Lateglacial to Late Holocene palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) using the small-mammal assemblages

Bañuls‐Cardona, Sandra; López‐García, Juan Manuel; Morales, Juan Ignacio; Cuenca‐Bescós, Gloria; Vergès, Josep María

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.01.019

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Finally, in MIR4 we do not observe changes in temperature with respect to MIR6 and MIR5, but the MAP recorded is 52 mm higher, while chorotype 4 is the most important (Bañuls-Cardona et al, in preparation).…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 53%

“…The MAP in MIR23 is 148 mm higher than nowadays, while in the case of MIR22 the MAP is 608 mm, only 14 mm higher than nowadays (Table 4). In these layers, the end of the African Humid Period can be identified (Bañuls-Cardona et al, in preparation).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The small mammals analysed in this study belong to 14 Holocene layers (MIR24, MIR23, MIR22, MIR21, MIR19, MIR18, MIR17, MIR16, MIR11, MIR10, MIR9, MIR6, MIR5 and MIR4). These small mammals were identified using the methods of systematic palaeontology from Bañuls-Cardona et al (in preparation). We used mandibles and isolated teeth to identify insectivores (Cuenca-Bescós et al, 2008; López-García, 2008; Reumer, 1984); for chiropters, mandibles, isolated teeth and humeri (Bruijn and Rumke, 1974; Menu and Popelard, 1987; Sevilla, 1988); for Arvicolinae, the first lower molars (Cuenca-Bescós et al, 2008; López-García, 2008; Van der Meulen, 1973); while the identification of Apodemus sylvaticus and Eliomys quercinus was based on isolated teeth (Cuenca-Bescós et al, 2008; Damms, 1981; López-García, 2008; Pasquier, 1974).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we have included the small mammals’ samples and the environmental ( habitat weighting ) and climatic ( mutual ecogeographic range (MER)) conditions exposed in Bañuls-Cardona et al (in preparation), to analyse the relationship between natural (environmental and climatic) and anthropic influences on the changes in small mammals’ diversity. The activities associated with an economy based on agriculture and livestock farming are known to contribute to modifying and homogenizing the landscape, influencing the ethology of small mammals and resulting in the changes in biodiversity (Barnosky et al, 2011; Benton et al, 2003; Torres-Romero and Olalla-Tárraga, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human impact on small-mammal diversity during the middle- to late-Holocene in Iberia: The case of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

et al. 2017

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The human impact on the environment in the Holocene has usually been characterized on the basis of palaeobotanical records, but attempts to distinguish the anthropogenic impact from natural events in landscape evolution have been the subject of much debate in recent years. The aim of this paper is to analyse small-mammal diversity and the presence of synanthropic species, whose small size makes them more sensitive to any changes in their environment that may occur. This study has allowed us to characterize palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes, recording small changes\ud whether resulting from a human influence or otherwise. Our object of study is El Mirador cave, which has a sequence with a well-documented human occupation extending from 7200 to 3000 cal. BP. The study has led us to differentiate two phases. In one phase, we can see small changes in diversity related to climatic oscillations from ca. 7200 to 6800 cal. BP, while in the second phase, lasting from ca. 6800 to 3000 cal. BP, the changes in diversity and in the assemblage of synanthropic species are associated with human economic strategies. Moreover, we distinguish which kinds of economic activity (crop and livestock farming) have influenced these changes, because some small-mammal species are influenced, positively or negatively, by environmental changes based on crop farming and animal husbandry. All this information is contrasted with other archaeological proxies, such as the large-mammal and palaeobotanical assemblages from El Mirador cave. Furthermore, this integrative analysis has made it possible to identify the existence of altered environments more generally throughout the Iberian Peninsula from ca. 6000 cal. BP. It additionally confirms the theory of low human occupation intensity in the northern Meseta and in high mountainous areas during the early Neolithic

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 53%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human impact on small-mammal diversity during the middle- to late-Holocene in Iberia: The case of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

et al. 2017

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“…The extensive karst system of the Sierra de Atapuerca (northern Iberian Plateau, Spain; Fig. 1a) preserves several Early and Middle Pleistocene allochthonous infill sites (e.g., Gran Dolina, Galería complex, Sima del Elefante and Sima de los Huesos), which showcase important palaeoanthropological (Homo antecessor and early representatives of the Neandertal lineage; Bermúdez de Castro et al, 1997;Arsuaga et al, 2014), mammal faunal (Rodríguez et al, 2011) and Lower Palaeolithic records (Carbonell et al, 2008;Ollé et al, 2013), as well as extensive Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic sequences (Carretero et al, 2008;Bañuls-Cardona et al, 2017). More than 30 Middle Palaeolithic open-air sites have additionally been discovered in the vicinity (< 2 km) of the Atapuerca hills and surrounding river valleys (Navazo and Carbonell, 2014), and several of these sites have revealed rich Middle Palaeolithic assemblages (Navazo et al, 2011;Arnold et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-grain OSL dating of the Middle Palaeolithic site of Galería de las Estatuas, Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)

Demuro

Arnold

Aranburu

et al. 2019

Quaternary Geochronology

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This study presents single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronologies for the archaeological site of Galería de las Estatuasthe first systematically excavated Middle Palaeolithic site within the karst system of the Sierra de Atapuerca archaeological complex, northern Spain. The single-grain OSL ages are compared with paired single-grain thermally transferred OSL (TT-OSL) dating results for a selection of samples in order to better assess quartz signal bleaching characteristics of endokarstic deposits preserved at Atapuerca. In total, seven luminescence dating samples were collected from four lithostratigraphic units exposed in two excavation pits (GE-I and GE-II). The single-grain OSL equivalent dose (D e) distributions are characterised by generally low overdispersion (20-30%), suggesting appropriate bleaching at deposition. The resultant single-grain OSL ages reveal that the sediment sequence and archaeological remains excavated in pit GE-I accumulated 80-112 ka, while the upper layers of excavation area GE-II were deposited 70-79 ka. The replicate single-grain TT-OSL ages are in agreement with the OSL chronologies at 2σ for three of the four samples investigated; although in all cases the TT-OSL ages were systematically older than their single-grain counterparts. Apparent TT-OSL residual doses (i.e., TT-OSL D e values in excess of their corresponding OSL D e values) of 9-65 Gy were observed for all samples. These excess TT-OSL D e values are generally low in comparison to the natural dose ranges of TT-OSL dating applications undertaken elsewhere in the Atapuerca karst system. The single-grain TT-OSL and OSL dating comparisons build on daylight bleaching experiments and modern analogue studies performed on other Atapuerca exogeneous infill deposits and suggest reasonable potential for TT-OSL signal resetting down to relatively low levels for at least some sediments preserved in the Atapuerca karstic cavities. The quartz single-grain OSL chronologies obtained in this study place the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Galería de las Estatuas within marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 and the beginning of MIS 4, and provide firm evidence for human occupation of the Sierra de Atapuerca during a previously unreported time period.

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Human Diet at El Mirador Cave

Hernando

Cano-Cano

Martín

et al. 2022

Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology

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Lateglacial to Late Holocene palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) using the small-mammal assemblages

Cited by 26 publications

References 73 publications

Human impact on small-mammal diversity during the middle- to late-Holocene in Iberia: The case of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

Human impact on small-mammal diversity during the middle- to late-Holocene in Iberia: The case of El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

Single-grain OSL dating of the Middle Palaeolithic site of Galería de las Estatuas, Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)

Human Diet at El Mirador Cave

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