Geoarchaeological analysis of Mousterian settlements in the upper part of the Eresma river valley: Abrigo del Molino (Segovia, Spain)

Abstract

Hasta 2012, la ausencia de investigaciones arqueológicas sistemáticas en el alto valle del Eresma, hacía que esta área fuera considerada como un vacío ocupacional durante el Paleolítico. En este trabajo se presentan los primeros resultados del proyecto 'Primeros Pobladores de Segovia', cuyo enfoque geoarqueológico ha permitido, no sólo el descubrimiento de yacimientos musterienses como el Abrigo del Molino, sino la contextualización de las primeras ocupaciones humanas de esta zona del valle del Eresma desde un punto de vista cronocultural y paleoambiental. Sin duda, las excavaciones realizadas en este yacimiento son la principal fuente de información para este análisis. Además, los nuevos resultados obtenidos fruto de las excavaciones en la zona superior del Abrigo del Molino, en la recientemente descubierta cueva de San Lázaro y en las prospecciones realizadas en esta área, están aportando nueva información sobre la interpretación geoarqueológica de las primeras ocupaciones humanas en el valle alto del río Eresma.

On the Combination of Remote Sensing and Geophysical Methods for the Digitalization of the San Lázaro Middle Paleolithic Rock Shelter (Segovia, Central Iberia, Spain)

“…The San Lázaro rock shelter is a small cavity originated in the cretaceous dolomites of the left bank of the Eresma river (Segovia, Central System, Central Iberia) and about 15 m above the riverbed (Figure 1). The site, discovered in 2014, takes its name from the medieval bridge that crosses the Eresma river a few meters far from the rock shelter [53]. In turn, the San Lázaro rock shelter is located about 400 m upstream of the Eresma river, and the Molino rock shelter, a Mousterian site excavated between 2013 and 2018 by the same research team [54][55][56][57].…”

“…Cavities are of very limited dimensions (hectometer length and metric height and width), showing a clear rocky-structural control, concentrated in certain carbonate levels previous to karstification or in which stabilization stages were concentrated in the nesting. Many of them, due to their small size, could be classified as balms, rock shelters and flaps, rather than caves, and their genesis is related to stabilization moments of the valley nesting and lateral erosion of the slopes by the fluvial-karstic system [53]. The upper part of the Eresma river encompasses the area of its birth on the summits of the central range and its course on the northern slopes of the mountains and highland foothills [58,59].…”

“…The sequence of the Abrigo del Molino is contemporary to the San Lázaro Rock Shelter, although, in this last case, at least three additional archaeological levels were documented. Both sites have several Neanderthal occupation layers with faunal and lithics remains dated at the end of the Middle Paleolithic in Southern Europe [53,57]. To date, only one publication on the discovery of the site exists [53], further results still remain unpublished.…”

“…Both sites have several Neanderthal occupation layers with faunal and lithics remains dated at the end of the Middle Paleolithic in Southern Europe [53,57]. To date, only one publication on the discovery of the site exists [53], further results still remain unpublished. For the elaboration of the cartography of the site and its surroundings, photogrammetric techniques were used.…”

The rock shelter Abrigo del Molino (Segovia, Spain) and the timing of the late Middle Paleolithic in Central Iberia

“…Álvarez-Alonso et al, 2016). Recent radiocarbon and luminescence dating at Jarama VI (Kehl et al, 2013; Wood et al, 2013, Jordá-Pardo et al, 2014), as well as luminescence ages for Hotel California (Arnold et al, 2013), Hundidero (Carbonell et al, 2014), Pinilla del Valle (Márquez et al, 2008; Arsuaga et al, 2012), Galería de las Estatuas (Arsuaga el al., 2017), and Abrigo del Molino (Álvarez-Alonso et al, 2013, 2016b) place the LMP in Central Iberia before 45 ka. Afterwards, the dispersion of AMH into Central Iberia was apparently delayed for a long period of time.…”