1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 In this study, new examples of the presence of reindeer in the Cantabrian fringe of the Iberian peninsula are presented, all from the province of Biscay. The aim of this paper is to describe these new fossils, provide direct dates, and update current information on the presence and The new fossil material was measured using standard osteometric techniques. Measurements follow von den Driesch (1976), except for those of the teeth which follow van der Made (1989Made ( , 1996) (see Supplementary Information: part 2). These measurements are compared to other remains 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Iberian reindeer compared to that of the rest of Europe will be the subject of a separate study (Álvarez-Lao, unpublished data).Age-at-death based on dental attrition of the most complete mandibular remains was calculated using Bouchud (1966). A taphonomic analysis of all the new remains was performed using visual osteoscopic observations of the non-dental remains with a binocular lens (TVM) in order to look for anthropogenic modification, following Cáceres (2002) and San Pedro & Cáceres (2011). The Iberian reindeer record New and revised fossil remainsWe provide new evidence of reindeer from five sites in the province of Biscay (Basque Country, northern Spain) (Table 1 and Supplementary Information: Table S1). These new fossils come from both the excavation of new sites (e.g. Arlanpe) as well as from the revision of faunal material from sites in which the presence of the reindeer was previously both unknown (e.g. Bolinkoba) or known (Axlor, Lumentxa, Atxuri) (Figure 1). We also discuss some sites listed in Table 1 for which vague references to reindeer remains can be found in the literature. The description of material proceeds geographically based on the distance from the Pyrenees. From the taphonomic analysis of the remains found at these sites (see below) we can certify that there was human processing of reindeer carcasses at Lumentxa, Atxuri, Axlor and likely also at Arlanpe. From 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 At the beginning of this study, we revised the reindeer remains from this site curated at the Arkeologi Museoa (Bilbao) and were only able to find one complete metacarpal, two distal metacarpals and five antler fragments, two of which could be refitted together (in fact they had the same label). The revision of faunal remains from the J.M. Barandiarán collection has yielded 19 new fossils: mostly dental...

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a b s t r a c tThe end of the Middle Pleistocene is an interesting period for investigating the transformation of Neandertal behavior from the early Middle Paleolithic to the late Middle Paleolithic. Few sites in the Iberian Peninsula have sequences corresponding to the last interglacial (MIS5) and even fewer in the Cantabrian Region. One of the best places to investigate this subject is the sequence recently excavated in Arlanpe cave. Several proxies (sedimentology, pollen, small vertebrates, malacofauna, U/Th dating) locate the first phases of this sequence between MIS7 and MIS5, with the important occurrence of temperate environmental evidence. The archaeological record describes populations with high mobility that used the cave as an occasional shelter in the first phases, or as an activity area in the later ones. The

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137–50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities.

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