RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Late Neanderthal subsistence strategies and cultural traditions in the northern Iberia Peninsula: Insights from Prado Vargas, Burgos, Spain
A1 Navazo Ruiz, Marta
A1 Benito Calvo, Alfonso
A1 Alonso Alcalde, Rodrigo
A1 Alonso, Pedro
A1 Fuente Juez, Héctor de la
A1 Santamaría Díez, Marta
A1 Santamaría, Claudia
A1 Álvarez Vena, Adrián
A1 Arnold, Lee J. .
A1 Iriarte Chiapusso, María José
A1 Demuro, Martina .
A1 Lozano, Marina
A1 Ortiz, José Eugenio
A1 Torres, Trinidad
K1 Neanderthal
K1 Mousterian
K1 Prado Vargas
K1 Subsistence strategies
K1 Technology
K1 Chronological data
K1 Bone retouchers
K1 Prehistoria
K1 Prehistoric peoples
K1 Arqueología-Burgos
K1 Archaeology-Burgos
AB In order to better understand the causes and geographic patterns of Neanderthal demise it is necessary to broaden the focus of existing Neanderthal studies to include new sites from understudied regions, particularly those containing multi-level fossil and lithic records, and to improve regional-scale Neanderthal extinction frameworks using multiple dating techniques. To this end, we present an interdisciplinary study of the stratigraphy, chronology, pollen, fauna, lithic technology and human remains of the last Neanderthal level (Level N4) of Prado Vargas – a cave in northern Iberia, whose geographic location and chronology are ideal for investigating possible socio-economic and climatic influences on Neanderthal decline. Level N4 has yielded a rich Late Mousterian palimpsest indicative of repeated seasonal occupations, as well as a deciduous Neanderthal tooth, confirming the presence of children at the site. A wide range of human activities are detected in Level 4, with subsistence strategies demonstrating knowledgeable exploitation of the natural environs around the area. The site provides evidence for a distinctive recycling economy, including bone retouchers, recycling of cores, and intense (re)use of raw materials, which may reflect recurrent occupations or the particular cultural traditions of a regional group. Level N4 is dated to between 54.7 and 39.8 thousand years ago (ka) according to our new OSL and radiocarbon study. The late Neanderthal inhabitants of Prado Vargas were cold-adapted, and may have already been living in small, separate groups with marked territories and cultural traditions prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens in the Iberia Peninsula.
PB Elsevier
SN 0277-3791
YR 2021
FD 2021-02
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/6203
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/6203
LA eng
NO Consejería de Cultura y Turismo de la Junta de Castilla y León y Ayuntamiento Merindad de Sotoscueva. The C14 dating was funded by Fundación Palarq. The OSL dating research was funded by Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DE160100743 and ARC Future Fellowship project FT200100816 awarded to M. Demuro. Marta Santamaría is the beneficiary of a predoctoral grant from University of Burgos (UBU). Gala Gómez Merino did tasks of cleaning and conservation of the tooth. We are grateful to Fundación La Escuela (Cornejo), Asociación Naboki (Quisicedo), Casa del Parque del Monumento Natural de Ojo Guareña and Benigno Gómez Pereda.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 24-abr-2024