Neanderthal Survival in the North of the Iberian Peninsula? Reflections from a Catalan and Cantabrian Perspective

Ramification of lithic production and the search of small tools in Iberian Peninsula Middle Paleolithic

“…The Quina method is almost absent from central. southern and western Iberian Peninsula, but is present in some sites in the Mediterranean coastal region (Cova Negra- (Villaverde, 1984;Bourguignon, 1997)), in the Meseta (Navazo and Díez, 2009;García-Moreno et al, in press) and many sites in the Cantabrian Region (Rios-Garaizar, 2005;Garcia Garriga et al, 2012). Levallois and Discoidal methods, despite the existence of some problems to define clearly the border between them, appear elsewhere (Casanova et al, 2008).…”

Glacial chronology, environmental changes and implications for human occupation during the upper Pleistocene in the eastern Cantabrian Mountains

“…The different dating techniques imply chronological uncertainty about the maximum ice extent and the LGM in the Iberian mountains. Although the dating procedures, AMS, 14 C, and OSL, pose different limitations and problems, such as possible contamination of samples of aquatic organic matter affected by old carbon, evolution of complexes or fine deposits undetected during field work, and the results can be questionable, the coherence of the dates obtained by AMS and OSL techniques increases the consistency of glacial chronologies; (iv) Sedimentological archives and a sequence of Loss of Ignition (LOI) in the Picos de Europa (Serrano et al, 2012) used as evidence of environmental changes directly related to glacial evolution; and (v) Information on environmental changes and human population in the eastern Cantabrian Mountains has been obtained from natural deposits and archaeological research (Guti errez and Serrano,1996Baena et al, 2004;Cabrera et al, 2004;Rasilla de la and Straus, 2004;Garralda, 2005;Straus, 2005;Iriarte et al, 2005; d 'Errico, 2005;Uzquiano, 2005;Sepulchre et al, 2007;Uzquiano et al, 2008Uzquiano et al, , 2012Hoffecker, 2009;Alvarez-Lao and García, 2011;Maroto et al, 2012;Garcia Garriga et al, 2012). Several parameters such as open-air or cave sites, mountain or coastal location, and altitude have been considered in order to differentiate environmental conditions.…”

“…The maps of sites (Baena et al, 2004;Cabrera et al, 2004;Rasilla de la and Straus, 2004;Straus, 2005;Guti errez and Serrano, 2007) reveal high Mousterian density and a greater proliferation of sites in mountain regions (Garcia Garriga et al, 2012;Maroto et al, 2012). In this sense, the Mousterian occupation reached the high valleys, with sites in Nestares or Mave in Campoo (Guti errez and , Díez-Martín et al, 2011Yravedra et al, 2013), a natural connection between the Cantabrian coast and the Duero, and the inner mountain at low altitudes in Picos de Europa or Pas Valley.…”

“…This is probably the case of the El Castillo and Lezetxiki fossils, all of them very near the passages to or from southwestern European regions (Garralda, 2005). After 40 ka, these assemblages tend to appear at higher altitudes, in mountain landscapes with clearly diverse ecological conditions characterised by environments with contrasting features in terms of their biological potential to support humans, with long occupational hiatus, where there was no cultural replacement, and the extinction of the Neanderthals cannot be explained by the pressure of Upper Palaeolithic populations (Garcia Garriga et al, 2012;Maroto et al, 2012). Although most Neanderthal finds are related to Mousterian cultures, in El Castillo and Lezetxiki there are documented remains of 'Transitional Aurignacian' or 'Transitional Mousterian' technocomplexes (Garralda, 2005;Garcia Garriga et al, 2012).…”

“…After 40 ka, these assemblages tend to appear at higher altitudes, in mountain landscapes with clearly diverse ecological conditions characterised by environments with contrasting features in terms of their biological potential to support humans, with long occupational hiatus, where there was no cultural replacement, and the extinction of the Neanderthals cannot be explained by the pressure of Upper Palaeolithic populations (Garcia Garriga et al, 2012;Maroto et al, 2012). Although most Neanderthal finds are related to Mousterian cultures, in El Castillo and Lezetxiki there are documented remains of 'Transitional Aurignacian' or 'Transitional Mousterian' technocomplexes (Garralda, 2005;Garcia Garriga et al, 2012). Two key sequences, El Castillo and El Esquilleu, show the survival of Middle Palaeolithic communities in inland areas, while in coastal areas the Aurignacian was in early development (Garcia Garriga et al, 2012).…”