, and Cardial pottery and associated...
Article
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The frontal sinuses are cavities inside the frontal bone located at the junction between the face and the cranial vault and close to the brain. Despite a long history of study, understanding of their origin and variation through evolution is limited. This work compares most hominin species’ holotypes and other key individuals with extant hominids....
Poster
Full-text available
The Lagar Velho rockshelter, located in the Lapedo Valley (Santa Eufémia, Leiria, Portugal), has preserved an extremely important archive on AMH (anatomically modern human) biology and culture, enhancing the knowledge of Early Upper Palaeolithic in SW Europe [1-2]. The burial of the Lagar Velho child (LV1; c. 29 ka cal BP), following the funerary p...
Article
The environmental and climatic evolution of the late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene of the Garraf Massif (northeastern Iberia) is determined for Marine Isotope Stage 7 (MIS 7) to MIS 3 on the basis of a study of the small-vertebrate (amphibian, squamate reptile, insectivore, bat and rodent) assemblages. This paper provides a synthesis of th...
Article
Full-text available
Lateral Gallery 1 (GL1) in Cova del Gegant is a Middle Palaeolithic assemblage yielding diagnostic Neanderthal remains, together with Mousterian tools and faunal remains. It is a good archive for evaluating the environmental conditions of the coastal areas during MIS 4 and MIS 3 in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, and also the Neanderthals’ behavio...
Article
Palynological investigations on Gravettian coprolites of Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Vale do Lapedo, Leiria, Portugal) dated between ca. 30 to ca. 27.3 ka cal BP are presented. The palaeoecological data shows a semi-forested landscape with Pinus, Poaceae, Erica, Artemisia, Juniperus and Quercus as the dominant taxa. A diversity of trees, shrubs, and her...
Article
A nearly complete skeleton of an elephant calf was excavated between 2012 and 2014 from breccia deposits in a vertical karstic cavity named Cova del Rinoceront, exposed during limestone quarrying. The skeleton was found in the 120 cm-thick breccia layer III (Unit 1) of the 11 m-long sedimentary sequence filling the cavity. IRSL (128–129 ka) and AAR...
Article
The chronological framework for Neanderthal occupation and demise across Europe continues to be debated. In particular, there is still uncertainty regarding the nature, timing and regional expressions of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition associated with the disappearance of Neanderthals and the broader expansion of modern human population...
Article
Full-text available
The European climate during the Holocene period is characterised by frequent changes of temperature and precipitation. The North Atlantic plays a major role as a driver for European climate and is a dominant precipitation source, particularly for the western European and north African realm. Atmospheric pressure gradients over the Atlantic (North A...
Article
A group of beads from the artificial cave of La Molina (Lora de Estepa, Sevilla) and Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona) were made from biogenic raw material and intentionally covered by a layer of resin. This is the first time this type of treatment has been documented on elements of adornment in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. The c...
Article
The evolution and co-occurrence of equids in Europe during the Upper Pleistocene (125–10 ka) is a research line that has generated much debate owing to the difficulties in distinguishing between species. Here, we present a study of the dental remains of equids, dated by radiocarbon at ∼34.6 (∼39.6 cal) ka BP, from Terrasses de la Riera dels Canyars...
Article
Full-text available
The site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal), with evidence of human occupancy dating to ca. 400 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 11), is one of the very few Middle Pleistocene localities to have provided a fossil hominin cranium associated with Acheulean bifaces in a cave context. The multianalytic study reported here of the by-products of burnin...
Article
Full-text available
This article reports the findings from a morphological and demographic analysis of the craniodental remains of the endemic continental deer Haploidoceros mediterraneus from the Late Pleistocene (MIS 5) of the Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona, Iberian Peninsula), the most complete assemblage of this species recorded in Europe. The prese...
Article
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For decades, taphonomists have dedicated their efforts to assessing the nature of the massive leporid accumulations recovered at archaeological sites in the northwestern Mediterranean region. Their interest lying in the fact that the European rabbit constituted a critical part of human subsistence during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. How...
