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

Kehl, Martin; Álvarez-Alonso, David; Andrés-Herrero, María de; Díez‐Herrero, Andrés; Klasen, Nicole; Rethemeyer, Janet; Weniger, Gerd-Christian

doi:10.1017/qua.2018.13

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(130 reference statements)

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“…Such breakdowns of hunter-gatherer populations are clearly documented during the LGM in Central Europe, when large areas turned out to be high risk environments and were abandoned by humans [11,108,109]. A similar process is evident at the end of Middle Palaeolithic for Central Iberia [26,110,111] as well as other areas of the Iberian Peninsula [3,112,113]. In Morocco, a population breakdown after the Middle Palaeolithic is also evident [25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Late Glacial rapid climate change and human response in the Westernmost Mediterranean (Iberia and Morocco)

Weniger¹,

Andrés-Herrero²,

Bolin³

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

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This paper investigates the correlation between climate, environment and human land use in the Westernmost Mediterranean on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar during the Late Glacial. Using a multi-proxy approach on a sample of 300 sites from the Solutrean and Magdalenian of the Iberian Peninsula and from the Iberomaurusian in Morocco, we find evidence for significant changes in settlement patterns and site density after the Last Glacial Maximum. In Southern Iberia, during Heinrich Stadial 1, hyperarid zones expanded drastically from the south-eastern coast to the West through the Interior. This aridification process heavily affected Magdalenian settlement in the South and caused a strong decline of hunter-gatherer population. Southern Iberia during Heinrich Stadial 1 turned out to be a high-risk environment when compared to Northern Iberia. At the same time, the Late Iberomaurusian of Morocco, although considered to be situated in a high-risk environment as well, experiences an increase of sites and expansion of settlement area.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Late Glacial rapid climate change and human response in the Westernmost Mediterranean (Iberia and Morocco)

Weniger¹,

Andrés-Herrero²,

Bolin³

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

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“…Abrigo del Molino has, so far, three levels of Mousterian occupation, which have been dated using a combination of 14 C and K‐feldspar post‐infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR‐IRSL): Level 2 (combined 95.4% calibrated age range of 45.4–42.5 cal. kyr bp ), Level 3 (combined 95.4% calibrated age range of 44.6–41.2 ka; pIR‐IRSL age = 42.4 ± 2.7 ka) and Unit k (bracketing pIR‐IRSL ages of 42.4 ± 2.7 and 44.8 ± 3.3 ka) (Kehl et al 2018). The lithic assemblages of Levels 2 and 3 are very similar, and most of the raw materials used are of local provisioning, except for the flint, whose origin is unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low‐cost technologies in a rich ecological context: Hotel California open‐air site at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

Santamaría

Ruíz

Arnold

et al. 2023

J Quaternary Science

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Hotel California is part of a network of open‐air Neanderthal sites located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). In this study, we examine the technology of the lithic assemblages recovered from this site's archaeological levels 3 to 7, which are characterised by the use of local raw materials, non‐hierarchical centripetal exploitation systems, systematic production of flakes and few retouched items. This type of expedient technology is repeated throughout the entire sequence, which spans Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 to 4. Through a comparison with the technocomplexes and occupation histories of surrounding sites – including a re‐evaluation of the published chronology for the nearby site of Fuente Mudarra, which is now dated exclusively to MIS 5 – we examine whether the detected pattern is applicable to the rest of the Atapuerca Mousterian record and if this expedient behaviour has equivalents in other sites in the region. Our findings show that the lithic procurement, exploitation and configuration strategies employed at the Sierra de Atapuerca open‐air sites were constant over broad time periods spanning MIS 5 to 3, in contrast to the technological sequences observed at other nearby sites on the Northern Iberian Plateau. The recurrent settlement of these open‐air Neanderthal sites over tens of thousands of years and the consistent use of expedient technologies during different occupation periods is likely attributable to the rich ecological context of the Sierra de Atapuerca environs.

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“…1 B,C). Although these dates shorten the gap of human occupation after the Neandertal disappearance for the western margins of the plateau, in the rest of the Iberian hinterland, and especially in the very center, there is still a hiatus of ∼16,000 years devoid of human populations between ∼42 and 26 ka cal BP 40 , 110 , 111 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First modern human settlement recorded in the Iberian hinterland occurred during Heinrich Stadial 2 within harsh environmental conditions

Alcaraz‐Castaño

Alcolea-González

Andrés-Herrero

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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As the south-westernmost region of Europe, the Iberian Peninsula stands as a key area for understanding the process of modern human dispersal into Eurasia. However, the precise timing, ecological setting and cultural context of this process remains controversial concerning its spatiotemporal distribution within the different regions of the peninsula. While traditional models assumed that the whole Iberian hinterland was avoided by modern humans due to ecological factors until the retreat of the Last Glacial Maximum, recent research has demonstrated that hunter-gatherers entered the Iberian interior at least during Solutrean times. We provide a multi-proxy geoarchaeological, chronometric and paleoecological study on human–environment interactions based on the key site of Peña Capón (Guadalajara, Spain). Results show (1) that this site hosts the oldest modern human presence recorded to date in central Iberia, associated to pre-Solutrean cultural traditions around 26,000 years ago, and (2) that this presence occurred during Heinrich Stadial 2 within harsh environmental conditions. These findings demonstrate that this area of the Iberian hinterland was recurrently occupied regardless of climate and environmental variability, thus challenging the widely accepted hypothesis that ecological risk hampered the human settlement of the Iberian interior highlands since the first arrival of modern humans to Southwest Europe.

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

Cited by 14 publications

References 71 publications

Late Glacial rapid climate change and human response in the Westernmost Mediterranean (Iberia and Morocco)

Late Glacial rapid climate change and human response in the Westernmost Mediterranean (Iberia and Morocco)

Low‐cost technologies in a rich ecological context: Hotel California open‐air site at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

First modern human settlement recorded in the Iberian hinterland occurred during Heinrich Stadial 2 within harsh environmental conditions

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