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Last Neanderthals in the warmest refugium of Europe: Palynological data from Vanguard Cave
Abstract
This paper deals with pollen analyses performed on hyaena coprolites from Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar, with the aim at depicting the vegetation landscapes of the southern Iberia Neanderthals during the MIS 3. The Palaeolithic vegetation in the surroundings would include pine, oak, juniper, Pistacia, and mixed woodlands, savannahs, riverine forest patches, heliophytic matorrals, rocky scrub with chamaephytes and hemicryptophytes, grasslands with heaths, shrubby grasslands, and steppe-like saltmarshes and littoral vegetation. A comparison with a former palaeobotanical study in the adjacent Gorham´s Cave providing data for the MIS 3 and MIS 2, is carried out. Placing the
palaeobotanical records of Vanguard and Gorham´s Caves in an European context, the southern coasts of Iberia emerge as the most thermic phytoreservoir of the Late Quaternary, which have important implications for existing arguments about the long survival of Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula.
... The term refugium is often used in the discussion of late-stage Neanderthal and other hominin populations (e.g. Vaquero et al., 2002;Jennings et al., 2011; concentration of biodiversity, particularly during glacial maxima (Carrión et al., 2008(Carrión et al., , 2018O'Regan, 2008;Riel-Salvatore, 2009Miracle et al., 2010;Jones, 2015). ...
... Dombrosky et al., 2020). This would be an interesting line of inquiry in the study of Palaeolithic refugia; while environmental stability is often inferred as a factor behind why a particular location might be desirable (e.g., Carrión et al., 2008;Jones, 2012;Jones et al., 2020), it is less frequently explicitly investigated (see Carrión et al., 2018 for an exception). Identifying whether Palaeolithic refugia were characterised by ecological stability could also provide a means of testing whether a refugium was in situ or ex situ. ...
... Peninsular southern Europe was the location of refugia for multiple taxa during the Pleistocene (Bennett et al., 1991;Hewitt, 1999Hewitt, , 2000Sommer and Nadachowski, 2006;Birks and Willis, 2008;Birks, 2015), and research on Palaeolithic archaeology in these regions frequently makes reference to this in discussions of human ecodynamics during the Last Glacial Maximum (Jochim, 1987;Gamble et al., 2006;Burke et al., 2014;French and Collins, 2015;Jones, 2016;Wren and Burke, 2019) and earlier (Harvati et al., 2003(Harvati et al., , 2009(Harvati et al., , 2013Jennings et al., 2011;Roebroeks et al., 2011;Bradtmöller et al., 2012;Dogandžić et al., 2014;Sánchez Yustos and Diez Martín, 2015;Gavashelishvili and Tarkhnishvili, 2016;Carrión et al., 2018;Vishnevskiy et al., 2019;Straus, in press). The role of southern refugia is a critical part of discussions on Neanderthal population dynamics (Finlayson, 2004(Finlayson, , 2005Lalueza-Fox et al., 2006;Hublin and Roebroeks, 2009;Roebroeks et al., 2011). ...
The word ‘refugium’ is often used to describe patterns of human settlement during various parts of the Palaeolithic. While, classically, a refugium is a location which supports an isolated population of a once more widespread species, some have argued that discrepancies in how this term is used have led to methodological confusion and a weakening of its meaning. Differences in the spatial and temporal scales of how refugia are defined, as well as in the specifics of how they operate, mean that many so‐called refugia serve different biological functions and have different implications for long‐term species survival (Ashcroft, 2010). In this article, I review four questions that may shape individual refugia. I then use the late Middle Palaeolithic record of peninsular southern Europe to explore how attention to these questions may help to advance Middle–Upper Palaeolithic research.
... In this region, a number of Quaternary cave paleorecords coincide closely with well-established regional pollen records from lakes and peat bogs, and paleoclimatological inferences from sedimentological, paleontological, and charcoal findings at the wetland sites (Burjachs and Julià, 1994;Carrión et al., 1999aCarrión et al., , 2013López-Sáez et al., 2007;González-Sampériz et al., 2010;Burjachs et al., 2012), confirming the complementary nature of cave and wetland archives. Finally, it is also remarkable that some palynological records in caves, with good pollen preservation, taxonomic discrimination, and stratigraphical control, have managed to change concepts about the structure and plant diversity of Quaternary paleoecosystems linked to glacial refuges of temperate and Mediterranean woody species Carrión et al., 2003Carrión et al., , 2018Carrión et al., , 2019aCarrión et al., , 2019bMagri et al., 2017;Camuera et al., 2019;Ochando et al., 2019Ochando et al., , 2020aOchando et al., , 2020bOchando et al., , 2020d. ...
... Coprolites and other fossil fecal deposits, sometimes frequent in cave sediments, may exhibit good pollen-analytical properties for paleoenvironmental reconstruction (e.g. Scott, 1987Scott, , 1994Betancourt et al., 1989;Horwitz and Goldberg, 1989;Reinhard and Bryant, 1992;Scott and Cooremans, 1992;Alcover et al., 1999;Carrión et al., 2000Carrión et al., , 2001Carrión et al., , 2006Carrión et al., , 2007Carrión et al., , 2008Carrión et al., , 2018Hunt et al., 2001;Pearson and Betancourt, 2002;Horrocks et al., 2003;Scott et al., 2003;González-Sampériz et al., 2003;Yll et al., 2006;Burry et al., 2008;Velázquez et al., 2010Velázquez et al., , 2015Martínez-Tosto et al., 2012;Wood et al., 2012Wood et al., , 2021Gatta et al., 2016;Djamali et al., 2020;Ochando et al., 2020c). ...
... The situation described for Sima de las Palomas may be extended to the coastal areas from Murcia to Gibraltar and beyond into the Atlantic coasts of Huelva. Similar vegetation records have been described in Perneras Cave, Mazarrón at Murcia province (Carrión et al., 1995), Gorham's and Vanguard Caves in Gibraltar (Carrión et al., 2018), Mousterian Bajondillo (López-Sáez et al., 2007) and Abrigo del Humo (Ochando et al., 2020c) in Málaga. These records agree in suggesting the existence of a littoral location favourable for the survival of the greatest diversity of environments in the Iberian Peninsula during the last glacial in which the late survival and extinction of the Neanderthals took place Carrión et al., 2018). ...
... Similar vegetation records have been described in Perneras Cave, Mazarrón at Murcia province (Carrión et al., 1995), Gorham's and Vanguard Caves in Gibraltar (Carrión et al., 2018), Mousterian Bajondillo (López-Sáez et al., 2007) and Abrigo del Humo (Ochando et al., 2020c) in Málaga. These records agree in suggesting the existence of a littoral location favourable for the survival of the greatest diversity of environments in the Iberian Peninsula during the last glacial in which the late survival and extinction of the Neanderthals took place Carrión et al., 2018). ...
This article aims to delve into the reality of glacial refuges of forests and tree species (including conifers, mesothermophilous angiosperms and xerothermic scrub) during the cold dry phases of the Iberian Pleistocene in which there is evidence of occupation of Middle Palaeolithic people. The research framework focuses on the eastern sector of the Iberian Peninsula due to the physiographic, palaeobotanical and archaeological peculiarities, substantiated by recent studies. We contend that some Neanderthal occupations developed in the context of high geobiological complexity, high biological diversity and highly structured forest ecosystems. We highlight the importance of glacial refuges as local anomalies that, however, would be contingent on vegetational development, and on the survival of Palaeolithic groups in areas with a broad diversity of natural resources.
... Considerable work has been done to establish site-specific palaeoclimatic records for Iberian sites dating to MIS 5 9-13 and MIS 3, e.g. [14][15][16][17][18][19] . In contrast, relatively few site-specific records exist for MIS 4 in the peninsula. ...
... Finally, current evidence shows that both MIS 5 and MIS 3 Neanderthals in the central Mediterranean region of Iberia made simple open hearths 35,46,47 and wood-gathering patterns appear to be similar irrespective of glacial, interglacial, stadial or interstadial conditions 18,48,49 . ...
There is a relatively low amount of Middle Paleolithic sites in Europe dating to MIS 4. Of the few that exist, several of them lack evidence for anthropogenic fire, raising the question of how this period of global cooling may have affected the Neanderthal population. The Iberian Peninsula is a key area to explore this issue, as it has been considered as a glacial refugium during critical periods of the Neanderthal timeline and might therefore yield archaeological contexts in which we can explore possible changes in the behaviour and settlement patterns of Neanderthal groups during MIS 4. Here we report recent data from Abric del Pastor, a small rock shelter in Alcoy (Alicante, Spain) with a stratified deposit containing Middle Palaeolithic remains. We present absolute dates that frame the sequence within MIS 4 and multi-proxy geoarchaeological evidence of in situ anthropogenic fire, including microscopic evidence of in situ combustion residues and thermally altered sediment. We also present archaeostratigraphic evidence of recurrent, functionally diverse, brief human occupation of the rock shelter. Our results suggest that Neanderthals occupied the Central Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula during MIS 4, that these Neanderthals were not undergoing climatic stress and they were habitual fire users.
... We 29 used a high-resolution past climate emulator and an extensive fossil database spanning 2752 30 archaeological records to model climatic niche evolution in Homo. We found strong, statistically 31 robust evidence that the three Homo species representing terminating, independent lineages, H. ...
... This dating has been met with fierce 163 skepticism 30 so we prudently decided to keep Gorham's cave out of the analyses. However, the 164 presence of H. neanderthalensis in Southern Europe after 50 ka is well accepted in the scientific 165 literature 31 and in our results. ...
... Phytodiversity reservoirs could have been pivotal for human survival and perhaps genetic changes conducting to speciation during the Eurasian glacial stages. Carrión et al. (2018) present pollen analyses performed on hyaena coprolites from Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar, with the aim of depicting the vegetation landscapes of the southern Iberian Neanderthals during the MIS 3 (c. 59-29 kya). ...
... Altogether this paleovegetation picture has important implications for existing arguments about the long survival of Neanderthals in the Iberian Peninsula (Carrión, 2004;Stewart, 2005;Finlayson and Carrión, 2007;Jiménez-Espejo et al., 2007;Wood et al., 2013;Higham, 2014;Zilhão et al., 2017). The paper by Carrión et al. (2018) stresses that a major part of this scientific issue has been the inability to place paleoanthropological and archeological results in ecological context that is so critical to presenting a solid base for understanding of human behavior and evolution. This paper shows, by providing a detailed botanical perspective of the environments in which the Gibraltar Neanderthals lived, just how crucial such information is. ...
... As a reaction to these criticisms, recent research has focused on the use of archaeological archives to reconstruct local environmental conditions associated with human occupations, especially in Spain. The main results point towards the persistence of favourable warm and temperate environments (refugia) locally around Neanderthal sites all along the Last Glacial Cycle (Carrión et al., 2018Carvalho and Bicho, 2022;Ochando et al., 2019Ochando et al., , 2020aOchando et al., , 2020bOchando et al., , 2020c. These studies offer precious insights into the ecological conditions directly associated with human presence, but they present many limitations inherent to the archaeological record. ...
During the last glacial period, and particularly Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3, dated 60–27 ka), various abrupt and arid climate episodes impacted the northern hemisphere. These are known as Heinrich Stadials and are linked with major iceberg discharged in the North Atlantic. Heinrich Stadial 4 (HS4), one of the strongest of these events occurring around 39 ka BP, has raised numerous debates regarding its potential impact on the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (MUPT) and Neanderthal extinction, especially in the Iberian Peninsula where late persistence of Neanderthals has been claimed beyond 40 ka BP. Although palynological studies from the Iberian margins have previously highlighted vegetation changes during this period, these have generally been of low resolution and thus, the environmental conditions during HS4 and the possible impact of this event on the last Neandertal populations are still poorly understood.
This study uses the marine core from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 976, located in the Alboran Sea, to provide new ultra-high-resolution analyses for the interval between 41 and 34 ka BP, including the Greenland
Stadial 9 (GS9)/HS4 and the Greenland Interstadial 8 (GI8). The aim is to reconstruct vegetation and climate changes in southern Mediterranean with a resolution never achieved before and to discuss human occupation in the frame of these changes. Vegetation, climate changes and human occupation are discussed on the basis of 1)
pollen analysis, 2) quantitative climate reconstructions based on a multi-method approach, and 3) maps of human occupation based on a synthesis of archaeological sites for western Mediterranean Europe in the 42–34 ka BP time interval. Results show a fast spread at centennial scale of steppe and semi-desert vegetation, with a typical three-phased pattern for the GS9 (HS4). This pattern is compatible with the results of various records from Greenland, southwestern Europe and Brazil. The description of these phases with an unpreceded resolution for the SW Mediterranean region supports the connection between the hydroclimatic changes in Greenland and lower latitudes, while the transition to the following GI8 climate amelioration displays a major vegetation instability that mimics the pattern of the last deglaciation at sub-millennial scale. The climate reconstruction shows cold conditions during HS4 and enhanced aridity mostly linked to the winter rainfall deficit caused by the abrupt disturbance of the Mediterranean seasonal regime of precipitations. The regional comparison with
available palynological and paleoclimatic records from the western Mediterranean and the Atlantic sheds light on the spatial expression of the arid event, highlighting a south-westward trend in aridification in the Iberian Peninsula. The Alboran Sea appears as a critical area at the interface of the Atlantic and Mediterranean in-
fluences, recording the particular expression of fast climate oscillations in the westernmost part of the Mediterranean. The possible impact of such extreme climate event on the MUPT is discussed based on an updated dataset of archaeological sites and dates for western Mediterranean Europe in the 42–34 ka BP time interval. Maps of human occupation show that Neanderthals may have undergone population contraction during the arid conditions of HS4, but it is still challenging to place the MUPT in a sub-millennial chronological framework due to the uncertainty and limitations of archaeological data.