Article
Cova del Gegant (Barcelona, NE Iberian peninsula) is an Upper Pleistocene site that presents carnivore occupations with some sporadic human activity characterized by hearth remains, stone tools and human fossils during Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. We report the combined application of zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses to determine the nat...
Chapter
Full-text available
Dated to ca. 400 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 11), the site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal) is one of the very few Middle Pleistocene localities that have yielded a fossil hominin cranium associated with Acheulean bifaces, in a cave context. Our multi-analytical approach to the site’s archaeological record focused on different aspects: the...
Article
The article presents a description of cervid remains from the Middle Pleistocene Acheulean site of Gruta da Aroeira (= Galerias Pesadas) in central Portugal. The assemblage comprises the remains of four deer species: Cervus elaphus, Praedama cf. savini, Haploidoceros mediterraneus, and Dama cf. vallonnetensis, making Gruta da Aroeira the first site...
Article
La Cova del Rinoceront presenta una cronología que abarca desde el Pleistoceno medio a inicios del superior. Este yacimiento presenta una de las colecciones de tortuga mediterránea (Testudo hermanni) fósil más importante de la Península Ibérica. Este conjunto, se caracteriza por la elevada cantidad de restos y su frágil estado de conservación. Los...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
La evolución y la diferenciación de las diferentes especies de équidos que habitaron durante el Pleistoceno superior en Europa es un tópico de investigación que ha generado un gran debate por la dificultad en asignar los restos a cada taxón. En este trabajo se estudian los restos dentarios procedentes del yacimiento de Terrasses de la Riera de Cany...
Article
Full-text available
The Middle Palaeolithic site of Cueva Antón (Murcia, Spain) is a cave/rock shelter with short-term human occupations dated to marine isotopic stages 5a and 3 (MIS 5a and MIS 3). The site provides a high-resolution sequence because the cave’s living floors, organized around hearth features, present rich assemblages of artefacts and faunal remains ra...
Article
During the Pleistocene, humans and hyenas co‐occurred at sites, which included cavities and rock‐shelters, accumulating bone assemblages attributable to both the hominids and carnivores. Studies of these co‐occurrences have given rise to much debate about the relationships established, suggesting that an interpretation of the nature of the biologic...
Article
Full-text available
A group of beads from the artificial cave of La Molina (Lora de Estepa, Sevilla) and Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona) were made from a biogenic raw material and intentionally covered by a layer of resin. This is the first time this type of treatment has been documented on elements of adornment in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. The...
Article
Full-text available
We assembled genome-wide data from 271 ancient Iberians, of whom 176 are from the largely unsampled period after 2000 BCE, thereby providing a high-resolution time transect of the Iberian Peninsula.We document high genetic substructure between northwestern and southeastern hunter-gatherers before the spread of farming.We reveal sporadic contacts be...
Article
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The identification of archaeological amber has been used in Iberian prehistory to evidence long-distance exchanges and engage Iberia in networks that connect western Europe with central and northern Europe, the emergence of social complexity, and the consolidation of trade networks. However, until now, no comprehensive analytical study of the Iberi...
Article
The recent publication of a human cranium, dating to ca. 436–390 ka, from Gruta da Aroeira provides an important input to the debate about human evolution during the Middle Pleistocene in Europe and the origin of the Neanderthals. This cranium, chronologically located to Marine Isotope Stage 11c (MIS 11c), appears in association with Acheulean lith...
Article
Full-text available
Cova Bonica has yielded one of the few assemblages of Cardial Neolithic records of directly dated human remains (c. 5470 and 5220 years cal. BC – unmodelled) in the Iberian Peninsula and has provided the first complete genome of an Iberian farmer. A minimum of seven individuals and six age clusters have been ascribed on the basis of the disarticula...
