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Abstract: In this paper we present an experimental study of bone modifications caused by human chewing during consumption. Traditionally, tooth marks have been attributed to non-human actors. However, ethnoarchaeological as well as previous experimental work has shown that humans can make many modifications during chewing. Our results suggest that the range of damage is as extensive as that most likely to be produced by carnivores. This damage includes furrowing, scooping-out, crenulated and saw-toothed edges, longitudinal cracking, crushing, peeling and tooth marks. In this paper we present a description of the types of damage observed in the experimental sample. Some of this damage shows parallels between the experimental modifications and archaeological assemblages from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits at the Sierra de Atapuerca sites (Burgos, Spain). The repetition of morphologies allowed us to attribute some of the damage to tooth marks made by human chewing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we compare cannibalism in chimpanzees, modern humans, and in archaeological cases with cannibalism inferred from evidence from the Early Pleistocene assemblage of level TD6 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). The cannibalism documented in level TD6 mainly involves the consumption of infants and other immature individuals. The human induced modifications on Homo antecessor and deer remains suggest that butchering processes were similar for both taxa, and the remains were discarded on the living floor in the same way. This finding implies that a group of hominins that used the Gran Dolina cave periodically hunted and consumed individuals from another group. However, the age distribution of the cannibalized hominins in the TD6 assemblage is not consistent with that from other cases of exo-cannibalism by human/hominin groups. Instead, it is similar to the age profiles seen in cannibalism associated with intergroup aggression in chimpanzees. For this reason, we use an analogy with chimpanzees to propose that the TD6 hominins mounted low-risk attacks on members of other groups to defend access to resources within their own territories and to try and expand their territories at the expense of neighboring groups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The first lithic refit studies were carried out at the end of 19th century, but the method was not considered an area of real interest to archaeology until quite recently. Today, lithic refitting is applied in a multitude of areas of enquiry including lithic technology, intra-site and inter-site spatial distribution, archaeostratigraphy and formation processes. In this paper, we present a refit study of the lithic materials recovered in the base of the NW sector of level TD10 at the site of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). We aim to provide information about spatial distribution through identifying activity areas and the internal connections between those areas. Our work resulted in various refits whose connections reveal the movements of the pieces and/or knappers that once occupied the site. Our results also show the importance of studying the set of materials as a whole and the bias involved in analyzing only a small sample. The refits, connections and directions of movement allow us to infer areas in which an activity took place, but these results must be confirmed in future works covering the entire lithic assemblage of TD10. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present paper analyses the evidence provided by three sites (Sima del Elefante, Gran Dolina, and Galería) located in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril of the Sierra de Atapuerca. These three sites are cave infillings that contain sediments deposited from approximately 1.2 Ma to 200 kyr. Pollen, herpetofauna, and small and large mammal remains are used as proxies to obtain a general picture of the environmental changes that occurred at the Sierra de Atapuerca throughout the one million-year period represented at these sites. Similarly, cultural changes are tracked analyzing the evidence of human behavior obtained from the study of several bone and lithic assemblages from these three sites. At least three periods with different cultural features, involving technology, subsistence and behavior, are determined from the available evidence. The first two periods correspond to the Mode 1 technology and Homo antecessor: the first is dated around 1.2 to 1.0 Ma and reflects opportunistic behavior both in technology and subsistence. The second period is around 800 kyr BP. Mode 1 technology is still maintained, but subsistence strategies include systematic hunting and the use of base camps. The third period is dated between 500ka and 200ka and corresponds to the Mode 2 technology and the acquisition of directional hunting and other organizational strategies by Homo heidelbergensis. A transition from Mode 2 to Mode 3 seems to appear at the end of this time-range, and may reflect the early phases of a fourth cultural change. With regard to the environment, our main conclusion is that there was an absence of extremely harsh conditions at Atapuerca throughout this time period. The presence of Mediterranean taxa was constant and the dominant landscape was a savannah-like open environment, probably with small forest patches. An alternation of Mediterranean and mesic species as the dominant component of the tree storey was induced by the climatic cycles, and steppes spread across the landscape during the drier periods. In any case, it is not possible to establish clear cut-off points separating entirely different environmental episodes. Our results show no evidence of any relationship between environmental change and cultural change at the Sierra de Atapuerca. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Many Pleistocene caves and rock shelters contain evidence of carnivore and human activities. For this reason, it is common to recover at these sites faunal remains left by both biological agents. In order to explain the role that carnivores play at the archaeological sites it is necessary to analyse several elements, such as the taxonomical and skeletal representation, the age profiles, the ratio of NISP to MNI, the anthropogenic processing marks on the carcasses (location and purpose of cutmarks and burning and bone breakage patterns), carnivore damage (digested bones, location and frequencies of toothmarks and bone breakage), length of the long bones, frequencies of coprolites and vertical distribution of the faunal remains, inter alia. From this, the documentation of carnivores in a faunal assemblage with a clear anthropogenic component can be understood from three main phenomena: (1) the carnivores as accumulators and the use of the site as a den; (2) carnivores as scavengers of hominid refuse and; (3) carnivores as hominids’ prey. Of these three phenomena, the last one is the least documented at the Middle Pleistocene sites. From this perspective, here we present the case of the anthropogenic use of a lion (Panthera leo fossilis) from level TD10-1 of Gran Dolina (MIS 9, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). The lion bone remains show signs of direct interaction between this big cat and human groups that occupied Gran Dolina in these chronologies. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of the role developed by large carnivores in the anthropogenic contexts and to provide data on human use of these predators at the European Middle Pleistocene sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The site of El Portalón is the entrance to the Cueva Mayor karst system, located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). This is an important Holocene archaeological site, which was excavated in the 1970s but from which little has been published. New excavations starting in 2000 have highlighted a deep stratigraphical sequence, with human occupations starting at the end of the Late Pleistocene. In this paper, we present for the first time, on the basis of the small-vertebrate assemblage, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions of the Latest Pleistocene of the Sierra de Atapuerca, well known for its Early to Middle Pleistocene human-bearing localities. The small vertebrates of El Portalón comprise at least 25 species: 4 amphibians (Alytes obstetricans, Bufo bufo, Bufo calamita and Rana temporaria); 3 squamates (an indeterminate small-size lacertid, an indeterminate large colubrine and Vipera sp.); 6 insectivores (Sorex gr. coronatus-araneus, Sorex minutus, Neomys fodiens, Neomys anomalus, Talpa europaea and Galemys pyrenaicus); 2 bats (Myotis myotis and Myotis gr. myotis-blythi); 10 rodents (Microtus arvalis, Microtus agrestis, Microtus oeconomus, Iberomys cabrerae, Chionomys nivalis, Terricola duodecimcostatus, Arvicola sapidus, Arvicola terrestris, Apodemus sylvaticus and Eliomys quercinus). These taxa, many of which are ecothermal (sensitive to temperature) show variations in their taxonomic diversity throughout the sequence. Although, with the exception of M. oeconomus, they do not differ from the extant fauna of the Iberian Peninsula, they do so in the abundance of their taxonomic assemblage. When the small vertebrates are grouped and studied in terms of vertical trends through the sequence, it is possible to follow environmental and climatic changes. Results from the small-vertebrate associations indicate that the landscape had open habitats in the vicinity of the Atapuerca caves throughout the sequence, with wet locales in the surrounding area. Woodland and water stream meadows were more developed during “warm” periods (Is5, Is6/Is7 and Is3/Is4), whereas during “cold” periods (H3 and LGM) the environment was slightly more humid in response to winter precipitation and the opening of the landscape. These results are compared with pollen analysis and marine isotopic curves, giving a scenario for the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes that occurred during the Latest Pleistocene in the Sierra de Atapuerca. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reports the first paleontological record of Beremendia fissidens (Mammalia, Soricidae) in the Iberian Peninsula during the second third of the Early Pleistocene. The species is exclusively present at the lowermost levels (Lower Red Unit: TE8–14) of the Sima del Elefante site, one of the largest stratigraphic sections of the Atapuerca cave complex (Burgos, Spain). The age of Sima del Elefante shows that this large-sized type of red-toothed venomous shrew inhabited the Sierra de Atapuerca more than 1.1 Myr ago, coexisting with an extremely rich and diverse faunal association of nearly 40 small and large mammalian species, including hominines. The presence of this species in the Atapuerca locality has important palaeoecological, palaeobiogeographical and biostratigraphic implications, which are extensively discussed here, throwing light on aspects largely left aside for this important group of red-toothed shrews, previously relegated to nothing but mere faunal lists, at least in the Iberian Peninsular context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper summarizes the latest studies on lithic raw material raising that are currently undertaken within the Sierra de Atapuerca research project. During the past two years, several works have provided new petrographical and technological data, contributing to the knowledge of the kinds of materials exploited by the Atapuerca hominids, as well as the areas where those materials were raised. The sites yielding this information are Gran Dolina (Lower and Middle Pleistocene) and Galeria (Middle Pleistocene), both located in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril archeopaleontological complex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]