RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Fire and brief human occupations in Iberia during MIS 4: Evidence from Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Spain)
A1 Mallol, Carolina
A1 Hernández Gómez, Cristo M.
A1 Mercier, Norbert
A1 Falguères, Christophe
A1 Carrancho Alonso, Ángel
A1 Cabanes, Dan .
A1 Vidal-Matutano, Paloma
A1 Connolly, Rory
A1 Pérez, Leopoldo
A1 Mayor, Alejandro
A1 Ben Arous, Eslem
A1 Galván, Bertila
K1 Arqueología
K1 Archaeology
K1 Prehistoria
K1 Prehistoric peoples
AB There is a relatively low amount of Middle Paleolithic sites in Europe dating to MIS 4. Of the few thatexist, several of them lack evidence for anthropogenic fire, raising the question of how this periodof global cooling may have affected the Neanderthal population. The Iberian Peninsula is a key areato explore this issue, as it has been considered as a glacial refugium during critical periods of theNeanderthal timeline and might therefore yield archaeological contexts in which we can explorepossible changes in the behaviour and settlement patterns of Neanderthal groups during MIS 4.Here we report recent data from Abric del Pastor, a small rock shelter in Alcoy (Alicante, Spain) witha stratified deposit containing Middle Palaeolithic remains. We present absolute dates that framethe sequence within MIS 4 and multi-proxy geoarchaeological evidence of in situ anthropogenic fire,including microscopic evidence of in situ combustion residues and thermally altered sediment. We alsopresent archaeostratigraphic evidence of recurrent, functionally diverse, brief human occupation of therock shelter. Our results suggest that Neanderthals occupied the Central Mediterranean coast of theIberian Peninsula during MIS 4, that these Neanderthals were not undergoing climatic stress and theywere habitual fire users.
PB Springer Nature
SN 2045-2322
YR 2019
FD 2019-12
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/6110
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/6110
LA eng
NO This research was funded by a Leakey Foundation General Grant, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovationand Universities Projects HAR2008-06117/HIST and HAR2015-68321-P, Junta de Castilla y León-FEDERProject BU235P18, the LabEx Sciences Archéologiques de Bordeaux (LaScArBx ANR-10-LABX-52) and ERCConsolidator Grant ERC-CoG-2014. Archaeological excavations at Abric del Pastor are supported by theArchaeological Museum of Alcoy and the Government of Valencia Cultural Heritage Department.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 26-abr-2024