... In the southern Iberian Peninsula, evidence from palaeontological and archaeological sites confirms the presence of stone pine in active coastal ecosystems before, during and after the last glacial periods. It grew along an 800-kilometer stretch of coastline from the estuaries of Tagus and Sado rivers near Lisbon, down the Atlantic coast to Gibraltar and east to Malaga (Martínez & Montero, 2004;Carrión et al., 2008Carrión et al., , 2018bManzano et al., 2018Manzano et al., , 2019Fernández et al., 2021). Recent findings in a site inhabited by silvicolous Neanderthals near Valencia suggest an even wider presence of stone pine during interglacial and interstadial periods of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene (520-120 ka) (Ochando et al., 2019). ...
Pinus is the largest genus of conifers with more than 120 species. Some of the most extended and relevant forest trees in the northern hemisphere are pines. About 30 pine species bear seeds large enough to be collected for human consumption. Those seed kernels, also known as pine nuts, are one of the first known foods of forest-dwelling humans in Eurasia, including Neanderthals. Similarly, ancient American people relied on local pine nuts as a seasonal staple food. This chapter highlights the origin, evolutionary and cultural history and genetic diversity of some of the most relevant ‘stone pines’, namely Pinus pinea from the Mediterranean, Pinus koraiensis from Northeast Asia, and the Mexican Pinus cembroides. Their contrastive history is an example of different evolutionary strategies adopted by tree species.
... Therefore, not all sediments are susceptible to containing pollen remains, with the most favourable to be those deposited under anoxic conditions, in extreme arid conditions (absence of microorganisms) or in stable humidity and temperature conditions (i.e. cave records, Carrión et al. 2018;Ochando et al. 2020;Revelles et al. 2022). In that sense, degradation of pollen, like other organic remains, is most affected by repeated wetting and drying rather than prolonged dryness (Davis 1990). ...
... The subsistence behaviours of human populations during the Middle Palaeolithic are commonly attributed to the intricate connection between cultural and biotic factors (Discamps and Royer, 2017;Gaudzinski-Windheuser and Roebroeks, 2011;Hardy et al., 2012;Rolland and Dibble, 1990;Tzedakis et al., 2007;Vettese et al., 2022). The latter factor is investigated through the reconstruction of environmental parameters using a wide range of proxies such as pollen from long terrestrial and deep-sea sedimentary sequences (e.g., Pons and Reille, 1988;Sánchez Goñi et al., 2008), pollen from archaeological sequences (Carrión et al., 2018(Carrión et al., , 2022a(Carrión et al., , 2022bOchando et al., 2020aOchando et al., , 2020bOchando et al., , 2022, or small mammals (e.g., Discamps and Royer, 2017;Fernández-García et al., 2022;López-García et al., 2021). The accuracy of the correlations suggested by these proxies between the reconstructed environments and those experienced by humans can greatly vary depending on their resolution. ...
The study of Neanderthal-Environment interactions very often lacks precise data that match the chrono-geographical frame of human activities. Here, we reconstruct Neanderthals’ hunting grounds within three distinct habitats using dental microwear analysis combined with zooarchaeological data. The predation patterns toward ungulates are discussed in term of frequency (NISP/MNI) and potential meat intake (MAM). Unit IIIa of Teixoneres Cave (MIS 3, NE Spain) corresponds to a mosaic landscape, Unit IIIb was more forested, and, in the “Ensemble” II of Pi´e Lombard (MIS 4, SE France), forest cover dominated. At Pi´e Lombard, Neanderthals rely on a
high diversity of taxa from closed and semi-open hunting grounds, mostly two ungulate species as well as rabbits and several bird taxa. At Teixoneres Cave, mainly open areas are exploited in summer with a predation mostly focused on large gregarious ungulates. The larger size of ungulate herds in open spaces may have allowed Neanderthals to restrict their subsistence behaviour only to very few species, in specific hunting strategies. In Unit IIIa, they do not appear to have made any selection within the most abundant species, while in Unit IIIb, they focused on aurochs and also opportunistically and heavily on newborn red deer. Neanderthal subsistence strategies seem, therefore, only partially linked to the hunting grounds they had access to. While it impacted the diversity of the prey they selected, Neanderthal groups were able to develop distinct hunting strategies within
similar environments.
... Visualising these early Homo surrounded by Tertiary relics in open sylvatic ecosystems rich in resources pays homage to pertinent research performed in the Iberian Peninsula (e.g. Finlayson, 2004;Finlayson and Carrión, 2007;Leroy et al., 2011;Magri et al., 2017;González-Sampériz et al., 2020;Carrión, 2022a;, 2022c, 2022d where even later, during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, Homo heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis show preference to arboreal and high scrub ecosystems (Carrión and Walker, 2019;Carrión et al., 2003Carrión et al., , 2008Carrión et al., , 2018Finlayson, 2009;Stewart et al., 2019;Ochando et al., 2020aOchando et al., , 2020bOchando et al., , 2022a. Using a different proxy, the avian fauna for Pleistocene sites of the Palearctic, Finlayson et al. (2011) showed a striking association between Homo and habitat mosaics. ...
... Esta larga presencia de los neandertales en Gibraltar es debida, principalmente, a sus particulares condiciones ecológicas, no expuestas a las alteraciones que caracterizan al MIS 3 (fases climáticas en las que se divide el Cuaternario, diferenciado entre periodos fríos y cálidos), siendo las cavidades de Gibraltar una localización donde se constata un mantenimiento de temperaturas templadas y un paisaje termo-mediterráneo de alta biodiversidad que permitiría la supervivencia de las poblaciones neandertales (Carrión J., 1992;Carrión et al., 2018;Finlayson., 2003). ...
Texto de carácter divulgativo de los resultados históricos, arqueológicos, paleontológicos y paleo-ecológicos de la Cueva de Gorham y otras cavidades gibraltareñas, desde el Paleolítico medio a la protohistoria.
... The absence of all IUP, transitional and Protoaurignacian family industries from the Iberian Peninsula), other than the Eurosiberian zone in the extreme north (Straus, 2018), stands out in contrast to the rest of Europe and the Middle East. Here, coastal areas of the Mediterranean and Atlantic seaboards, least affected anywhere in Europe by the vicissitudes of the MIS 3 climate (Carrión et al., 2008(Carrión et al., , 2018Jennings et al., 2011;Ochando et al., 2020;Vidal-Cordasco, 2022), were occupied by remaining makers of the Mousterian, a stone tool industry linked with the exploitation of forested and semi-forested habitats and ambush hunting strategies (Finlayson, 2004(Finlayson, , 2009Finlayson et al., 2006;Zilhao et al., 2017;Carrión and Walker, 2019;Zilhao, 2021;Ochando et al., 2022). A comparable situation seems to have occurred in southern and eastern Asia prior to 50 ka, where warm and humid habitats did not challenge dispersing humans who show no major shifts in stone tools used, contrasting with the situation in northern Eurasia (Shea, 2016). ...
Recent advances in the study of ancient DNA recovered from fossils and cave sediments have profoundly changed our views on the biological and cultural interactions between populations and lineages of fossil Homo in the Later Pleistocene of Eurasia. A spatiotemporally complex picture emerges, with multiple population admixture and replacement events. Focusing on the evidence from Western Eurasia, we consider here how the mapping out of between-species interactions based on fossil and material cultural evidence is being replaced by a broader approach. Traditional narratives about human migrations and the biological and/or cultural advantages of our own species over the Neanderthals are now giving way to the study of the biological and cultural dynamics of past human populations and the nature of their interactions in time and space.
... Nevertheless, the amplitude of these climatic fluctuations differed between European regions (17,18) and so did the oscillations in the plant and herbivore biomass (19,20). While some biogeographic regions served as refugia for human populations during the coldest periods of MIS3, other areas experienced harsher climatic conditions and discontinuities in the human settlement (21,22). A source-sink model has been proposed to explain these population processes of colonization, coexistence, fragmentation, isolation, and replacement. ...
It has been proposed that climate change and the arrival of modern humans in Europe affected the disappearance of Neanderthals due to their impact on trophic resources; however, it has remained challenging to quantify the effect of these factors. By using Bayesian age models to derive the chronology of the European Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition, followed by a dynamic vegetation model that provides the Net Primary Productivity, and a macroecological model to compute herbivore abundance, we show that in continental regions where the ecosystem productivity was low or unstable, Neanderthals disappeared before or just after the arrival of Homo sapiens . In contrast, regions with high and stable productivity witnessed a prolonged coexistence between both species. The temporal overlap between Neanderthals and H. sapiens is significantly correlated with the carrying capacity of small- and medium-sized herbivores. These results suggest that herbivore abundance released the trophic pressure of the secondary consumers guild, which affected the coexistence likelihood between both human species.
... Sin embargo, en los últimos años venimos asistiendo a una reconfiguración importante de algunas de las líneas fundamentales que guían estas discusiones, tanto a escala de la península ibérica como de su contexto europeo, lo cual ha supuesto la necesidad de plantear nuevas preguntas y diseñar nuevos proyectos con nuevos objetivos. La revisión de las capacidades cognitivas y desarrollos culturales de los neandertales (Zilhão et al., 2010(Zilhão et al., , 2020Hoffmann et al., 2018;Rodríguez-Hidalgo et al., 2019;Balzeau et al., 2020;Leder et al., 2021;Rios et al., 2022), del marco cronológico del final del Paleolítico Medio y el comienzo del Superior (Wood et al., 2013;Higham et al., 2014;Zilhão et al., 2017;Kehl et al., 2018;Marín-Arroyo et al., 2018;Banks et al., 2019) o del marco paleoclimático y contextos ecológicos en los que se produjeron dichos procesos y el posterior poblamiento humano durante el Último Máximo Glaciar (LGM por sus siglas en inglés) (Moreno et al., 2014;Rassmussen et al., 2014;Carrión et al., 2018;Wolf et al., 2018;González-Sampériz et al., 2020;Marín-Arroyo y Sanz-Royo, 2022;Sánchez-Goñi, 2022), son los principales factores que vienen estableciendo las nuevas coordenadas de la discusión científica en el suroeste europeo. En este contexto, conocer la distribución espacio-temporal precisa de los últimos asentamientos de neandertales y los primeros de humanos modernos en las distintas regiones de la península ibérica, y cómo dicha distribución se correlaciona con las rápidas variaciones en los contextos ambientales y climáticos de los Estadios Isotópicos Marinos (MIS, por sus siglas en inglés) 3 y 2 (59.4-14.7 ka cal BP), supone un auténtico desafío para las nuevas generaciones de investigadores. ...
Históricamente, la península ibérica ha presentado un registro de gran relevancia para el conocimiento de las sociedades paleolíticas. Sin embargo, en lo referido a la primera ocupación de humanos modernos y la desaparición de los neandertales, dicho registro presenta un problema fundamental: la anómala escasez de evidencias en las amplias regiones del interior peninsular. El proyecto MULTIPALEOIBERIA, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación (ERC), asume que dicha escasez se debe a un déficit histórico de la investigación. Por ello, plantea la hipótesis de que la ocupación humana del interior de Iberia durante este periodo fue más compleja y duradera de lo asumido tradicionalmente, y tiene como objetivo principal obtener nuevos datos para contrastar las visiones clásicas. Se plantea como un macro-proyecto interdisciplinar y colaborativo aplicado a varios territorios de las dos submesetas ibéricas, y con la interacción entre cultura, ambiente y clima como marco de investigación fundamental. Su metodología implica la búsqueda de nuevos yacimientos, trabajo de campo en al menos 24 localizaciones arqueológicas, paleoecológicas o rupestres, un amplio programa de datación cronométrica, una detallada reconstrucción paleoambiental multi-proxy, así como el análisis de las estrategias tecno-económicas, simbólicas, de movilidad y uso del territorio de los últimos neandertales y primeros humanos modernos en el interior peninsular. Se espera que sus resultados presenten un alto impacto en temas como la potencial pervivencia tardía de neandertales en el sur de Europa, la naturaleza y cronología de la primera ocupación de humanos modernos de la península, o las adaptaciones culturales de cazadores-recolectores pleistocenos a contextos de rigurosidad climática y alto riesgo ecológico. En este artículo se presentan las hipótesis, objetivos, marco teórico-metodológico y primeros resultados de MULTIPALEOIBERIA.