Article
The discovery of a partial cranium at the site of Aroeira (Portugal) dating to 389-436 ka augments the current sample of Middle Pleistocene European crania and makes this specimen penecontemporaneous with the fossils from the geographically close Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos (SH) and Arago sites. A recent study of the cranium documented a unique co...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives The aim of this work is to describe the taphonomic signatures of the Aroeira 3 cranium, with a specific focus on cranial breakage, comparing the cranium with other Middle and Upper Pleistocene hominin fossils in order to approximate the cause of death and the biological agencies and geologic processes involved in the taphonomic record of...
Article
Bifaces dominate the Acheulean stone tools recovered during the archaeological excavation of layer X of Gruta da Aroeira, dated to 389–436 ka. Faunal remains and a human cranium were found in association with this lithic assemblage. The raw materials used are mostly quartz and quartzite cobbles available in the vicinity of the site. Technological a...
Article
The Pleistocene (MIS5) site known as Cova del Rinoceront near Barcelona, Spain, contains a large assemblage of ungulate remains, among which the most dominant, in the uppermost Layer I, are those of the rare Mediterranean deer, Haploidoceros mediterraneus. In this paper, zooarchaeological and coprogenic analyses are used to evaluate the taphonomic...
Article
Marine isotope stage 3 (MIS 3) was characterised by marked oscillations of extreme cold episodes with very short warm events during the stadial, and several regional differences have been recorded in the ice cores and marine deposits. The aim of this study is to reconstruct this period by evaluating both terrestrial and regional responses. Cova del...
Article
Carnivores are the main biological agents identified in the Upper Pleistocene assemblage of Cova del Coll Verdaguer (NE Iberian Peninsula). At the site, ungulate bones were primarily accumulated and modified by hyenas, as shown by partly digested bones, coprolites and the pattern of damage on bones. However, other small- to medium-sized carnivores...
Article
In recent decades, the time depth of archaeological remains bearing evidence of the symbolic behavior of human groups has been considerably extended, reaching the first Paleolithic societies. This paper provides an overview of the main evidence pertaining to symbolic behavior among huntergatherer groups, with particular emphasis on Neanderthals and...
Article
Full-text available
This paper presents archaeological layer XXV from Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona), ascribed to Bronze Age, and focuses on this period’s chronological issues. Cova del Gegant yielded Late Bell Beaker pottery featuring a decorative style akin to the “Northeastern Group” (generally ascribed to Early Bronze Age), human remains associated with a col...
Article
The dietary traits of the ungulates from the Canyars assemblage (Late Pleistocene; Gavà, Barcelona, Spain) are analysed through tooth mesowear and microwear to study their feeding behaviour as well as the climatic conditions during the time of the arrival of the early modern Europeans in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. During the Heinrich E...
Article
Full-text available
Significance We describe a recently discovered cranium from the Aroeira cave in Portugal dated to around 400 ka. This specimen is the westernmost Middle Pleistocene cranium of Europe and is one of the earliest fossils from this region associated with Acheulean tools. Unlike most other Middle Pleistocene finds, which are of uncertain chronology, the...
Article
This paper presents the results of anthracological analyses conducted to further the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of NE Iberia and to provide better insights into the impact of human activity on the landscape. This study is based on the analysis of charred plant remains from five archaeological sites located ∼20 km to the southwest of the cit...
Article
Excavations at Cova Bonica (Barcelona, Spain) have revealed 98 human remains, grouped into five age clusters and corresponding to a minimum of six non-articulated individuals. The remains are clearly associated with Cardial pottery, lithic artifacts, and ornaments suggesting an Early Neolithic horizon. The radiocarbon dating of three human individu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Human variability in the earlier Middle Pleistocene of Europe is poorly known, which makes it diffi-cult to assess patterns of human diversity and possible regions for ancestral populations asso-ciated with the western Eurasian spread of the Acheulian technocomplex. A recently discovered partial cranium from the Gruta da Aroeira may shed some light...