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Little is known about the final Upper Paleolithic from west of Gibraltar and south of the Tagus Valley. In contrast, data from Boreal and Atlantic times are fairly common and suggest highly diverse cultural, economic, and technological systems. Thus, there is an important hiatus for the Tardiglacial phase of human occupation in southwestern Iberia. This paper will focus on two main aspects of the Early Holocene in Iberia: the settlement and subsistence dynamics during the Mesolithic and early Neolithic of southwestern Portugal, and explanatory models for the occupational hiatus and lack of sites in the Tardiglacial and early Holocene.

Using the behavioral ecological model of ideal free distribution (IFD), McClure, Jochim, and Barton (2006) identified the tight linkage between agricultural subsistence strategies, herd management, and long-term dynamics of human land use. Missing from their discussion, however, was placing these changes into a broader environmental context. The IFD provides a useful heuristic device to illustrate cost-benefit decisions within a spatial context. This paper compares the previous interpretations of land use during the Neolithic with climatic data from the Holocene. Two main arid periods have been identified during the early and middle Holocene that correspond chronologically to Neolithic cultural horizons. Climate models recently generated for the area further suggest shifts in precipitation cycles may have exacerbated the impacts of broader climatic fluctuations on agricultural production.

In this paper we illustrate how different internal and external forcings conditioned postglacial vegetation in southern Mediterranean areas. By comparing seven Holocene sequences, we emphasize the role of glacial refugia as postglacial vegetation dispersal centers. We also identify the importance of the system's inertia in the time lags observed for vegetation response to climate change and human pressure. Finally, we explore the cascade of effects triggered by the human-climate interface, specifically the vegetation and the environmental feedbacks implicated in the collapse of the Argaric culture that emerged in arid southeastern Spain about 4,000 years before the present.

A series of marked environmental changes took place during the transition from Pleistocene to Holocene, to which the hunter-gatherers adapted by modifying their technology and subsistence practices. In parallel with these changes, territoriality increased and significant transformations in artistic expression occurred. This paper assesses the archaeological record of the Iberian Mediterranean watershed to analyze various aspects of this adaptive process, which unfolded gradually from the end of the Magdalenian to the beginning of the Neolithic.

This paper summarizes early Holocene cultural sequences, economic strategies, and social dynamics on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Recent research in the central-southern regions of Valencia provides important diachronic information, particularly for discerning the nature of the shift from a hunter-gatherer lisfestyle to agricultura. If biogeographic conditions played a leading role in determining exploitation strategies, the recognizing distinctive social responses is crucial for understanding the impact of the changes that occurred.

This paper presents the results obtained by analysis of Upper Paleolithic occupation levels in Vinidija Cave, northwestern Croatia. Typological analyses of stone and bone tools have been carried out. Vindija provides direct evidence on the transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic, as well as on fossil hominids (probably Neandertals) associated with a 33, 000-year-old Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) industry. The Upper Paleolithic of this site starts with the Aurignacian and continues with the Gravettian industry, which is divided into several phases (Gravettian, Late Gravettian, and final Gravettian / Epigravettian). The topmost levels pertain to the Holocene. These industries at Vindija display both some similarities to, but also some differences from, concurrent industries found in Central European sites. There are notable differences between the Upper Paleolithic at Vindija and Paleolithic sites in the Adriatic-Mediterranean region.