... Esta profunda caracterización realizada en otros períodos cronológicos no ha acompañado de forma paralela al estudio del Homo sapiens en SW Europa, llevando a una infrarrepresentación de las expresiones culturales y materiales de los humanos modernos en la investigación actual. Esta situación es especialmente sensible en la península ibérica, donde se concentran una serie de rasgos biogeográficos que han podido jugar un papel determinante en los cambios y descensos poblaciones de neandertales y humanos modernos en situaciones de crisis (Pereira et al. 2005;Villa y Roebroeks 2014;Fu et al. 2016;Posth et al. 2016;Carrión et al. 2018;Wolf et al. 2018;Olalde et al. 2019;Villalba-Mouco et al. 2019;Jones et al. 2021) Esta gran diversidad de territorios y paisajes da lugar a la aparición de respuestas adaptativas y comportamientos técnicos singulares que son el motor del desarrollo de nuevas tradiciones culturales (Calvo y Arrizabalaga 2020;Cascalheira et al. 2020). ...
Lithic assemblages are one of the main sources for understanding variations in human behaviour over time. Through technological analysis we can observe these variations in the production and configuration of tools, which allows us to approach the social and organisational sphere of human groups, and finally, their ways of life. This doctoral thesis deals with several themes, discussions and problems focused on the study and interpretation of Palaeolithic archaeological contexts. To this end, the Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblages from Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Les Avellanes-Santa Linya, Lleida) have been analysed from different perspectives, which has allowed them to be published in high-impact international journals. The contexts studied cover a time range between 40,000 and 15,000 years, a period that includes the disappearance of Neanderthal populations and the arrival and consolidation of anatomically modern humans in southwestern Europe. This diachrony allows us to explore the cultural trajectories of hunter-gatherers through their technical behaviour, and becomes a relevant scenario to evaluate technological and socio-organisational aspects of human populations during the Last Glacial Maximum. This thesis locates a new Upper Palaeolithic sequence in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula and reports on the human presence in the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, Gravettian and Magdalenian periods. These data extends the current knowledge about the hunter-gatherer societies in the South Pyrenean slope, helping to fill a gap in the settlement of this geographical area.
... In the same way, the palynological studies indicate a wider distribution of Spanish fir in the past in certain areas of the Serranía de Ronda, as confirmed by the results obtained by Alba-Sánchez et al. (2021b) in the nearby Sierra de las Nieves National Park. At a wider scale, there is also evidence of a broader extension of Spanish fir in the Baetic System, with records from the late Pleistocene and Holocene in locations such as the Bajondillo Cave (province of Málaga), the Gorham Cave (Gibraltar) or the Boquete de Zafarraya Cave (province of Granada) (Carrión et al., 2012(Carrión et al., , 2015Alba-Sánchez et al., 2010;Alba-Sánchez and López-Sáez, 2013;Alba-Sánchez et al., 2018), as well as Vanguard Cave in Gibraltar (Carrión et al., 2018), Abrigo 3 del Complejo del Humo (Ochando et al., 2020), Padul (Camuera et al., 2019) and El Asperillo (Fernández et al., 2021). ...
The Serrania de Ronda is an exceptional palaeoecological laboratory for studying the dynamics of vegetation overtime, due to its strategic geographical location at a biogeographical crossroads and its proven historical legacy.Many of the mountains that form part of this territory are today practically deforested, such as Sierra Blanca,whose geographic location at the heart of the Serranía de Ronda means that it has enormous potential as a bio-geographical crossroads: the occasional presence of Abies pinsapo, Pinus pinaster and Quercus rotundifolia suggeststhat it was once covered by a mixed forest of conifers and broad-leaved trees. The lack of environmental researchin Sierra Blanca has facilitated the installation of large quarries, which have led to its exclusion from the Sierra delas Nieves National Park, which was created in 2021. We applied the pedoanthracological methodology, whichhas enabled us to discover paleo-populations of A. pinsapo and Pinus sylvestris-type. The results confirm that co-niferous forests previously covered a much wider area during the Holocene. These findings reinforce the role ofSierra Blanca as a high-altitude refuge for conifers during the warm stages of the Holocene and as a sentinel forthe local extinction of mountain conifers. This information could help improve its management and conservation.
... Cold and dry climates characterise these stadials in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula and especially in northern Europe. However, the coastal areas of the Gulf of Cadiz served as reservoirs of thermophilic plant communities in these cold periods, favouring the settlement of human populations 29 . This would indicate a more temperate and humid climate, with high phreatic levels, abundant vegetation and edaphic and/or lagoon development. ...
This article can be found on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/y-si-los-que-pasearon-por-donana-no-fueron-los-neandertales-193545
... Cold and dry climates characterise these stadials in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula and especially in northern Europe. However, the coastal areas of the Gulf of Cadiz served as reservoirs of thermophilic plant communities in these cold periods, favouring the settlement of human populations 29 . This would indicate a more temperate and humid climate, with high phreatic levels, abundant vegetation and edaphic and/or lagoon development. ...
This article can be found on The Conversation website:
https://theconversation.com/recently-found-neanderthal-footprints-in-the-south-of-spain-could-be-275-000-years-old-195346
... Cold and dry climates characterise these stadials in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula and especially in northern Europe. However, the coastal areas of the Gulf of Cadiz served as reservoirs of thermophilic plant communities in these cold periods, favouring the settlement of human populations 29 . This would indicate a more temperate and humid climate, with high phreatic levels, abundant vegetation and edaphic and/or lagoon development. ...
Hominin footprints were recently discovered at Matalascañas (Huelva; South of Iberian Peninsula). They were dated thanks to a previous study in deposits of the Asperillo cliff to 106 ± 19 ka, Upper Pleistocene, making Neandertals the most likely track-makers. In this paper, we report new Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating that places the hominin footprints surface in the range of 295.8 ± 17 ka (MIS 9-MIS 8 transition, Middle Pleistocene). This new age implies that the possible track-makers are individuals more likely from the Neandertal evolutionary lineage. Regardless of the taxon attributed to the Matalascañas footprints, they supplement the existing partial fossil record for the European Middle Pleistocene Hominins being notably the first palaeoanthropological evidence (hominin skeleton or footprints) from the MIS 9 and MIS 8 transition discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, a moment of climatic evolution from warm to cool. Thus, the Matalascañas footprints represent a crucial record for understanding human occupations in Europe in the Pleistocene.
... In contrast, the persistence of Neanderthal populations in southern latitudes might have been motivated by the higher biomass of medium and medium-large herbivores of the Thermomediterranean ecosystems during stadial conditions, which would support that southern Iberia acted as a refugium for Neanderthal populations during the cold stages of the late MIS 3 (refs. 2,44 ). ...
What role did fluctuations play in biomass availability for secondary consumers in the disappearance of Neanderthals and the survival of modern humans? To answer this, we quantify the effects of stadial and interstadial conditions on ecosystem productivity and human spatiotemporal distribution patterns during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition (50,000–30,000 calibrated years before the present) in Iberia. First, we used summed probability distribution, optimal linear estimation and Bayesian age modelling to reconstruct an updated timescale for the transition. Next, we executed a generalized dynamic vegetation model to estimate the net primary productivity. Finally, we developed a macroecological model validated with present-day observations to calculate herbivore abundance. The results indicate that, in the Eurosiberian region, the disappearance of Neanderthal groups was contemporaneous with a significant decrease in the available biomass for secondary consumers, and the arrival of the first Homo sapiens populations coincided with an increase in herbivore carrying capacity. During stadials, the Mediterranean region had the most stable conditions and the highest biomass of medium and medium–large herbivores. These outcomes support an ecological cause for the hiatus between the Mousterian and Aurignacian technocomplexes in Northern Iberia and the longer persistence of Neanderthals in southern latitudes.
... However, there have been advances over the last decades providing taphonomical studies and sequences with good palynomorph preservation and concentration, ecological coherence of the pollen assemblages, and acceptable correlation with reference to lacustrine sequences (e.g. Navarro et al., 2000Navarro et al., , 2001Navarro et al., , 2002López-Sáez et al., 2003Carrión et al., 2008Carrión et al., , 2013Carrión et al., , 2018Carrión et al., , 2019aGonzález-Sampériz et al., 2010;Burjachs et al., 2012;Revelles et al., 2016;Ochando et al., 2019Ochando et al., , 2020. ...
Palynological investigations in the Orce Archaeological Zone (OAZ) (Guadix-Baza Basin, Granada, Spain), Venta Micena 1 (VM1), Barranco León (BL) and Fuente Nueva 3 (FN3) are presented. This archaeological region is connected with the first Homo populations in Western Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. The VM1 pollen record is characterized by Ephedra, and to a lesser extent, Pinus, Juniperus and evergreen Quercus, occassionally accompanied by Olea, Genisteae, Erica, deciduous Quercus, Alnus, Castanea, Fraxinus, Salix and Phillyrea. BL is dominated by Juniperus, Olea, Pinus, Poaceae, and evergreen Quercus. FN3 is characterized by an open Mediterranean woodland dominated by evergreen Quercus, Pinus, Juniperus and Olea, accompanied by deciduous Quercus, Castanea, Populus, Salix, Ulmus, Fraxinus, Pistacia, Phillyrea, Genisteae, Erica, Cistus, and Ephedra fragilis. Relic Tertiary taxa in OAZ include Carya, Pterocarya, Eucommia, Zelkova, and Juglans. The Early Pleistocene OAZ vegetation is a mosaic of different landscapes embracing mesophytes, thermophytes, xerophytes, xerothermophytes, and Mediterranean elements. These finds are compared with former pollen analyses in the region and beyond within the Iberian Peninsula.
... Over the past 30 years, palynological studies have examined cave excavations and sediments in Europe and Africa (e.g. Coles et al., 1989;Burney and Burney, 1993;Coles and Gilbertson, 1994;Carrión et al., , 2009Carrión et al., , 2018Carrión et al., , 2019Carrión and Scott, 1999;Navarro Camacho et al., 2000;González-Sampériz et al., 2010;Fiacconi and Hunt, 2015;Expósito and Burjachs, 2016;Val-Peón et al., 2019;Lechterbeck and Jensen, 2020;Ochando et al., 2020a,b,c,d;Kurečić et al., 2021). ...
We comprehensively analyzed sediments obtained from an archeological excavation. A trench sediment profile of Maedun Cave (MC), South Korea, was analyzed geoarchaeologically. Multi-proxy analyses (palynomorphs, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, animal bones and artifacts) reflected the vegetation, hydroclimate and lives of prehistoric people at Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (ca. 40–30k cal a bp) in the early Late Paleolithic. The palynoflora consisted of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs. Under the air-circulation system in the cave, anemophilous pollen flowed in during the day, whereas waterborne pollen and spores, and freshwater algae, were transported by flooding during the summer monsoon rainy season. Mixed conifer and deciduous broad-leaved forest with an understory of pteridophytes flourished around the north-east central Korean Peninsula during MIS 3. Freshwater algae and grass pollen records may reflect precipitation intensity. It is assumed that they had flowed in during flooding caused by high precipitation during the enhanced East Asian summer monsoon, corresponding to Dansgaard–Oeschger (D/O) events 5 and 8 of δ¹⁸O GISP2 and Hulu Cave. The prehistoric people hunted herbivorous animals in the area around MC and sheltered inside it seasonally. They also used the grains of oats growing near the dwelling as a source of food.
Highlights
• Multi-proxy records from cave sediments of the Korean Peninsula shed light on vegetation cover and climate conditions during MIS 3 (40–30k cal a BP).
• Herbaceous pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs flowed into the cave due to flooding caused by high precipitation under the enhanced East Asia summer monsoon.
• Fossilized mammal bones and artifacts shed light on the lifestyle of prehistoric people in the early Late Paleolithic.
• Geoarchaeological evidence provides insight into the responses of ancient societies to climate conditions in northeast central Korea.
... También existen numerosos estudios de distribución de especies con interés en Aerobiología (Skjøth et al., 2008), e incluso puede servir para inventariar y consecuentemente prevenir, mediante la introducción de medidas protectoras, la invasión de especies invasoras, como Ambrosia artemisiifolia (Karrer et al., 2015). Por otra parte, el poder reconstruir escenarios y posibles paisajes en el pasado geológico de la tierra también es posible debido a la gran durabilidad que confiere la esporopolenina a la exina de los granos de polen, siendo estos de gran utilidad en estudios paleobotánicos, paleontológicos y paleobiogeográficos (Carrión et al., 2018;Ochando et al., 2020). ...
Plants provide innumerable benefits for human beings. They produce food, biofuel and a big amount of resources for industry, alimentary and farmaceutical industries. Moreover, they help to mitigate heat and particulate pollution levels, creating biodiversity and improving the air quality among many other functions. In this sense, urban forests and green spaces have become indispensable spaces in cities for urban sustainability, as well as plants found in peri-urban areas, whether as natural vegetation or crops. However, air quality can decrease as a consequence of the release of pollen grains by plants, producing episodes of massive emission into the atmosphere with consequences on human health. In this situation, Aerobiology has recently developed important technological advances in tools that help providing a better visualization about information on pollination predictions, allergenicity calculations, pollen concentrations,
aerobiological risks, etc.
