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In the Iberian Peninsula the fossil record of artiodactyls spans over 53 million years. During the Pleistocene, wild cattle species such as Bison and especially Bos became common. In Late Pleistocene, the aurochs (Bos primigenius) was widespread and the only bovine living along the large river valleys of southern Iberia. Although commonly found in fossil sites and especially in cave bone assemblages, the trace fossil record of aurochs was known worldwide only from the Holocene. Large bovine and roe deer/caprine tracks were found in at least fve horizons of the early Late Pleistocene (MIS 5) beach and eolian deposits of Cape Trafalgar (Cadiz Province, South of Spain). The large bovine tracks are formally described as Bovinichnus uripeda igen. et isp. nov. and compared with the record of aurochs tracks, large red deer tracks and steppe bison biogeographical distribution in Iberia. Aurochs were the most likely producers of the newly described Trafalgar Trampled Surface (TTS) and some of the large artiodactyl tracks in the Matalascañas Trampled Surface, representing the oldest aurochs track record known. This new evidence, together with comparisons with the record of possible aurochs tracks in the Mid-Late Pleistocene coastal deposits from the Asperillo clif section in Matalascañas (Huelva Province, SW Spain) and bone assemblages known in Gibraltar, point to a recurrent use of the coastal habitat by these large artiodactyls in SW Iberia. Science and Technology Foundation UID/Multi/00073/2020, UIDB/04683/2020

Here we report the discovery of ceramic fragments that form part of a Gorgoneion, a ceramic image representation of the Gorgon Medusa. The fragments were found in a deep part of Gorham’s Cave, well known to ancient mariners as a natural shrine, between the 8th and 2nd century BCE. We discuss the context of this discovery, both within the inner topography of the cave itself, and also the broader geographical context. The discovery is situated at the extreme western end of the Mediterranean Sea, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. The location was known to ancient mariners as the northern Pillar of Herakles, which marked the end of the known world. We relate the discovery, and its geographical and chronological context, to Greek legends that situated the lair of the Gorgon sisters at a location which coincides with the physical attributes and geographical position of Gorham’s Cave. We thus provide, uniquely, a geographical and archaeological context to the myth of Perseus and the slaying of the Gorgon Medusa.

The lberian Península provides an excellent context in which to assess the final impact of population movements entering the European continent from the east as well as prehistoric and historie connections with North Africa. We report new genome-wide data from 271 ancient individuals from Iberia, providing the most comprehensive genetic time transect of any world region over the last 8,000 years. We document population structure in the peninsula's hunter-gatherers, with northwestern but not southeastern individuals showing increased genetic affinity to central European hunter-gatherers in the centuries befare the arrival of farmers. We provide evidence of sporadic contacts from North Africa beginning at least -4,500 years ago, and by -4,000 years ago the replacement of -40% of the autosomal ancestry and 100% of the Y-chromosomes of Bronze Age groups by migrants ultimately originating in the steppe. From the lron Age, we report genome-wide data from individuals excavated in non-lndo-European speaking regions and show that they were genetically similar to contemporaries from an lndo-European-speaking region in harboring substantial proportions of steppe ancestry. With the exception of Basques who remain broadly similar to lron Age populations, during the past 2,500 years lberian populations were affected by additional gene-flow from the central/eastern Mediterranean region, probably associated with the Roman conques!, and from North Africa during the period of Muslim rule but also in earlier periods. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.

The work in the inner area of Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar, has added to the Palaeolithic art located in the cave. Although work continues on the surveying and the study of the evidence found up to now, we present here a preview consisting of a representation of a red deer, and also a hand stencil, alongside numerous marks which have been found scattered throughout the inner cave. In this paper we present new data on the Upper Palaeolithic rock art in Gorham’s Cave (Gibraltar) including direct dating of a hand stencil. Situating this dating in the archaeological context of the stencil, we conclude that it is associated with the Solutrean technocomplexe. This is particularly significant in the light of recent reviews which put European hand stencils in the context of the Early or Initial Upper Palaeolithic. In this context, the Gorham data opens the discussion on the systematic chronological correlation of all hands in negatives of European Palaeolithic rock art. Los trabajos en la zona más interior de la cueva de Gorham (Gibraltar) han ampliado la zona con arte rupestre paleolítico en la cavidad. Aunque los trabajos continúan, presentamos en este trabajo un avance de los nuevos hallazgos, un ciervo y una mano en negativo, así como numerosos trazos. Así mismo, damos a conocer la datación directa mediante 14C-AMS de una mano en negativo y situamos el resultado obtenido en el contexto del registro arqueológico de Gorham, que nos lleva a proponer una ejecución durante el Solutrense evolucionado. El resultado es particularmente significativo a la luz del encuadre convencional a este tipo de de motivos, atribuidos normalmente a momentos antiguos del Paleolítico Superior. En este contexto, el dato de Gorham abre la discusión sobre esta correlación sistemática de todas las manos en negativos del arte paleolítico europeo. Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HAR2013-44269-P HAR2016-77789-P