Joseba Rios-Garaizar

Chronological reassessment of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition and Early Upper Paleolithic cultures in Cantabrian Spain

Methodological advances in dating the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition provide a better understanding of the replacement of local Neanderthal populations by Anatomically Modern Humans. Today we know that this replacement was not a single, pan-European event, but rather it took place at different times in different regions. Thus, local conditions could have played a role. Iberia represents a significant macro-region to study this process. Northern Atlantic Spain contains evidence of both Mousterian and Early Upper Paleolithic occupations, although most of them are not properly dated, thus hindering the chances of an adequate interpretation. Here we present 46 new radiocarbon dates conducted using ultrafiltration pre-treatment method of anthropogenically manipulated bones from 13 sites in the Cantabrian region containing Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian levels, of which 30 are considered relevant. These dates, alongside previously reported ones, were integrated into a Bayesian age model to reconstruct an absolute timescale for the transitional period. According to it, the Mousterian disappeared in the region by 47.9–45.1ka cal BP, while the Châtelperronian lasted between 42.6k and 41.5ka cal BP. The Mousterian and Châtelperronian did not overlap, indicating that the latter might be either intrusive or an offshoot of the Mousterian. The new chronology also suggests that the Aurignacian appears between 43.3–40.5ka cal BP overlapping with the Châtelperronian, and ended around 34.6–33.1ka cal BP, after the Gravettian had already been established in the region. This evidence indicates that Neanderthals and AMH co-existed <1,000 years, with the caveat that no diagnostic human remains have been found with the latest Mousterian, Châtelperronian or earliest Aurignacian in Cantabrian Spain.

Discussion: by Blanca Ochoa and Marcos García-Díez

In a recent paper by Ochoa and García-Díez (2013) the available evidences for a chronology of western Pyrenean Paleolithic cave art are critically analyzed and discussed, and an alternative chronological organization is proposed on the basis of stylistic comparison. In this paper we discuss the critics made to the immediate context dating proposals in Altxerri B, Askondo and Etxeberri by giving the detailed information that has been recently published (Garate and Rios-Garaizar, 2012; Garate et al., 2012; Gonz alez-Sainz et al., 2013). We also discuss the validity of the stylistic comparisons proposed by Ochoa and García-Díez (2013) for the Gravettian and the Magdalenian art. Finally we discuss the problems for establishing a reliable chronological framework for Paleolithic rock art in this area.

A Middle Palaeolithic wooden digging stick from Aranbaltza III, Spain

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137–50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities.

First data of Neandertal bird and carnivore exploitation in the Cantabrian Region (Axlor; Barandiaran excavations; Dima, Biscay, Northern Iberian Peninsula)

Neandertals were top predators who basically relied on middle- to large-sized ungulates for dietary purposes, but there is growing evidence that supports their consumption of plants, leporids, tortoises, marine resources, carnivores and birds. The Iberian Peninsula has provided the most abundant record of bird exploitation for meat in Europe, starting in the Middle Pleistocene. However, the bird and carnivore exploitation record was hitherto limited to the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula. Here we present the first evidence of bird and carnivore exploitation by Neandertals in the Cantabrian region. We have found cut-marks in two golden eagles, one raven, one wolf and one lynx remain from the Mousterian levels of Axlor. The obtaining of meat was likely the primary purpose of the cut-marks on the golden eagle and lynx remains. Corvids, raptors, felids and canids in Axlor could have likely acted as commensals of the Neandertals, scavenging upon the carcasses left behind by these hunter-gatherers. This could have brought them closer to Neandertal groups who could have preyed upon them. These new results provide additional information on their dietary scope and indicate a more complex interaction between Neandertals and their environment.

Koskobilo (Olazti, Nafarroa): nuevos hallazgos y revisión de las colecciones

espanolEn este trabajo realizamos el estudio de nuevos materiales arqueo-paleontologicos recuperados en las dos escombreras de la cantera de Koskobilo (Olazti, Nafarroa) y proporcionamos nuevos datos sobre las colecciones recuperadas durante el s. XX en esta localidad. En este trabajo consideramos probable que los restos arqueo-paleontologicos de Koskobilo provengan de, al menos, dos cavidades, o de dos depositos independientes dentro de la misma cavidad. En la coleccion paleontologica, destacamos la identificacion de cuon, macaco, oso negro asiatico y ciervo gigante. La presencia de oso negro asiatico y de hipopotamo indican depositos del Pleistoceno Medio. Ademas, en base a la industria litica, queda firmemente constatada la presencia de poblaciones humanas desde el Paleolitico Medio Antiguo y durante varias fases del Paleolitico Superior, pudiendose destacar en Koskobilo la presencia de un taller de piezas foliaceas solutrense, el unico registrado hasta el momento en el area cantabrica. EnglishIn this work we provide new data on the archaeopaleontological findings from the Koskobilo quarry (Olazti, Navarre). We have reviewed the archaeo-paleontological collections that this quarry has yielded, which are curated at the Museum of Navarre. Additionally, we have studied new findings that we have recovered from two dumps of the quarry. Regarding the paleontological collection we have identified four new taxa in Koskobilo: dhole (Cuon sp.), Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and giant deer (Megacerini indet.). The presence of Ursus thibetanus with the already known presence of hippopotamus suggests that, at least, part of this paleontological collection has a Middle Pleistocene chronology. Additionally, the size of the second upper molars of the cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) suggests that at least another part of the collection was deposited during the Upper Pleistocene. The lithic collection, which was started to be recovered 10 years after the faunal collection, has yielded a few tools that can be ascribed to the Lower or Early Middle Paleolithic which could be roughly contemporaneous with the faunal collection. However, most of them are from the Upper Paleolithic and younger than the presence of the cave bears: Solutrean and Final Upper Magdalenian/Azilian, with the presence of a workshop of Solutrean bifacial points, unique in the northern Iberian peninsula. The data obtained from this study points towards the presence of two caves or cave sectors in which archaeopaleontological evidence from at least four moments of the Prehistory were recorded.

Late prehistoric coastal settlement patterns in the Cantabrian region, northern Spain

Newly discovered archaeological sites in the Uribe Kosta region of northern Spain are illuminating the establishment of late prehistoric coastal farming settlements and specialised tool-production activities.