This Doctoral Thesis aims to develop aerobiological information tools that allow people with pollen allergies, as well as health personnel, to be informed in the planning and treatment of these diseases. Furthermore, they can work as informative tools for professionals in the green infrastructure planning sector. To achieve these goals, the pollen spectrum of Extremadura for the cities of Badajoz, Cáceres, Don Benito, Plasencia and Zafra will be analyzed. The slopes and other geographical characteristics of these cities will also be taken into account, which are factors that directly influence the dispersion of pollen and for which the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)
technique will be used. LiDAR data from the five urban areas have been used to create the DEM and DSM (Digital Elevation Model and Digital Surface Model) which are necessary for further analysis. GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software was used to map the points for each city and to create risk maps by applying Kriging technique. Statistical analysis software R was also used to obtain the characteristics of the MPS (Main Pollen Season) (start date, peak date, end date and length) to analyze and develop regional pollen gradients and to create pollen calendars in each city.
An aerobiological index to create risk maps for ornamental trees is proposed called AIROT (Aerobiological Index to create Risk maps for Ornamental Trees) and the establishment of pollen exposure risk areas by studying parameters such as street width, height of buildings, location, geographic features of cities, maturity of individuals, density and pollen production. In addition, regional gradient maps and pollen calendars that show information on the most abundant pollen types, the main dates of pollination, pollen concentrations, etc, were created.
In Extremadura, around 35-40 different types of pollen are frequently identified, being the most abundant according to their concentration; Quercus, Poaceae, Olea, Cupressaceae, Platanus, Plantago and Pinus. Among these pollen types, Cupressaceae and Platanus are the most widely used as ornamental taxa in the five cities studied and which are considered highly allergenic, being this the reason why they were used for the creation of the AIROT index and the development of aerobiological risk maps. Specifically, we worked with the genus Platanus sp. and some species of the Cupressaceae family such as Cupressus arizonica, Cupressus macrocarpa, Cupressus sempervirens, Cupressocyparis leylandii and Platycladus orientalis, in order to identify aerobiological risks that serve as information for allergy sufferers, health personnel and the general population.
As for the accumulation of pollen, the dates when the greatest accumulation occurs in Badajoz and Cáceres are from mid-April to the end of May, in Don Benito from mid-March to the beginning of June, in Plasencia from mid-April to early June and in Zafra from mid-April to June 10. In addition, it could be affirmed that in Extremadura the start date and the peak date are reached earlier in the cities of the south of the region, being also in these cities the duration of the largest pollen season. The differences found amongst cities may be due to the variety of urban species and their management (pruning and irrigation), the influence of peri-urban landscapes, medium and long distance transport and climatic conditions.
In short, the AIROT index can be a useful tool for mapping possible biological risks in cities. Also allow to establish healthy itineraries and maps of tourist and gastronomic interest that serve as information to allergy patients to plan about places to visit and where to move within the cities. They are also valuable for allergists, architects and urban planners, tourists, city planning councilors and restaurant owners to structure vegetation, as well as to plan tourism according to the risks of the environmental environment and to reduce the aerobiological risk of certain areas.
In addition, the representation and geolocation of pollen calendars using geographic gradients provides information in a simple, fast and visual way and it can be of great interest also for allergy patients and health professionals.
... areas where climates remain relatively unaffected by cyclical climate change) or habitat (i.e. an area occupied by any given species and its characteristics). In the context of archaeology, however, distinguishing between the two may be impossible (see Carrión et al., 2018 for an exception) because archeological and paleoenvironmental information from the Paleolithic is often time-averaged, available in different scales and of coarse-grained resolution (Jones, 2021/this Special Issue). Generally, however, new methods, such as stable isotope analysis of zooarcheological assemblages, could provide the tools with which ecological stability can be evaluated for human populations on a more general level (Jones et al., 2018(Jones et al., , 2020Dombrosky et al., 2020). ...
During the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Balkan, Italian and Iberian peninsulas of southern Europe, late Neanderthal and early Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) populations may have overlapped in some capacity. Many of the hypotheses and models for the transition interval suggest that Neanderthal populations remained in, or migrated to, refugial zones while AMHs colonized areas not suitable for, or abandoned by, Neanderthals. However, many hypotheses and models have not been conclusively tested due to general issues impeding a clear understanding of the relevant archeological record and because of a lack of specificity in defining and applying the term ‘refugium’. This paper briefly summarizes what is known about the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in southern European Peninsulas and discusses some new directions in the use of refugium concepts in the study of Neanderthal extinction and AMH dispersal. We highlight the complexity of the archeological record in each region and in the studies of refugia more generally. Finally, we make an appeal for generating local, multi‐proxy paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic records to address these complexities so that hypotheses and models integrating refugial concepts in explanations of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition can be properly formulated and tested.
... On the contrary, the number of sites dating from the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic (Monigal 2004;Demidenko 2008;Demidenko et al. 2012;Uthmeier 2012;Bataille 2016) as well as to the Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) are under-represented (Demidenko 2008;Prat et al. 2011;Péan et al. 2013;Bataille 2016). Apart from the ongoing debate about the exact timing of the MP to EUP transition in Crimea, as well as in the whole of Europe (Carrión et al. 2018;Banks 2020;Fewlass et al. 2020;Hublin et al. 2020), there is a broad consensus that the LMP and EUP industries chronologically overlap in the Crimean Peninsula (e.g. in the case of EUP levels E and C below the LMP level B/B1 at Buran-Kaya II as well as a LMP component in the otherwise EUP Units G-H of Siuren I: Demidenko 2008). These MP and EUP sites are mostly rock shelters concentrated to an area of 420 km 2 in the internal ridge of the Crimean Mountains and clustered in two micro regions: one in Western Crimea (near the capital Simferopol) and one in Eastern Crimea (near the town of Belogorsk). ...
The Crimean Peninsula has a rich archaeological record characterised by numerous multi-layered sites from the Middle Palaeolithic and by a number of important sites representing the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic. Absolute dates place the region as one of the last Neanderthal refuges in Europe. Combining dental meso-and microwear analyses of worn molars found at faunal assemblages from different sites across Crimea, we can characterise the feeding habits of ungulates at different scales in their lifetime. The proxy data resulting from these analyses provide evidence not only on diet but also on (1) the habitat where fauna were hunted and (2) the duration of the events of human occupation in each archaeological level. For this palaeoecological reconstruction, we analysed three sites: Kabazi II and Chokurcha I from the Middle Palaeolithic and Siuren I from the Early Upper Palaeolithic. We focused particularly on the repeated Neanderthal subsistence pattern observed at Kabazi II throughout the sequence (around 80 to 48 ky). Analyses revealed that Equus hydruntinus (wild ass) was feeding on abrasive grasses, suggesting it was occupying open habitats, while Saiga tatarica (saiga antelope) was mixed feeding and probably consuming significant amounts of browse and lichens in relatively open habitats. Furthermore, variability in microwear signalled short seasonal occupations for all assemblages. During the Middle Palaeolithic and the early Upper Palaeolithic, these sites were occupied during the warm season.
... 29 This dating has been met with fierce skepticism, 30 so we prudently decided to keep Gorham's cave out of the analyses. However, the presence of H. neanderthalensis in Southern Europe after 50 ka is well accepted in the scientific literature 31 and in our results. The drop in the last bin Schoener's D in H. neanderthalensis does not depend on the temporal resolution of the bin, as is confirmed by using 1 ka long bins ( Figure S11). ...
At least six different Homo species populated the World during the latest Pliocene to the Pleistocene. The extinction of all but one of them is currently shrouded in mystery, and no consistent explanation has yet been advanced, despite the enormous importance of the matter. Here, we use a recently implemented past climate emulator and an extensive fossil database spanning 2,754 archaeological records to model climatic niche evolution in Homo. We find statistically robust evidence that the three Homo species representing terminating, independent lineages, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, and H. neanderthalensis, lost a significant portion of their climatic niche space just before extinction, with no corresponding reduction in physical range. This reduction coincides with increased vulnerability to climate change. In the case of Neanderthals, the increased extinction risk was probably exacerbated by competition with H. sapiens. This study suggests that climate change was the primary factor in the extinction of Homo species.
... 130-115,000 years ago), a period broadly analogous to the Holocene (Churchill, 2014). There is an ongoing controversy about the ecological significance of classic Neanderthal physiology, with proponents of the traditional cold-adaptation hypothesis (Holliday, 1997) pitched against those who advocate a temperate/Mediterranean core niche envelope (Benito et al., 2017;Carrión et al., 2018) backed by supporters of a temperate woodland-adapted biomechanical system (Stewart et al., 2019). The overall spatiotemporal pattern of "Neanderthalization"-the gradual proliferation of diagnostic morphological Neanderthal traits-coupled with the recent discovery of deep regional population structures based on aDNA evidence indicates complex and geographically structured evolutionary trajectories within the Western Eurasian Neanderthal lineage (Fabre, Condemi, & Degioanni, 2009). ...
Environmental uncertainty, climate change, and ecological crisis loom large in the present and permeate scenarios of potential futures. To understand these predicaments and prepare for potentially catastrophic scenarios, there have been repeated calls to explore the diverse human–climate relations of human societies in the past. The archeological record offers rich datasets on human–environment articulations reflected in artifacts, ecofacts, and their relational entanglements. Much of these human–environment conjugations are, in the absence of written records, only accessible archeologically, yet that discipline has played little role in the “environmental turn” of the humanities or the climate change debate. In an effort to articulate archeological research traditions with these concerns, we frame the notion of the paleoenvironmental humanities (pEH): a deep‐time training ground for current ideas and theories on the interrelationship of human behavior, climate, and environmental change. The key objective of the pEH is to offer a rejoinder between ecological reductionism and the adoption of full‐scale environmental relativism, opening up new interpretive and comparative terrain for the examination of human–climate relations. We probe the potential of this perspective by drawing on insights from Pleistocene archeology. The long‐term temporalities of the Pleistocene, we argue, promote alternative imaginaries of the human–climate nexus and draw attention to similarly long‐term futures. We end our proposal with a reflection on the responsibility of archeological practitioners to balance hopeful narratives of human adaptability with those of societal collapse, countering the emergent linkage between climate skepticism and right‐wing nationalism, and to bring such issues to public attention.
This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary Perspectives
... Environmental records from the Upper Pleistocene based on various proxies suggest climate variations (see among others Carrión et al., 2003;Tzedakis et al., 2007;González-Sampériz et al., 2010;Burjachs et al., 2012;López-García et al., 2014;Carrión et al., 2018). Most of the environmental records indicate generally colder temperatures than today, favouring the spread of conifer communities throughout the Iberian Peninsula (Uzquiano, 2008(Uzquiano, , 2009(Uzquiano, , 2014Uzquiano et al., 2008Uzquiano et al., , 2012Vidal-Matutano et al., 2015, Vidal-Matutano, 2018Allué et al., 2012Allué et al., , 2013Allué et al., , 2017aAllué et al., , 2017bAllué et al., , 2018Badal et al., 2012Badal et al., , 2013Alcolea et al., 2017;Alcolea, 2017Alcolea, , 2018Monteiro et al., 2017). ...
... Marine records reveal that the preservation of extended woodland masses is a regional trend characteristic of both Iberia and the Mediterranean Basin ( Fletcher et al., 2010;Fletcher and S anchez Go~ ni, 2008;Harrison and Sanchez Go~ ni, 2010). Anthracological and palynological records inland reveal well-established montane pine forest covertures, associated with components of evergreen and deciduous species, from the southern Iberian coasts to the Pyrenees during Late Pleistocene, until their decline with the beginning of the Holocene (Allu e et al., 2018;Camuera et al., 2019;Carri on, 2012;Carri on et al., 2018;Daura et al., 2017). Even if Mediterranean forest experienced some expansion-contraction cycles during this period, coniferous woodlands were constant all along the last glacial period (MIS 4 e MIS 2), pointing to oromediterranean/supramediterranean stages dominating during the MIS 3 in the northeast. ...
