Age and Date for Early Arrival of the Acheulian in Europe (Barranc de la Boella, la Canonja, Spain)

Abstract

The first arrivals of hominin populations into Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene are currently considered to have occurred as short and poorly dated biological dispersions. Questions as to the tempo and mode of these early prehistoric settlements have given rise to debates concerning the taxonomic significance of the lithic assemblages, as trace fossils, and the geographical distribution of the technological traditions found in the Lower Palaeolithic record. Here, we report on the Barranc de la Boella site which has yielded a lithic assemblage dating to ∼1 million years ago that includes large cutting tools (LCT). We argue that distinct technological traditions coexisted in the Iberian archaeological repertoires of the late Early Pleistocene age in a similar way to the earliest sub-Saharan African artefact assemblages. These differences between stone tool assemblages may be attributed to the different chronologies of hominin dispersal events. The archaeological record of Barranc de la Boella completes the geographical distribution of LCT assemblages across southern Eurasia during the EMPT (Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, circa 942 to 641 kyr). Up to now, chronology of the earliest European LCT assemblages is based on the abundant Palaeolithic record found in terrace river sequences which have been dated to the end of the EMPT and later. However, the findings at Barranc de la Boella suggest that early LCT lithic assemblages appeared in the SW of Europe during earlier hominin dispersal episodes before the definitive colonization of temperate Eurasia took place.

The Early Acheulean technology of Barranc de la Boella (Catalonia, Spain)

“…The biostratigraphy of macro-and micromammals indicates a temporal span set between the late Early Pleistocene and the early Middle Pleistocene. The morphology of the Mimomys savini teeth samples from the top of Unit II at all three localities, as well as the presence of Victoriamys chalinei in El Forn and La Mina, situate the occupations between the top of the Jaramillo subchron (0.99 Ma) until shortly after the BrunheseMatuyama transition at 0.78 Ma (Lozano-Fern andez et al, 2013, 2014, confirming the magnetostratigraphic data (Vallverdú et al, 2014a).…”

“…vallonetensis, Equus sp., Bovini sp., Hippopotamus antiquus, Stephanorinus hundsheimiensis, Ursus sp., and Castor sp. (Vallverdú et al, 2014a). The fossils from El Forn are M. Mosquera et al / Quaternary International xxx (2015) 1e17 5 poorly conserved compared to those from La Mina.…”

“…The sedimentary succession of Barranc de la Boella is 9 m thick and contains six lithostratigraphic units (Unit I to Unit VI, from bottom to top). The description and composition of each unit can be consulted in Vallverdú et al (2014aVallverdú et al ( , 2014b. To date, excavations have been carried out in Unit II of the three localities, while the other units have only been sampled.…”

“…Cosmogenic analyses were conducted in Units I and II in El Forn and La Mina (Vallverdú et al 2014a). The dates provided for Unit II support the lithostratigraphic correlation between the La Mina and El Forn localities, and indicate a minimum precise radiometric average date of 1.00 ± 0.068 Ma.…”

“…stenonis, Megaloceros savini, Cervus sp., and Dama cf. vallonetensis (Vallverdú et al, 2014a). There are also some remains of canids, ursids and medium-sized felids, a large felid which has yet to be determined, as well as Macaca sylvanus.…”