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The Middle Palaeolithic site of Cueva Antón (Murcia, Spain) is a cave/rock shelter with short-term human occupations dated to marine isotopic stages 5a and 3 (MIS 5a and MIS 3). The site provides a high-resolution sequence because the cave’s living floors, organized around hearth features, present rich assemblages of artefacts and faunal remains rapidly buried by low-energy flooding. The accumulation and modification of the faunal remains are mainly due to human agency. Zooarchaeological, taphonomic and tooth-wear analyses provide new insights into the subsistence of the human groups that used the site. Deer is the most abundant prey. The cave was used mainly in late winter and late spring to early summer. During the latter, female herds of deer and ibex were the primary targets of the hunts.

Bone retouchers are an important behavioural marker in the definition of several Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic cultural complexes. However, their relationship with the assemblages of knapped stone artefacts is still to be investigated particularly in specific but not uncommon lithic contexts of the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe. This paper offers insights to evaluate the use of bone retouchers in a context of Discoid lithic technology, a significant cultural expression largely spread in many regions during MIS3. The study case is the lithic and osseous assemblage of unit A9 at Fumane Cave, in north-eastern Italy. A detailed analysis of the bone retouchers is presented for the first time; their technological features are then correlated with the characteristic of the retouch observed on the lithic tools recovered in the same unit. The study contributes to complete a picture of Neanderthal economic behaviour.

Despite phytoliths having been used to understand past human use of plants and palaeoenvironment in Middle Paleolithic sites, little is known on this aspect in the well-documented central region of Mediterranean Iberia. This paper presents the first phytolith and mineralogical study conducted at Abrigo de la Quebrada (Chelva, Valencia). Forty-one samples were analyzed through phytoliths and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) from different areas, stratigraphic levels, and archeological contexts (hearth, hearth-related, and non-hearth-related sediments) of the shelter. The results obtained point towards a different pattern of preservation in the site depending firstly on the stratigraphy and secondly on the area where the samples were collected. Postdepositional processes that may have chemically affected phytolith preservation are discussed. Grasses are the main plant component identified in all the samples while woody plants are scarce. The abundance of grasses in the non-hearth-related sediments might be related, at least partially, to the dispersion of ashes from hearths, as indicated by the FTIR results. The results are indicative of an occupation of the site during the spring-autumn season. At this time, the area would be dominated by a semi-open environment with supramediterranean vegetation.