Recurrent long-and short-term Neanderthal occupations occurred in the Abric Romaní rock shelter (Capellades, Barcelona, Spain) for more than 20,000 years. This provides an opportunity to enhance our understanding of the evolution of behavioral strategies of these human groups. The site has a long and high-resolution sequence with 17 levels completely excavated, 13 of which are presented in this work, from D to Q; ca. 40e60 ka. These levels have generated extensive research concerning Neanderthal hunting strategies, lithic production, and fire technology. Here is presented the evolution of palae-oenvironment under which these populations lived applying different methods of palaeoecological reconstruction based on small-mammal remains along the entire sequence. The study is completed with taphonomic analyses that locate the primary origin of their accumulation under the action of owls and describe a past humid fossiliferous microenvironment where intense human occupation occurred. Oxygen isotope analyses were performed on rodent incisors from the richest levels (D, E, N and O), in order to reconstruct the past air temperatures. The medium to low intra-level ranges of oxygen isotopic values indicate a period of preferential accumulation moment of small mammals, which is likely related to spring-summer predator activity. Throughout the sequence, the landscape evolution is marked by an extended forestall cover and abundant water resources, both integrated in a patchy landscape. Climatic conditions were globally cooler and slightly wetter than present, but rather stable across the sequence. The greater relative presence of mid-European small-mammal species and the estimated lower palae-otemperatures correspond to relatively cooler episodes, such as stadial events, in levels E and O. However , certain discrepancies in palaeotemperature estimations are detected between oxygen isotopic analyses and other methods based on species occurrence. Northeastern Iberia environmental conditions related to Mediterranean climate provide a favorable MIS 3 scenario compared to European higher latitudes. Indeed, the milder glacial fluctuations detected within the Abric Romaní site are coeval to other Iberian Middle Palaeolithic sites with long-term occupations and allow these human groups to incorporate this region for millennia in their migration routes.
... isotope analysis from faunal collagen and enamel (Coope, 2000;Hedges et al., 2004;Rivals et al., 2015;Carrión et al., 2018;Hare et al., 2018;Blumenthal et al., 2019). However, the terrestrial stratigraphic record is Coope, 2002). ...
King Arthurs Cave (KAC) in SW Britain is an important archaeological, particularly due to having some of the earliest dates for the recolonization of Britain following the Last Glacial Maximum. This site also has evidence of human occupation dating back into Marine Isotope Stage 3, but the level of intensity is much lower. Using oxygen and carbon isotope analysis on wild horse (Equus ferus) found at the site, we looked to address what the local climatic and environmental conditions were in order to address part of a wider discussion on why early humans were absent from the British Isles during this time. This research aims to compliment that done by the UP-NORTH project to develop an understanding about the changing relationships between early modern humans and the dynamic environments that they were inhabiting throughout the Late Upper Palaeolithic. 3
... neanderthalensis interaction, requires extensive data that may be available in hominin paleogenomics (Fu et al., 2016;Racimo et al., 2015;Sankararaman, Mallick, Patterson, & Reich, 2016) but not in most non-model organisms. Finally, to brush the leaky replacement scenario aside as "human exceptionalism" (Varki, 2016- (Carrión et al., 2018;Jennings, Finlayson, Fa, & Finlayson, 2011). Norway (RJ, SR). ...
Classical theory states that hybrid zones will be stable in troughs of low population density where dispersal is hampered. Yet, evidence for moving hybrid zones is mounting. One possible reason that moving zones have been underappreciated is that they may drive themselves into oblivion and with just the superseding species remaining, morphological and genetic signals of past species replacement may be difficult to appreciate. Using genetic data (32 diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphisms) from a clinal hybrid zone of the common toad (Bufo bufo) and the spined toad (Bufo spinosus) in France for comparison, alleles of the latter species were documented in common toads in the south of Great Britain, at frequencies in excess of 10%. Because long distance dispersal across the Channel is unlikely, the conclusion reached was that the continental toad hybrid zone which previously extended into Britain, moved southwards and extirpated B. spinosus. Species distribution models for the mid‐Holocene and the present support that climate has locally changed in favour of B. bufo. The system bears resemblance with the demise of Homo neanderthalensis and the rise of Homo sapiens and provides an example that some paleoanthropologists demanded in support of a hominin “leaky replacement” scenario. The toad example is informative just because surviving pure B. spinosus and an extant slowly moving interspecific hybrid zone are available for comparison.
... The Iberian Peninsula, and Gibraltar in particular, are located on one of the extremes of the Neanderthal distribution and are thought to have served as a refuge for Neanderthals during glaciations (25,30). In addition, it has been suggested that Neanderthals may have persisted in Gibraltar thousands of years after they were replaced by modern humans in other parts of Eurasia (24,25). ...
The Forbes’ Quarry and Devil’s Tower partial crania from Gibraltar are among the first Neanderthal remains ever found. Here, we show that small amounts of ancient DNA are preserved in the petrous bones of the 2 individuals despite unfavorable climatic conditions. However, the endogenous Neanderthal DNA is present among an overwhelming excess of recent human DNA. Using improved DNA library construction methods that enrich for DNA fragments carrying deaminated cytosine residues, we were able to sequence 70 and 0.4 megabase pairs (Mbp) nuclear DNA of the Forbes’ Quarry and Devil’s Tower specimens, respectively, as well as large parts of the mitochondrial genome of the Forbes’ Quarry individual. We confirm that the Forbes’ Quarry individual was a female and the Devil’s Tower individual a male. We also show that the Forbes’ Quarry individual is genetically more similar to the ∼120,000-y-old Neanderthals from Scladina Cave in Belgium (Scladina I-4A) and Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany, as well as to a ∼60,000- to 70,000-y-old Neanderthal from Russia (Mezmaiskaya 1), than to a ∼49,000-y-old Neanderthal from El Sidrón (El Sidrón 1253) in northern Spain and other younger Neanderthals from Europe and western Asia. This suggests that the Forbes’ Quarry fossil predates the latter Neanderthals. The preservation of archaic human DNA in the warm coastal climate of Gibraltar, close to the shores of Africa, raises hopes for the future recovery of archaic human DNA from regions in which climatic conditions are less than optimal for DNA preservation.
Here we present multiproxy evidence of a new type of Neanderthal hearth discovered in Vanguard Cave (VC)
(Gibraltar), which is dated ∼ 65 kyr, and associated with Middle Paleolithic stone artefacts. The hearth structure coincides with predictions from theoretical studies which require the use of heating structures for obtaining birch tar, commonly used in hafting. We propose that the structure was used for heating rockroses (Cistaceae) under anoxic conditions by burning herbs and shrubs, over a guano mixed with sand layer. We tested this hypothesis experimentally with success. The presence of levoglucosan and retene in the structure’s matrix points to combustion of higher resinous plant-derived material. Our results advance our understanding of Neanderthal behaviour, as the ability to organize activities related with the use of fire.
Denisova Cave, in the northwestern Altai, is a key Paleolithic complex in North Asia. Pleistocene deposits in the cave contain lithic industries and human fossils documenting the evolution of the cultural traditions of Denisovans in the second half of the Middle and in the Upper Pleistocene. This study addresses methodological issues in paleogeographic interpretation of pollen records relating to Quaternary deposits of cave sites. We present the results of the analysis of recent and subrecent spectra of cave sediments and soil samples taken at sites of characteristic plant communities in natural zones of the Anui River valley near Denisova Cave. Findin gs from taphonomic study of pollen microremains from loose sediments in the East Chamber of the cave make it possible to obtain a correct climato-stratigraphic and climato-phytocenotic interpretation of pollen spectra from Pleistocene deposits in Denisova Cave.
Climatic and environmental changes have been commonly proposed as driving factors behind the decline of Neanderthals in Europe. The Cantabrian region, in northern Iberia, is a key area for understanding the replacement of Neanderthals by Anatomically Modern Humans, where an early disappearance of Neanderthals in relation to other areas of Iberia has been proposed. To evaluate how climate might have influenced human behaviour during Marine Isotope Stage 3, an accurate review of palaeoecological conditions is required. For the first time, an assessment of the regional available terrestrial proxies linked to archaeo-palaeontological sites, including small vertebrate assemblages, pollen sequences, charcoal data and stable isotope studies on macromammals is undertaken in this region. In addition, records from macrofaunal assemblages and glacial records have also been considered. To standardise the information and allow inter-site comparison, data from pollen and small vertebrate sequences were transformed into quantitative climatic estimations of temperature and precipitation. Results show highly variable climatic shifts between archaeological levels, being consistent with the climatic fluctuations observed in the marine and ice core records. Small mammal assemblages reveal a mosaic landscape of open meadows followed by scattered forested areas. A progressive trend towards aridity from the end of the Mousterian to the early Aurignacian is reflected by changes in arboreal pollen, macromammal species and stable isotopes evidence on ungulates consumed by late Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans in the region. This review suggests a decrease in temperatures and rainfall from 48,000 to 44,000 cal BP (after Heinrich Event 5) which coincides with the late Neanderthals in the region and followed by a populational hiatus until 43,000 cal BP. Despite the multiple intra-site environmental proxies available, this study challenges the fragmentary regional record during this key period for human evolution and reveals that further research is needed to obtain a complete regional high-resolution palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction.
The northeastern region of Iberia constitutes a natural pass-area for arriving populations into the peninsula and becomes a key area to understand Neanderthal resilience to changing environmental conditions experienced during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; 60–30 ka). Short-term but repeated occupations by Neanderthal groups occurred in Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona) in alternation with large and small carnivores during MIS3. Abundant small-mammal remains accumulated in units III and II of this fossiliferous deposit, providing local climatic and environmental information. This work focuses on the taphonomic history of small-mammal faunas, which a is clue to validate previous palaeoecological interpretations. As was observed with leporids and bird remains, raptors are considered the major source of small-mammal remains. The most likely accumulator is an opportunistic predator, the eagle owl, with very rare inputs by mammalian carnivores. In parallel, high-resolution palaeoclimatic data are provided through oxygen isotope analyses (δ18O) of rodent teeth from four subunits (IIIb to IIa), which are compared with independent methods of palaeotemperature estimations. According to air temperatures estimated from δ18O rodent teeth, cooler conditions than present day (− 1.6/ − 0.5 °C) are recorded along the sequence, but homogenous (< 1 °C). Complementary methods also explain higher rainfall than present day (+ 44/ + 682 mm). Only slight changes between units III and II show climatic instability, which could be related to palimpsests of stadial-interstadial events. Climatic stable conditions are reported from coeval isotopic and palaeodiet analyses from northeastern Iberia in agreement with the palynological records that underline how the Mediterranean area could have sustained rich ecosystems that assured the Neanderthal subsistence during the abrupt climatic pulsations of the Late Glacial.
Late Pleistocene hominins co-evolved with non-analogue assemblages of carnivores and carnivorous omnivores. Although previous work has carefully examined the ecological and adaptive significance of living in such carnivore-saturated environments, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the social and cultural consequences of being-with, and adapting to, other charismatic predators and keystone carnivores. Focusing on Neanderthal populations in Western Eurasia, this paper draws together mounting archaeological evidence that suggests that some Late Pleistocene hominins devised specific behavioral strategies to negotiate their place within the vibrant carnivore guilds of their time. We build on integrative multispecies theory and broader re-conceptualizations of human-nature relations to argue that otherwise puzzling evidence for purported ‘symbolic’ behavior among Neanderthals can compellingly be re-synthesized with their ecology, settlement organization and lifeworld phenomenology. This re-framing of Neanderthal lifeways in the larger context of startling carnivore environments reveals that these hominins likely developed intimate, culturally mediated, and hence varied, bonds with raptor, hyena and bear others, rather than merely competing with them for resources, space and survival. This redressing of human-carnivore relations in the Middle Paleolithic yields important challenges for current narratives on evolving multispecies systems in the Late Pleistocene, complicating our understanding of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions and the roles of hominins in these processes.
The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the potential of cave and rock-shelter sites for palaeoecological and archaeobotanical research. Climate conditions in the Mediterranean region and the depositional and post-depositional dynamics involved in the formation processes of open-air sites cause, in many cases, poor conservation of archaeobotanical remains, especially in the case of pollen, affected by oxidation and other taphonomic agents. However, more stable temperature and humidity, as found in cave and rock-shelter sites, provide optimum conditions for the preservation of vegetal remains. This study presents integrated archaeobotanical data from several NE Iberian sites, with occupations from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. On the one hand, the diachronic study of the pollen record in archaeological stratigraphies reconstructs vegetation evolution and abrupt climate changes during the Pleistocene and the Holocene. On the other hand, archaeopalynology reveals the need to consider different taphonomic agents in the interpretation of pollen records in archaeological cave and rock-shelter sites, especially the anthropogenic input of plants to the archaeological contexts. The study of anthracological remains offers a picture of the surrounding wooded landscape, and provides data to characterise vegetal resource management and to verify which plants were brought to the cave. Finally, the carpological record shows the presence of edible wild fruits from bushes and trees in the Pleistocene and beginnings of the Holocene, and cultivated and synanthropic plants from the Middle Holocene onwards.
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 herbs is also noticeable, including broad-leaf trees, Mediterranean woody shrubs and trees, conifers, xerothermophytes, indicators of saline substrates and heliophytes such as Erica, Asteroideae, Cistaceae, Ephedra fragilis and E. distachya. The overall reconstruction is a mosaic of different landscapes or types of vegetation around the rock-shelter. Indeed, we provided approach on the Gravettian vegetation of the Iberian Peninsula, connecting the palaeoecosystem with the biogeography of past human populations during the late Pleistocene.
