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The raised bog Culazón (43◦13'58''N, 4◦29'21''W; 592m above sea level (a.s.l.); size c. 1ha) lies on the northern slope of the Cantabrian Mountains in the Lamasón valley. The study area has been largely deforested and converted into meadows and pastures (Corbera,2010). In the natural forests, patches of Quercus pyrenaica Willd. and Betula alba L. are dominant. The bog vegetation is composed mainly of Rhynchospora alba (L.) Vahl, Narthecium ossifragum Huds., Sphagnum sp., Agrostis castellana Boiss. et Reut. var. castellana, Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench subsp. arundinacea, Juncus articulatus L., Erica tetralix L. and E. cinerea L.

The Patateros bog (39° 35′ 50′′ N, 4° 40′ 27′′ W; 700 m above sea level [a.s.l.]) lies on the northern- slope of the‘ Sierra de La Botija’ at the northern edge of the Toledo Mountains. The peat-bog extends over an area of 300 m2. The area experiences a Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers, in fluenced by Atlantic winds from the southwest. The average annual temperature is 14–15 °C and the annual precipitation is 600–700 mm. Precipitation is unevenly distributed through the year with maximum values during winter (Perea & Perea2008). The vegetation is a planted Pinus forest. Phytogeographically, the potential vegetation of the area is typically Mediterranean, including Quercus pyrenaica Willd. (deciduous oak) forests accompanied by Arbutus unedo L. (Peinado et al.2008). The bog vegetation is composed mainly of Sphagnum sp., Erica tetralix L. and Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench. (Velasco 1980). The bedrock is old siliceous basement made up mainly of lower Ordovician Armorican Quartzites (Moreno 1977)., This contribution was financed by Project CGL2011-30512-C02-01 of the R&D National Plan of the Spanish Government, by the Technology Research ‘Consolider’ Programme (TCP-CSD2007-00058), and by the Specific Agreement Diputación de Toledo-CSIC.

The essential oil obtained from Cleonia lusitanica (L.) L. grown in Spain was analyzed by thin-layer chromatography GC and GC/MS. It was found that the major components were α-pinene (33.94–17.66%) and limonene (33.37–64.75%).

The Iberian Peninsula is an area of the Western Mediterranean among the most sensitive to climatic and anthropogenic change. It has formed the centre-piece of numerous palaeoenvironmental studies of mountain and valleys, covering different chronologies and historical periods. These studies, however, include no palaeoenvironmental background to the Roman military conquests of the late third to the late first centuries B.C. This paper presents palynological evidence from two Roman military camps, A Recacha and A Granda das Xarras, in the mountains of Northwest Iberia. The main results reflect anthropic activities that shaped the landscape since at least the end of the third millennium B.C., with the presence of montane heaths and deciduous forests. During the first millennium B.C., a modest increase in anthropic activity was detected, possibly due to seasonal grazing. Throughout the Roman conquest, slightly increased signs of anthropogenic activity on the local landscape are detected, leaving a landscape which has changed little throughout the two thousand years that have since passed., This research was developed within the framework of the IVGA Project and the results are part of project LOKI (Local Economies, Imperial Economy: Western Iberia (II B.C.–II A.D.) PID2019-104297GB-I00) and ‘Cultural Landscapes in the Northern and Northwestern Iberian Peninsula: Urban, Agrarian and Mining territories’ (NyNO) (PIE CSIC 202010E147). Support from the municipal councils of Candín, Ibias and Navia de Suarna and from the regional administration on Cultural Heritage from Castilla y León, Asturias and Galicia was gratefully received. The collaboration of the CSIC research groups ‘Social Structure and Territory. Landscape Archaeology’ (EST-AP) and ‘Environmental Archaeology’ has been crucial

We present a detailed geomorphological map of the landform assemblages originated by the two major paleoglaciers of the Sierra de Gredos mountain range in the Spanish Iberian Central System. Based on previous works, our map focused on the features formed by Gredos and Pinar paleoglaciers during the last glaciation and subsequent glacial events. Based on a remote sensing analysis and exhaustive field surveys, we identified with great accuracy the local distribution of glacial, periglacial, mass movement, structural, fluvial, and lacustrine features. We recognized three main glacial geomorphological formations representing: (i) the maximum glacial extension reached (peripheral deposits); (ii) the culmination of glacial conditions (principal moraines) and (iii) the local glacial withdrawal (internal deposits). Our map offers a renewed spatial framework on which to conduct higher-resolution glacial chronologies, especially of Late Glacial and Holocene glacial activity, providing key information for performing future paleoclimatic reconstructions of the northern hemisphere mid-latitudes., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spanish initials: MINECO; project CGL2016-78380-P), University of Castilla–La Mancha Research Group (UCLM, project 2020-GRIN-28992) and the Chilean Ph.D. Fellowship CONICYT #21161417 and the ANID Millennium Science Initiative/Millennium Nucleus Paleoclimate

