Excavations at new sites of early man in Murcia: Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo and Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar de la Encarnación

Abstract

Two new sites with hominid, palaeolithic and faunal remains from the late Middle and early Upper Pleistocene in Murcia, S.E. Spain, are presented in the light of recent ongoing excavations and multidisciplinary research. The article outlines the origins and development of the research project with reference to aspects of field strategy and methodology, and comments upon the significant hominid and middle palaeolithic findings.Keywords: Neanderthal remains, middle.palaeolithic artifacts, uranium-thorium determinations, electron spin resonance determinationsThe sites: their setting, history and significance Two new sites in Murcia (south-east Spain) with late Middle/early Upper Pleistocene human and faunal remains, and middle palaeolithic Mousterian industries are being excavated by us under the aegis of a Spanish government major research project (DGICYT PB92-0971) ~. The two sites lie in strongly contrasting habitats 90 km apart (Fig. 1).Sima de las Palomas (~<Hole of the Doves~>) is a nearvertical natural karstic shaft, 18 m deep (Figs.l, 4), on the southern slopes of an isolated hill of Triassic limestone called Cabezo Gordo, which rises sharply to 312 m in the middle of a coastal plain almost at sea level, behind a large lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea known as the Mar Menor. The top of the shaft lies at 120 m above sea level and overlooks the plain to the south. A hundred years ago, iron miners entered the cave and dug out most of the breccia that filled it, leaving behind only an 18 metre-high column of breccia against its rear wall 2.The breccia comprises cemented soil (lutite, silt and sand) containing abundant angular frost-shattered scree and large slabs or blocks, fallen or washed down the shaft, which hamper stratigraphical interpretation of the still unexcavated 16.5 m of the column, although there appear

Glacial refugia of temperate, Mediterranean and Ibero‐North African flora in south‐eastern Spain: new evidence from cave pollen at two Neanderthal man sites

“…Although formed by karstic processes in Upper Miocene biocalcarenite, the rock-shelter was raised up with respect to the river by Middle Pleistocene tectonics, along with the rest of the east flank of the gorge, such that it has come to lie slightly higher than the glacis-terrace B sediments of the opposite bank, to which the Cueva Negra sedimentary fill very likely corresponds (Walker et al ., 1998(Walker et al ., , 1999. Although formed by karstic processes in Upper Miocene biocalcarenite, the rock-shelter was raised up with respect to the river by Middle Pleistocene tectonics, along with the rest of the east flank of the gorge, such that it has come to lie slightly higher than the glacis-terrace B sediments of the opposite bank, to which the Cueva Negra sedimentary fill very likely corresponds (Walker et al ., 1998(Walker et al ., , 1999.…”

“…Unit 4 includes broken calcrete slabs covering sediments similar to the preceding unit. Unit 5 comprises allochthnous cobbles, and calcrete slabs in a loess-size mattrix (Walker et al ., 1998(Walker et al ., , 1999.…”

“…The rock-shelter lies at 780 m above sea level, in a rocky escarpment 40 m above the River Quípar at 1 ° 48 ′ 10 ′′ E, 38 ° 2 ′ 5 ′′ N, where the river leaves a gorge ('Estrecho') that runs from south to north, before bending sharply eastwards today. Although formed by karstic processes in Upper Miocene biocalcarenite, the rock-shelter was raised up with respect to the river by Middle Pleistocene tectonics, along with the rest of the east flank of the gorge, such that it has come to lie slightly higher than the glacis-terrace B sediments of the opposite bank, to which the Cueva Negra sedimentary fill very likely corresponds (Walker et al ., 1998(Walker et al ., , 1999. Glacisterrace B is a formation of calcretes, silts, loess, and gravels, which occurs widely dating from the early Upper Pleistocene in the Segura and Vinalopó drainage basins (Walker & Cuenca, 1977).…”

Late Neandertals in Southeastern Iberia: Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, Spain

“…The age of the human fossils of concern here is primary, because the issue is the morphology of the latest Neandertals in Europe. The Palomas artifacts are all Middle Paleolithic, made on retouched flakes of flint, quartz, rock crystal, and marble (14)(15)(16)18). Given current reliable dates for Iberian Middle Paleolithic assemblages (10,19), this indicates an age of Ն34 ka cal BP (Ն30 ka 14 C BP) for the deposits.…”

“…Systematic collection of disturbed remains and excavation of the upper breccia deposits were begun by M.J.W. and the late J. Gibert after discovery of a crushed facial skeleton (Palomas 1) from the uppermost breccia by J. C. Blanco in 1991 (14,15). Fossil human remains have been collected from the mine rubble (1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999) and excavated in situ (1994-present) (SI Appendix, Table 1).…”