The Guadix-Baza Basin (GBB) in Andalucía, Spain, comprises palaeontological and archaeological sites dating from the Early Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene, including some of the earliest sites with evidence for the presence of early humans (Homo sp.) in Europe. Thus, the history of climate and environments in this basin contributes significantly to our understanding of the conditions under which early humans spread into Europe during the Early Pleistocene. Here we present estimates of precipitation and primary productivity in the GBB from the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene based on dental ecometrics in fossil communities of large herbivorous mammals, and perform an ecometrics-based distribution modelling to analyse the environmental conditions of Early and Middle Pleistocene human sites in Europe. Our results show that Early Pleistocene humans generally occupied on average relatively diverse habitats with ecotones, such as woodlands and savannas, but avoided very open and harsh (cool or dry) environments. During the Middle Pleistocene in Europe, humans occupied a comparatively much broader range of environments than during the Early Pleistocene, but were on average more concentrated in environments where the dental ecometric of mammals indicate wooded palaeoenvironments. In the earliest human occupation sites of the GBB, Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3, the mean annual precipitation and net primary production estimates indicate climatic conditions close to modern Mediterranean sclerophyllous woodland environments, but with slightly higher primary productivity, indicating some similarity with East African woodlands. On the other hand, the environments did not resemble African grassland savannas. The browse-dominated diets of ungulates from Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 further suggest palaeoenvironments where grasses were a minor component of the vegetation. In the slightly older site of Venta Micena that has no evidence for the presence of hominins, dental ecometric estimates indicate climate and environments similar to Mediterranean “forest steppe” environments existing in the surroundings of Baza today. Grasses were prevalent in the diet of some taxa, especially equids, in Venta Micena, but most of the species show browse-dominated diets even there.
The Doñana area in southern Iberia is one of the most renowned protected areas of Europe, mostly due to the diversity and value of its wetland ecosystems. The large biogeographical significance of this territory and the outstanding availability of sedimentary archives have made this region a hotspot of paleobotanical research in the Iberian Peninsula. Specifically, the organic deposits on El Asperillo Cliff have been studied during the past few decades from the geomorphological and paleobotanical (pollen, macrofossils) points of view. However, large uncertainties remain concerning the chronology of certain sections of the exposed profile and the paleobotanical potential of this site has not been fully exploited yet. In this study, we revisited El Asperillo with the aims of completing the paleobotanical record and refining the chronology of this site. The age of the studied deposits ranges from ca. 22,000 to 30,900 cal. yr BP according to the radiocarbon dates obtained, thus embracing the particularly cold and dry Heinrich Event 2 and the Last Glacial Maximum. Our palynological results allow inferring the presence of a coastal marshland system. Additionally, the new pollen records highlight the relevance and diversity of pines (Pinus nigra-sylvestris type, P. pinaster, P. halepensis-pinea type) in the Late Pleistocene landscape of Doñana, reinforcing the native status of pines. Last but not least, the results stress the persistence of a highly diverse woody flora in Doñana during the harshest periods of the last glacial cycle, highlighting the importance of this enclave in postglacial vegetation recolonization of the Iberian Peninsula.
Marine Isotope Stage 3 is considered a period with several climate oscillations that drove the environments to rapid changes. To understand how these stadial-interstadial cycles affected southern Poland, we combined the results of eight proxies analysed in the samples from the old excavations and a new 2017 trench of Koziarnia Cave (Ojców National Park, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland) in layers related to Middle Palaeolithic, Jerzmanowician, and Early Gravettian. Among the studied proxies were charcoals, pollen record, remains of malacofauna, and vertebrates (including rodents, birds and large mammals, and ZooMS analysis of fragmented bones). Moreover, sediment samples have been analysed for lipid composition (by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, GC–MS).
Despite several taphonomic issues, it was possible to recognise two oscillations. The first one, reflected in pollen record and lipid analysis, took place during Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) 14 to 8 and included Heinrich Stadial (HS) 4. The second one, recorded by rodents and bird proxies, was related to DO 8/7 to DO 6 and included HS 3. Charcoal and large mammal proxies provided the broad context of our study. The Jerzmanowician occupation was connected with a relatively cold episode in a landscape characterized mainly by grassland and periglacial environments, while the Late Middle Palaeolithic and Early Gravettian groups settled the cave during milder climatic conditions, where environments were open with sparse boreal woodlands. Such trends provide additional arguments in a broad discussion on Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in Central Europe.
This paper presents a palynological study of the archeological layers from the Neanderthal site Abrigo 3 del Complejo del Humo, in southern Spain (Málaga), with the aim of reconstructing the environmental conditions in the vicinity of this hominin site. The Upper Pleistocene vegetation and its variability are described, revealing a high diversity of thermophilous plant taxa throughout the cold dry phases, together with a long-term persistence of woody taxa, including Mediterranean, mesophytes, xerothermics and conifers. With the pollen records of Maytenus senegalensis as an outstanding finding, this study demonstrates the co-existence of temperate, Mediterranean and Ibero-Maghrebian angiosperms on the southern coastal plains of the Iberian Pleistocene where Neanderthals survived for a long time. It is therefore clear that Neanderthals and early Upper Paleolithic modern humans lived in a litoral refugium, which was a propitious environment for maintaining a high biodiversity, including potentially edible plant species. Besides, this coastal refugium offers broad possibilities for hunting, and interpopulational relationships through coastal platforms.
Neanderthals and Denisovans are extinct groups of hominins that separated from each other more than 390,000 years ago1,2. Here we present the genome of 'Denisova 11', a bone fragment from Denisova Cave (Russia)3 and show that it comes from an individual who had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. The father, whose genome bears traces of Neanderthal ancestry, came from a population related to a later Denisovan found in the cave4-6. The mother came from a population more closely related to Neanderthals who lived later in Europe2,7 than to an earlier Neanderthal found in Denisova Cave8, suggesting that migrations of Neanderthals between eastern and western Eurasia occurred sometime after 120,000 years ago. The finding of a first-generation Neanderthal-Denisovan offspring among the small number of archaic specimens sequenced to date suggests that mixing between Late Pleistocene hominin groups was common when they met.
Explanations for patterns of healed trauma in Neanderthals have been a matter of debate for several decades. Despite widespread evidence for recovery from injuries or survival despite impairments, apparent evidence for healthcare is given limited attention. Moreover, interpretations of Neanderthal’s approach to injury and suffering sometimes assume a calculated or indifferent attitude to others. Here we review evidence for Neanderthal healthcare, drawing on a bioarchaeology of care approach and relating healthcare to other realms of Neanderthal social life. We argue that Neanderthal medical treatment and healthcare was widespread and part of a social context of strong pro-social bonds which was not distinctively different from healthcare seen in later contexts. We suggest that the time has come to accept Neanderthal healthcare as a compassionate and knowledgeable response to injury and illness, and to turn to other questions, such as cultural variation or the wider significance of healthcare in an evolutionary context.
Pollen analyses have been conducted in a series of interbedded sands and peats at El Asperillo, Huelva, S. W. Spain. It has been shown that dune/slack systems were a natural feature of the landscape at least 13 000 years ago. while they exhibit gross similarities with present dune/dune slack cycles. important differences have been identified between the two with the aid of numerical analysis. These show the importance of a long-distance component in causing the separation between the two data sets, in addition, an analysis of the fossil succession reveals further important differences between the two data sets in terms of the degree of stability and the behaviour of certain shrub and herb types. It has also been observed that the successional sequences from within the slacks all converge on one slack type as the next dune front arrives, in spite of starting from different slack typs. Thus the dune appears to have an overriding geomorphological influence on successional processes within the slack. The long-distance inputs have also been used to make inferences about the nature and extent of the regional forest during the deposition of the peat bands. These have revealed the existence of a temperate forest with Betula and Corylus on the Guadalquivir plain whose presence is thought to be explained by a general lowering of vegetation belts during this late glacial period.
Aims: The main aim was to present an overview of the avian geographical distribution patterns in the Mediterranean region during the Quaternary. Results and Conclusions: For this study seventy-two fossil sites located in the current Mediterranean region and in its peripheral fringe have been analysed. Most of the sites bear avian assemblages rich enough to offer an insight on the main features of local paleornithocaenoses. The approach of the steady Mediterranean refugia is used to explain the avian geographical distribution drawn from the Mediterranean fossil records. As a consequence, we increase the accuracy of our knowledge on the climatic changes during this period.
A survey of palynological research on hyaena coprolites from 10 fossil sites in southern Africa and 4 from Spain shows that coprolites from 10 out of the 14 sites contained fossil pollen. Pollen-bearing coprolites are generally richer in pollen than the surrounding sediments. Provisionally it seems that the sites with poor or no pollen in coprolites are relatively old or have been exposed to wet and dry moisture fluctuations, namely Makapansgat, Gran Dolina, Redcliff Cave and Erfkroon. This suggests that conditions during their long histories eventually destroyed pollen through oxidation associated with regular saturation of sediments. The composition of pollen spectra and preservation of pollen grains from coprolites is compared with that in fresh hyaena dung. SEM studies suggest that pollen grains in fresh dung and in fossil coprolites if preserved under suitable cave conditions, are generally well preserved with little damage. The damage traits require further systematic investigation in order to assess their taphonomic significance but selective destruction of pollen through ingestion, if any, seems to be light. Of particular interest to palaeoenvironmental studies is the observation that pollen assemblages preserved in hyaena dung are likely to provide relatively unbiased characterizations of vegetation representative of the wide surroundings in which the hyaenas were active. This implies that where pollen was relatively well- preserved in coprolites, it can provide palaeoenvironmental information extending beyond the immediate environs of the site in which they were found. Any possible bias introduced through behaviour-related pollen trapping is, however, difficult to exclude.
Over 300 goat/sheep faeces from the Neolithic lake-shore settlement of Arbon Bleiche 3 (3384–3370 bc) were analysed for macrofossils and 22 of them for pollen. Two main types of fodder could be detected, which were both consumed in winter. The more frequent type is characterized by remains of blackberry (Rubusfruticosus s. l.) probably showing the use of pasture in the near surroundings of the settlement. The second type is dominated by leaf fragments of silver fir (Abies alba) and by pollen and anthers of early-flowering shrubs such as hazel (Corylus avellana) and alder (Alnus sp.), pointing in the latter cases to additional foddering of twigs to livestock inside the settlement in times of shortage. Comparison with other Neolithic sites of Switzerland reveals differences that may indicate local adaptations in the keeping of goats or sheep.
Botanical remains, especially pollen, preserved in dung middens of rock‐dwelling hyraxes (herbivorous mammals belonging to the genus Procavia) have been studied in the Southern African winter‐rainfall area. Seven middens from a single rock shelter on the north‐eastern side of the Cederberg mountain range, Cape Province, are dated by 15 radiocarbon age determinations to between about 19,700 and 1370 yr BP. Plant remains in the middens are mainly fine, partly digested fragments. Identifiable macro‐botanical rests like seeds are scarce, therefore this preliminary investigation is focused on analysis of abundant pollen grains. The results show changes in a Southern Hemisphere equivalent of the Mediterranean macchia vegetation, viz. “fynbos”;. Although “fynbos”; prevailed at the site throughout the studied period, an altitudinal lowering of vegetation belts is indicated during the Last Glacial Maximum, while an increase in arboreal pollen types, especially Dodonea is shown during terminal Pleistocene and Holocene times.
The present study focuses on new palaeobotanical data (pollen, phytoliths and fruits) from three of the oldest Early Palaeolithic sites in Eurasia (Dmanisi in Georgia, Ca’ Belvedere di Monte Poggiolo in Italy and Pont-de-Lavaud in France). The main aim is to examine the ecological factors associated with the first human dispersals out of Africa into Eurasia. The palaeoecological data are discussed with regards to chronology and geographical location of the settlements. The vegetation pattern of each site consists of temperate Eurasian and Mediterranean taxa, subtropical trees being more or less recorded depending on climatic and geographic features. The new palaeobotanical data show that different vegetation structures occurred between the first human dispersal in Caucasus and the later dispersals in western Eurasia. However, in all cases hominins seemed to be adapted to temperate ecosystems. In Caucasus, human occupation took place at 1.7 Ma in a forest-steppe environment, while at ca 1 Ma human populations occupied various settings such as open landscapes or dense forests. These data suggest that during the Early Pleistocene, human populations evolved and dispersed in western Eurasia, gradually increasing their degree of adaptation to diversified environments.
We present the Holocene sequence from Lago Enol (43°16′N, 4°59′W, 1,070m a.s.l.), Cantabrian Mountains, northern Spain. A
multiproxy analysis provided comprehensive information about regional humidity and temperature changes. The analysis included
sedimentological descriptions, physical properties, organic carbon and carbonate content, mineralogy and geochemical composition
together with biological proxies including diatom and ostracod assemblages. A detailed pollen study enabled reconstruction
of variations in vegetation cover, which were interpreted in the context of climate changes and human impact. Four distinct
stages were recognized for the last 13,500years: (1) a cold and dry episode that includes the Younger Dryas event (13,500–11,600cal.
year BP); (2) a humid and warmer period characterizing the onset of the Holocene (11,600–8,700cal. year BP); (3) a tendency
toward a drier climate during the middle Holocene (8,700–4,650cal. year BP); and (4) a return to humid conditions following
landscape modification by human activity (pastoral activities, deforestation) in the late Holocene (4,650–2,200cal. year
BP). Superimposed on relatively stable landscape conditions (e.g. maintenance of well established forests), the typical environmental
variability of the southern European region is observed at this site.