BACKGROUND: High-mountain pine forests and broom communities in central Spain today have led to contrasting interpretations of their natural or human-induced origin. AIMS: We evaluated the vulnerability and resilience of high-mountainPinus sylvestris/P. nigra forests and derivedCytisusbroom scrub communities to climate and anthropogenic disturbances. METHODS: We assessed historical transitions from forest to scrub and their relation to climate and human influences, using a multi-proxy paleoenvironmental study (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal, magnetic susceptibility) in three mires in the Gredos Range, western Iberian Central System. RESULTS: High percentages of Pinus sylvestris/nigrapollen and the identification of their macro remains demonstrated that high-mountain pine forests have been present in the oromediterranean bioclimatic belt of the Gredos Range since the mid-Holocene. After that, a major human-induced decline, enhanced by climate conditions, has led to their gradual replacement by broom communities. CONCLUSIONS: Broom communities are derived from ancient pine forests that were intensively transformed by human activities after 700 cal year BP, and largely disappeared byca. 500 cal yr BP. Today’s landscape, dominated by broom scrub and grasslands with scattered stands of pines, shows high resilience and provides suitable refugia for a rich mountain biodiversity which deserves a further protection.

The Verdeospesoa mire is located in the Basque Mountains (Basque Country, Northern Iberian Peninsula, Spain) on the western slopes of the Gorbeia Mountain (43° 03ʹ 18ʺ N, 2° 51ʹ 41ʺ W, 1015 m above...

This contribution was financed through Projects Desirè-HAR2013-43701-P of the R&D Plan of the 165 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Relictflora-P11-RNM-7033 Excellence Research Projects Programme from the Andalusian Government, Sevilla, Spain.

This paper presents a long-term synthetic overview of the socio-ecological dynamics responsible for the shaping of present-day rural landscapes in the Spanish Central System. Available historical and palaeoenvironmental records have been compiled and cross-referenced to characterise key transformations unfolding in this mountainous macro-region during the medieval time span. A sharp deforestation of upland pines and midland oaks was due to extensive Late Antique strategies. Pre-tenth-century trajectories are diverse and exhibit the recovery of high-mountain pine forests and highly localised agro-pastoral impact on selective mid-altitude niches. The eleventh-century early repopulation policy implied migrations, increased momentum of rural village foundation and extension of colonised agrarian landscapes in the tablelands of the Extremadurii. The pace and intensity of these phenomena depended on ecological and historical circumstances, leading to subsequently different realities. By the mid-thirteenth century the definitive pacification and the rising demographic trend facilitated the later permanent occupation and the ensuing integral and sustainable exploitation of the highlands – and especially the Transierra – within the feudal system. High-altitude landscapes exhibit intensive forest clearances due to transterminant livestock movements and the benefit of seasonal resources, whereas low-altitude settings specialised in arboriculture and diversified crops to supply urban markets.

This contribution was financed by Project CGL2011-30512-C02-01 of the R&D National Plan of the Spanish Government, by the Technology Research ‘Consolider’ Programme (TCP-CSD2007-00058), and by the Specific Agreement Diputacion de Toledo-CSIC.

16 páginas, 11 figuras, 6 tablas.-- El PDF es el manuscrito de autor., This article focuses on the analysis of plant remains (seeds/fruits, charcoal, pollen, spores, and non-pollen palynomorphs) from two archaeological sites (pre-Roman and Roman) located in Las Me´dulas, a cultural landscape, in the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The article explores the way the communities living in the area managed their environment and the impact of productive activities on the landscape. This research has shown the multiplicity of needs this landscape satisfied and the various ways these communities managed the surrounding environment through different productive activities (agriculture, animal husbandry, and mining amongst others)., This article is part of the research carried our within two projects: ‘‘Paisajes culturales y naturales del Bierzo: Geoarqueología, Paleoambiente y Paleobiología (BierzoRVN)’’ (PIF 06-055) (Cultural and natural landscapes in El Bierzo: palaeoenvironment and palaeobiology) and the Spanish Consolider Program (CSD2007-00058). In addition, the archaeological research has been funded by the Junta de Castilla y León.