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Westernmost Europe constitutes a key location in determining the timing of the replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans (AMHs). In this study, the replacement of late Mousterian industries by Aurignacian ones at the site of Bajondillo Cave (Malaga, southern Spain) is reported. On the basis of Bayesian analyses, a total of 26 radiocarbon dates, including 17 new ones, show that replacement at Bajondillo took place in the millennia centring on ~45–43 calibrated thousand years before the present (cal ka bp)—well before the onset of Heinrich event 4 (~40.2–38.3 cal ka bp). These dates indicate that the arrival of AMHs at the southernmost tip of Iberia was essentially synchronous with that recorded in other regions of Europe, and significantly increases the areal expansion reached by early AMHs at that time. In agreement with human dispersal scenarios on other continents, such rapid expansion points to coastal corridors as favoured routes for early AMH. The new radiocarbon dates align Iberian chronologies with AMH dispersal patterns in Eurasia. New 43–45 ka dates for stone tool assemblages associated with anatomically modern humans (AMHs) at the southern Spanish site of Bajondillo suggest an early AMH incursion and weaken the case for late Neanderthal persistence in the region.

The south of Iberia conserves an important group of Palaeolithic rock art sites. The graphisms have been mostly attributed to the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods, while the possibility that older remains exist has provoked extensive debate. This circumstance has been linked to both the cited periods, until recently, due to the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the extreme southwest of Europe as well as the non-existence of some of the early periods of Palaeolithic art documented in northern Iberia. This study presents the results of interdisciplinary research conducted in Las Ventanas Cave. These results enabled us to identify a new Palaeolithic rock art site. The technical, stylistic and temporal traits point to certain similarities with the range of exterior deep engravings in Cantabrian Palaeolithic rock art. Ventanas appears to corroborate the age attributed to those kinds of graphic expression and points to the early arrival of the Upper Palaeolithic in the south of Iberia. Importantly, the results provide information on the pre-Solutrean date attributed to trilinear hind figures. These findings challenge the supposed Neanderthal survival idea at one of the main late Middle Palaeolithic southern Iberian sites (Carigüela) and, due to the parallels between them and an engraving attributed to this period in Gibraltar, it raises the possibility of interaction between modern humans and Neanderthals in the extreme southwest of Europe. Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness HAR2016-77789 Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport 19434/PI/14 The Andalusian Research Group Board RNM-349 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL 2015–68604

The south of Iberia conserves an important group of Palaeolithic rock art sites. The graphisms have been mostly attributed to the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods, while the possibility that older remains exist has provoked extensive debate. This circumstance has been linked to both the cited periods, until recently, due to the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the extreme southwest of Europe as well as the non-existence of some of the early periods of Palaeolithic art documented in northern Iberia. This study presents the results of interdisciplinary research conducted in Las Ventanas Cave. These results enabled us to identify a new Palaeolithic rock art site. The technical, stylistic and temporal traits point to certain similarities with the range of exterior deep engravings in Cantabrian Palaeolithic rock art. Ventanas appears to corroborate the age attributed to those kinds of graphic expression and points to the early arrival of the Upper Palaeolithic in the south of Iberia. Importantly, the results provide information on the pre-Solutrean date attributed to trilinear hind figures. These findings challenge the supposed Neanderthal survival idea at one of the main late Middle Palaeolithic southern Iberian sites (CariguÈela) and, due to the parallels between them and an engraving attributed to this period in Gibraltar, it raises the possibility of interaction between modern humans and Neanderthals in the extreme southwest of Europe., This study was sponsored by HAR2013-44269-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) and 19434/PI/14 (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). For the fieldwork we had permission from the Andalusian Regional Government's Department of Culture. We also enjoyed the logistical support of the Pinar (Granada) Regional Government. This work was funded by the Andalusian Research Group Board RNM-349. "Proyecto de rehabilitacion y conservacion del yacimiento arqueologico "Cueva de las Ventanas" ("Restoration and conservation project for the 'Las Ventanas Cave' archaeological site"), Department of Culture, Andalusian Regional Government (File: BC.01.146/94.) "Analisis polinico y datacion para Carbono 14 de huesos y coprolitos de hienas provenientes de la Cueva de las Ventanas depositados en el Museo Arqueologico y Etnologico de Granada ("Pollen analysis and Carbon 14 dating of hyena bones and coproliths originating in Las Ventanas Cave and desposited at the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum of Granada"), Department of Culture, Andalusian Regional Government. File: BC 03/46/09). We received support from Ministerio de Economoa y Competitividad, grant number CGL-BOS-2012-34717. This study was funded by HAR2013-44269-P (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) and 19434/PI/14 (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). For the fieldwork we had permission from the Andalusian Regional Government's Department of Culture. We also enjoyed the logistical support of the Pinar (Granada) Regional Government. This work was funded by the Andalusian Research Group Board RNM-349.

Fossil gathering by humans has been rarely documented in the Iberian Peninsula. In the present paper, a multidisciplinary approach has been taken to analyze a straight-tusked elephant (Elephas antiquus) molar retrieved in a Magdalenian deposit at the rock shelter of El Pirulejo in southern Spain. The taphonomical analyses revealed a multifarious use of a tooth that had not only been worked into an anvil-sort-of-tool but also used as a core and partly tainted with a composite pigment. The dating and geochemical analyses further evidenced that the molar derived from an animal that had lived in a rather arid landscape with a temperature range between 12.3 and 14.3 A degrees C coincident with a cold episode within marine isotope stage (MIS) 6.6 and probably fed on herbaceous plants. These analyses evidence the potential fossils from archaeological sites bear for addressing a wide range of issues that include both the cultural and paleoenvironmental realms. Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competividad [HAR2013-44269-P, HAR 2014-55722-P, HAR2012-34620] Programa Seneca [19438/PI/14] University of Seville Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the 7th Framework Program for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration (European Commission) [PIEF-GA-2013-623027]