KeywordsHolocene–Northern Iberian Peninsula–Lake sediments–Scanning XRF–Pollen–Ostracods–Diatoms
The development of a greenhouse agriculture in the traditionally impoverished region of Poniente de Almera, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, has caused an enormous rise in living standards. However, the environmental impact of this badly-planned growth threatens the every dynamics of the exploitation system. A special examination must be made of the use of the three major resources responsible for the functioning of greenhouse production and its impact on the ecosystems and particularly on the vegetation. These resources are: clayey soils, sand from fossil dunes and ground water. While the use of the clayey soils and sand have negative effects on the conservation of ecologically valuable communities found nowhere else in Europe, ground water overexploitation has produced an increase in salinity in most of the aquifers. Of these, sand has been by far the best monitored resource and restoration programmes have been implemented in the extraction zones. This survey deals with the recent evolution of areas where the arto (Maytenus senegalensis subsp. europaeus) and the sabina (Juniperus phoenicea subsp. turbinata) have long been the dominant species, although the presence of the former is nowadays notoriously diminished. The study is based on aerial photographs taken in 1957, 1977 and 1985, together with our own field work. Curiously enough, all this man-made process of degradation has stimulated ornithological diversity. Finally, we propose here some measures which aim to preserve the most important enclaves of these Mediterranean shrub formations, specially those of the arto, since sabina-dominated communities already belong to existing conservation areas.
Land-sea climatic proxies have been obtained from the Last Glacial section of IMAGES core MD95-2043 (western Mediterranean Sea). Vegetation and alkenone derived SST curves indicate rapid (~150 years) and synchronous terrestrial and marine climatic changes, paralleling the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) climatic variability over Greenland. This frequency of climate change can be related to shifts between the two modes of operation of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Transfer functions applied to the pollen data indicate that there was an amplification of the climatic signal during Heinrich events (HEs) in comparison with other D-O stadials. The development and persistence of both Scandinavian and Atlantic Mobile Polar Highs over southwestern Europe may explain the extreme cooling (~10 C) and dryness (400 mm) during Heinrich events 5 and 4 in the Mediterranean region. Comparison of the results of core MD95-2043 with similar climatic data from IMAGES core MD95-2042, located off Portugal, indicates that thermal and precipitation gradients occurred between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic sides of Iberia within HEs. HEs 4 and 5 are associated with more humid conditions in the Atlantic (by 200 mm) than in the Mediterranean site, as is the case at the present time. This comparison also illustrates the different behaviour of these areas during the D-O stadials. In contrast with the Mediterranean site, the Atlantic site shows similar precipitation and temperature drops for all the D-O stadials, including those related to the HEs. Here we propose the operation of different Mobile Polar Highs (MPH) as the driving mechanism for this difference in behaviour between the Atlantic and Mediterranean sides of Iberia. HEs are related to a stronger influence of the Scandinavian MPH, forcing a severe aridification and cooling of the full Iberian Peninsula. The Atlantic MPH may have been dominant during the other stadials, which would preferentially affect Southwestern Iberia.
The last glacial cycle was characterized by substantial millennial-scale climate fluctuations, but the extent of any associated changes in global sea level (or, equivalently, ice volume) remains elusive. Highstands of sea level can be reconstructed from dated fossil coral reef terraces, and these data are complemented by a compilation of global sea-level estimates based on deep-sea oxygen isotope ratios at millennial-scale resolution or higher. Records based on oxygen isotopes, however, contain uncertainties in the range of +/-30 m, or +/-1 degrees C in deep sea temperature. Here we analyse oxygen isotope records from Red Sea sediment cores to reconstruct the history of water residence times in the Red Sea. We then use a hydraulic model of the water exchange between the Red Sea and the world ocean to derive the sill depth-and hence global sea level-over the past 470,000 years (470 kyr). Our reconstruction is accurate to within +/-12 m, and gives a centennial-scale resolution from 70 to 25 kyr before present. We find that sea-level changes of up to 35 m, at rates of up to 2 cm yr(-1), occurred, coincident with abrupt changes in climate.
Along the Algarve coast, multi-proxy investigations of four estuaries detail the Holocene landscape evolution through high-resolution pollen and sediment analyses. This approach focuses on palynological results and enables the reconstruction of differentiated human impact around the studied archives between the Neolithic and modern times. During the Chalcolithic and Phoenician periods anthropogenic land use increases clearly and triggers erosional processes in the catchment. The increased agricultural area and the change in land use methods since the beginning of the second Islamic epoch form the actual landscape. According to the palynological results, since 8200 cal BP highly variable climatic conditions in terms of moisture availability have occurred during the entire Holocene. Arid periods occurred during the early Holocene prior to 8000 cal BP, around 7000 cal BP and between 6400 and 6200 cal BP. During the mid Holocene, two further dry periods with very different duration could be identified between 5000 and 3300 cal BP and between 2800 and 2500 cal BP. Finally, during the late Holocene between 1300 and 1050 cal BP and between 700 and 500 cal BP, further arid periods appeared. In conclusion, climatic and anthropogenic influences caused erosion in the catchments and in this way silting up of the estuaries along the Portuguese Algarve coast.
Denisova Cave in the Altai region of Siberia had been known to Russian scientists for some 40 y, but the site only achieved wide attention in 2010 with the publication of a very distinctive mtDNA sequence (dubbed “Lineage X”) from a human finger bone fragment [Denisova 3 (1)]. The sequence suggested that “Denisovans” diverged from the lineages of modern humans and Neanderthals close to 1 Mya ago. Later in the same year, a draft whole genome was published from the finger bone, which, in contrast, suggested the Denisovans were quite closely related to Neanderthals, and also indicated the presence of portions of similar DNA in extant Melanesians, presumably from ancient introgression from a Denisovan-like population (2). The early work left many questions about the Denisovans unanswered; however, in PNAS, Sawyer et al. (3) present full mitochondrial and partial nuclear genomes for two other Denisovan individuals represented by adult molar teeth (Denisova 4 and 8). The new study indicates that Denisovans had lower diversity than extant Europeans, and suggests that they occupied the cave through a considerable period.
A close relationship between diet and food-dispersion patterns, on the one hand, and behavior and social organization, on the other, was first recorded in birds by Crook (1965). Subsequently, this relationship has been studied in a range of mammals: in bats (Bradbury and Vehrencamp 1976), in antelope (Jarman 1974), in primates as reviewed by Clutton-Brock and Harvey (1977), and in carnivores as reviewed by Macdonald (1983) and Bekoff et al. (1984). The hyaenids are highly suited for studies of this nature; they show a wide range of ecological and behavioral adaptations and social organizations (Kruuk 1975; Mills 1978a, 1984) and constitute only four extant species of three genera.
Pollen spectra in twenty hyrax (Procavia) dung samples, four dassie rat (Petromus) midden samples, and one bird guano sample from various parts of South Africa were investigated. Multivariate analysis of pollen data shows correspondence between conventional surface soil and dust samples with Procavia and Petromus dung samples. The dung pollen spectra are therefore probably not strongly influenced by dietary preferences of the two kinds of herbivorous animals, confirming that pollen in dung middens have potential in reflecting different local vegetation types in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
1 Pollen diagrams from four peatbogs and a marshland located in the Atlantic and Mediterranean zones of north-central Spain are described, and their correlation is used to define a Holocene pollen reference sequence for the region. 2 Two main variants may be defined for the reference sequence: a northern variant, characterized by the predominance of deciduous trees, corresponds to sites under Atlantic temperate and moist climatic influence and a southern variant, with lower deciduous tree diversity, corresponds to sites under Mediterranean and continental climatic conditions. A vegetation gradient from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean side may be inferred from the pollen analysis. 3 A compilation of dated pollen diagrams from the northern Iberian Peninsula is used to plot maps for the Holocene spread of the principal tree genera. 4 Quercus, Corylus, Alnus, Taxus and Pinus had a wide distribution in the northern Iberian Peninsula during pre-Holocene times, as patchy refugia situated at medium elevations. They spread from these refugia at different times depending on climatic, geomorphological and successional conditions. Fagus, Abies and Carpinus could have spread through the Pyrenees. 5 Anthropogenic disturbance at the range limit of Fagus, Abies and Carpinus is probably responsible for their present geographical distribution. 6 The present-day Pinus silvestris forests growing in the Iberian Cordillera, southern Pyrenees and Cantabrian Cordillera have a local origin and may constitute the Mediterranean mountain pine forest altitudinal zone, not previously described for the Iberian Peninsula.
This paper reports on analysis of plant macrofossils in aeolian deposits exposed in El Asperillo cliff in the Province of Huelva. A significant find of a large number of macrofossils of Pinus (Pinus pinaster Ait. and Pinus nigra Arnold) makes a major contribution to our understanding of the role of Pine in the Upper Pleistocene landscapes of Iberia. P. pinaster Ait. and P. nigra Arnold, are meso-microthermic species and inhabited valleys excavated in aeolian sediments mainly deposited during OIS 4 and OIS 3 (based on OSL and radiocarbon ages). Their presence in these valleys during the last part of OIS4 and OIS 3 reflects a significant fall in temperature during certain periods of these isotopic stages and helps us better understand the response of coastal dynamics to climate change. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Three sedimentary sequences from the southeastern littoral of the Iberian Peninsula have been palynologically studied. The results obtained show that during the Holocene no significant forest cover existed in the studied area, so that the different phases identified mainly show an alternation of shrub formations and steppe communities probably determined by limitations that are fundamentally bioclimatic. Highest values of arboreal pollen at the bottom of the San Rafael sequence would correspond to an older period, when the area appears to be dominated by shrub communities with a high proportion of wild olive, whereas at the beginnings of the Holocene it is dominated by steppe formations. Between 7000 and 4500 yr BP the Holocene optimum is recorded, with a significant degree of vegetational cover. This period ends abruptly with a radical transform ation of the landscape that reflects the establishment of the steppe conditions that persist today, which lead to the marginalization of the maquis and the impact of intense erosion processes on a gradually deforested countryside.
Two borings were made at the site of Padul (Granada). Pollen analysis of 200 spectra from two successive sequences, 14.8 and 8 m deep, enables a description of the vegetational and climatic history of this region, the most southern one in Europe, from Early Würmian times. The chronology is supported by twenty-one 14C dates.Original equivalents are found for the great European Prewürm interstadials.A markedly arid though thermically not extreme episode, exactly equivalent to stage 4 of the marine isotopic stratigraphy, closes this relatively temperate period.The middle part of the Last Glacial shows climatic fluctuations that are poorly characterized, as is often the case in Europe for this period.A long section, very probably corresponding to the complete Last Pleniglacial, does not show any climatic amelioration.Towards 15,000 yr B.P. a change in the diagram is noted that can only be interpreted as reflecting a larger expansion of a regional steppe cover. This event, also reported on three occasions in southeast France, marks the beginning of the Oldest Dryas.The climatic amelioration of ca. 13,000 yr B.P. is far more pronounced here than anywhere else in Europe, whereas that at 10,000 yr B.P. is not so clearly marked. This unexpected result may be accounted for by the fact that Padul is the first continental site so far south and so near Pleniglacial refuges to be known: on the other hand, this result is consistent with what is known from oceanic isotopic stratigraphy.A quite new late-glacial and Holocene vegetational history is revealed, characterized by the early appearance and dominance of Quercus ilex oak forests of a southern type and the early occurrence of Quercus suber and Olea: it is the first account of a complete history of the postglacial reafforestation in a region with a modern semi-arid mediterranean climate. From the palaeoclimatic point of view, it shows that the hot and humid Holocene optimum was attained slightly before 8000 yr B.P. and that the Holocene climatic fluctuations were of but small amplitude.
A 4.5-m-thick late-glacial pollen sequence, supported by 17 AMS14C dates, has been investigated at the Quintanar de la Sierra marshland (Iberian cordillera, north-central Spain). Pollen zones were defined that correspond to successive phases in vegetation history during the end of the Late Würm, late-glacial interstade, and Younger Dryas periods. A transfer function approach has been adopted to derive quantitative climate estimates from the pollen assemblage data. A first expansion ofJuniperusandHippophae,about 13,50014C yr B.P., indicates the beginning of the late-glacial interstade which is characterized by aJuniperus–Betula–Pinussuccession that suggests higher temperatures and moisture than during full-glacial time. The Younger Dryas interval is recorded by a 120-cm-thick sediment unit that is dominated by herbaceous pollen. Transfer function estimates suggest that the climate during this period was cold, with low precipitation during most of the year, although not in summer. The Holocene arboreal recolonization in the area started about 10,00014C yr B.P., with a renewedJuniperus–Betula–Pinussuccession related to a strong increase in annual temperature and precipitation. The start of this process was synchronous with mean sea-surface temperature changes, as recorded from the nearby SU 81-18 marine core. The strong affinity with other European late-glacial pollen sequences demonstrates that the pattern of climatic changes during the last glacial–interglacial transition was similar in both northwestern and southwestern Europe.
