Three very different records are combined here to reconstruct the evolution of environments in the Cantabrian Region during the Upper Pleistocene, covering ~35.000 years. Two of these records come from Antoliñako Koba (Bizkaia, Spain), an exceptional prehistoric deposit comprising 9 chrono-cultural units (Aurignacian to Epipaleolithic). The palaeoecological signal of small-vertebrate communities and red deer stable-isotope data (δ13C and δ15N) from this mainland site are contrasted to marine microfaunal evidence (planktonic and benthic foraminifers, ostracods and δ18O data) gathered at the southern Bay of Biscay. Many radiocarbon dates for the Antoliña’s sequence, made it possible to compare the different proxies among them and with other well-known North-Atlantic records. Cooling and warming events regionally recorded, mostly coincide with the climatic evolution of the Upper Pleistocene in the north hemisphere.
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
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