Terrestrial and marine proxies (pollen, planktic and benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes, alkenone-and foraminifer-derived sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), ice-rafted debris) from IMAGES deep-sea cores MD95-2042 and SU81-18 (371N, 101W), MD99-2331 and MD03-2697 (421N, 91W), and MD04-2845 (451N, 51W) show that western European and offshore environments were strongly affected by Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) and Heinrich (H) events. We concentrate here on latitudinal variability in the forest cover extent and composition of western Europe during the succession of D–O events, showing new pollen records for core MD04-2845 and for marine isotopic stages (MIS) 3 and 4 of core MD99-2331. In general, cold SSTs characteristic of Greenland stadials were contemporaneous with the expansion of semi-desert or steppic vegetation while Greenland interstadials were synchronous with the expansion of forest. Our data reveal that the amplitude of Atlantic and Mediterranean forest expansions differs for any given D–O warming during the glacial period (74–18 ka). In the western Mediterranean, D–O 16–17 and D–O 8 and 7 (corresponding to minima in precession) were associated with strong expansion of forest cover contrasting with weak expansion of forest cover during D–O 14 and 12; the opposite pattern is revealed at the Atlantic sites. Further north, the strongest Greenland warmings are recorded for D–O 19, 11 and 8. This contrasting latitudinal climatic scenario is compared with other northern hemisphere records, revealing similarities between the Mediterranean climate and the Asian monsoon regime, which may relate to a summer atmospheric teleconnection between the two regions comparable to the present-day situation. Parallels between Mediterranean climate enhance-ment and peaks in global methane (CH 4) during the last glacial period suggest a significant role of monsoon activity in determining CH 4 emission from wetlands.
Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 is an artiodactyl Caprinae endemic to the Balearic Islands which became extinct more than 4000 years ago. Coprolites produced by this species have been collected from the excavation of Holocene cave sediments in Cova Estreta (Serra de Tramuntana, Mallorca). The pollen content of several samples of coprolites has been studied in order to determine the diet of Myotragus. Myotragus balearicus from Cova Estreta was a browser, and consumed huge amounts of box, Buxus balearica, a plant known for its high content of steroidal alkaloids. The coprolites are very fine textured, probably due to the result of a very efficient digestive process.
Palynological results are presented of surface cave sediments from six caves of southeastern Spain, which differ in location, morphology, size, orientation and number of entrances. The results address several issues of pollen taphonomy in a cave environment. Modern sediments from caves contain pollen assemblages that may re¯ect local and regional vegetation even better than those obtained in the exterior environment. Cave geometry is an important factor affecting the quality of pollen spectra registered inside the cavity. Generally, the highest concentrations of palynomorphs are observed in the cave entrance and in sediments associated to dry depositional conditions. Speleothems and wet carbonated sediments, and those obtained from wall and rear areas often contain altered pollen spectra. Biotically transported taxa can help to provide palaeoecological information. The depositional context is extremely complex and caution should be taken in palaeoecological reconstruction. Therefore, uniform rules for sampling strategy should not be applied to all cave sediments. q 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
The elemental (concentration of organic carbon, atomic H/C and C/N ratios), isotopic (δ13C values of organic matter) and molecular (predominant n-alkane chain length and carbon preference index (CPI)) organic components were measured for 600 samples taken from a 107-m long core from the Padul Basin (Andalusia, Spain). The record runs from the Lower Pleistocene (ca. 1 Ma B.P.) to the mid-Holocene (ca. 4.5 ka B.P.) with, in general, little diagenesis (removal of components). Two markedly different hydrogeological scenarios were interpreted: (1) From ca. 1 Ma to ca. 400 ka B.P. run-off recharge was significant and water depths were greater (lacustrine scenario). From ca. 400 to 4.5 ka B.P., the Padul Basin became a peat bog s.s. with the major water input coming from groundwater inflow. From ca. 400 to ca. 180 ka B.P. alternating episodes with either predominant grasses, trees or aquatic macrophytes which were linked to wet/dry phases, took place. An important deglaciation episode has been interpreted to occur between ca. 180 and 170 ka B.P. The global climatic changes occurring from ca. 170 to 25 ka B.P. were not recorded in the proxies, though they do show important variations linked to the Last Glacial Maximum and the beginning of the Holocene (ca. 25–10 ka B.P.): (2) Cold phases coexisting with dry periods produced the recession of forests and the development of grasses. After these periods, as both temperature and precipitation increased, forests expanded and the water level, linked to thaw, rose, especially at ca. 20 ka B.P. Few changes occurred during the Holocene, although there were short alternations between wet and dry episodes. Overall, the techniques applied proved to be excellent palaeoenvironmental proxies for studying the basin’s palaeoclimatological and palaeohydrological evolution.
Bat droppings accumulate in caves, and the resultant guano contains a stratigraphic record of the environment analogous to the record from lake sediment and peat. The bats forage at night for insects; they return to the cave during the day to sleep and care for their young. They attach themselves to suitable perches in the cave ceiling, and their excrement accumulates on the floor below. Flying requires a lot of energy, and bats of temperate regions consume large numbers of night-flying insects. In some situations the guano can reach a depth of meters in hundreds to thousands of years, and it has a valuable chronostratigraphy. The bat scats occur as small pellets that represent the non-digestible portion of the animal's diet in the preceding few hours; hence the diet provides information about the time of the year the feeding occurred. Bat guano contains, among other things, insect fragments, hair, pollen, and mineral matter. Night-flying insects do not normally visit flowers for the pollen; many species do not eat during the flying phase of their life cycle, and those that do generally are nectar feeders. Although the insects are not after the pollen, they do fly through a pollen-laden environment, and the pollen and dust adheres to their bodies. The insects essentially act as living traps for airborne debris. The bats also are furry pollen traps; during grooming they ingest pollen and dust enmeshed in their fur, and this also is excreted. The pollen in an individual scat contains a record of the atmospheric pollen during a single day in the past. This kind of detail is rarely available from lake sediment. Chemical analysis of individual bat scats in a time series can chart the changing environment caused by agriculture, industry, volcanic dust, and a host of other details that depend only on the cleverness of the researcher. Careful 14C analysis can isolate the times when bats did not use the cave, and that may be useful in interpreting past conditions. If the insect types in the guano change over time, that may provide evidence of changing climate. Pollen was analyzed from guano samples taken from Tumbling Creek Cave near Protem, Missouri, USA. The cave contains a maternal colony of the Grey Bat (Myotis grisescens) that occupies the cave for a short time each year. Scats collected from the base of a 70 cm thick cone of guano yielded an AMS 14C date of 2810 ± 40 yr BP. The fecal material has a crumbly structure below the surface; it was of mahogany color (7.5 YR 2/1 to 3/2) and had no noticeable odor. Guano can be processed like normal sediment, but simple washing in a weak detergent solution followed by acetolysis appears adequate.
Our results from the River Aguas basin suggest that fluvial archives, travertine and slope deposits provide sensitive resolution records of environmental changes during the last 170 kyr. From the chronostratigraphic data sets we have established a model of middle and late Pleistocene river response for littoral basins on the southern Iberian Peninsula.U/Th and OSL dating indicate the major periods of travertine formation of the Alfaix travertine platform, which range from 169 to 26 kyr. At least four incision events interrupted this aggradation period: between 167 and 148 kyr, between 148 and 110 kyr, around 95 kyr and at 71 kyr. Aggradation ceased after 26 kyr and incision occurred during OIS 2. Subsequently, the terraces T4a and T4b were deposited. OSL dating of the T4a channel deposit provides maximum ages of 28, 20 and 18 kyr. However, short climatic events, such as the Younger Dryas, produced two more river incision episodes during OIS 2.Nonetheless, for river systems influenced by tectonics, climate and sea-level changes it is difficult to assess the weight of each controlling factor. Regarding the three mechanisms of Pleistocene river dynamics in middle-size catchment areas of the littoral region of southeastern Spain, our results support the hypothesis that large scale tectonics triggered the general downcutting trend, whereas the main aggradation and incision phases occurred during periods of major sea-level changes. Over short-time scales the influence of climate variability, as documented by pollen records, plays a decisive role. Thus, the river responses to the three cyclic mechanisms operate at different time scales although synergetic processes should be considered with respect to the magnitude of abrupt incision/aggradation events.
High-resolution terrestrial (pollen) and marine (planktic and benthic isotopes, coarse fraction, and N. pachyderma (s)) analyses have been performed in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 interval of IMAGES core MD99-2331 retrieved in the northwestern Iberian margin. This study shows the occurrence of a Zeifen Interstadial/Stadial succession on land and in the ocean during the first part of MIS 5e. In northwestern Iberia, the Eemian is marked from 126 to 122 ka by the development of deciduous Quercus forest at the same time as Mediterranean forest colonised southern Iberia, and deciduous Quercus-Corylus forest occupied northernmost European regions. From 121 to 115 ka Carpinus betulus forest developed in NW Iberia indicating a winter cooling by 2 °C on land and an increase in annual precipitation by 100–200 mm along with a Sea Surface Temperature (SST) decreasing trend off Iberia. A similar cooling has been documented at the same time in northern Germany (52° N) by the replacement of deciduous forest by coniferous (Abies-Picea) formations, implying a southward displacement of the deciduous tree line between ∼60° N and 50° N as early as 120 ka. The southward migration of the tree line between 72° N and 58° N simulated by the Earth Model of Intermediate Complexity MoBidiC from 122 and 120 ka and considered as a major process to initiate the last glaciation is, therefore, compatible with data. Between 115 and 110 ka, the substantial ice accumulation in northern high latitudes (MIS 5e/5d transition) was synchronous with successive drops, C26 and C25, in northeastern Atlantic SST. In northwestern Iberia Abies-Pinus trees developed at the expense of Quercus-Carpinus forest. A tundra-like environment occupied northern Germany, marking the end of the interglacial in northwestern Europe at 115 ka, and boreal forest likely colonised northeastern France. The first displacement of the vegetation belts at 121 ka was enhanced at 115 ka indicating an amplification of the vegetation and climate gradients in northeastern Atlantic and European borderlands probably related with the well-developed ice caps at that time. The comparison between the general trend in the estimated and simulated MoBidiC winter and summer temperatures for latitudes between 35 and 45° N, shows that both follow quite straightforwardly the precession signal although the simulated and reconstructed temperatures agree better in the South than North of 40° N. Annual precipitation is exhibiting opposite trend in the data and in the model. This contradiction is likely the fact that the zonal climate simulated by the model may not accurately represent the regional climate features, as reconstructed from the pollen.
We present high resolution pollen, dinocyst and isotopic data for the Last Interglacial complex from marine core MD952042 (southwestern margin of the Iberian Peninsula; 37°48′N; 10°10′W; 3148 m). Direct land-sea correlation from this core indicates that during this period, North Atlantic sea surface temperatures were in phase with Iberian climate. Our palynological analysis suggests a Younger Dryas-like event at the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS)-6/5 transition. The analysis also indicates that the Eemian spans from the lightest isotopic values of MIS-5e (ca. 126 ky BP) to the heavier isotopic values towards the MIS-5e/5d transition. Therefore, the Eemian is not entirely equivalent to MIS-5e. Pollen analysis identifies four climatic phases of low amplitude during the Eemian. A Mediterranean climate in southwestern Europe is gradually replaced by oceanic conditions. The middle of the Eemian is characterized by an increase in precipitation on the land and ocean, associated with a slight cooling. This seems to be the result of a displacement of the Polar Front as far south as southern Europe during this period. After the Eemian, three relatively short climatic phases on land (Mélisey I, St. Germain Ia and Montaigu cold event) occurred contemporaneously with three shifts of sea surface temperatures. The Montaigu event, first identified in terrestrial pollen sequences, is, therefore, also recorded in core MD952042 on the basis of pollen, dinocyst and planktonic isotopic data. Our results also show that the warm periods of MIS-5 are not characterized by similar climatic conditions on land.
The Banyoles lacustrine sequence shows that the vegetational history of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the last 30,000 yr follows the North Atlantic pattern of climatic oscillations. The Banyoles pollen diagram, supported by two calibrated 14C dates and nine U/Th dates, shows a clear interstadial event between 30,000 and 27,000 yr B.P., a Pleniglacial period with minor oscillations that ended abruptly ca. 14,420 ± 410 yr B.P., and a late-glacial sequence that records the classical stages described in Northern Europe: the Bølling-Allerød Interstade, the Younger Dryas event at 12,000 yr B.P. (U-series age), and a short warming phase between the Younger Dryas and the last cold event (dated at 11,000 yr B.P., U-series age).
El yacimiento del Paleolítico Medio de la Cueva 120 (Garrotas, Catalunya). Primeros resultados
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Rasgos paleoambientales de la transición Tardiglaciar-Holoceno (16-7.5 BP) en el Mediterráneo ibérico, de Levante a Andalucía
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Neanderthals in Context. A Report of the 1995-1998 Excavations at Gorham's and Vanguard Caves
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