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The presence of scattered prehistoric human bones in caves and sinkholes is common in many regions of Iberia. These are usually interpreted as erratic elements coming from burial contexts, usually collective associations. These burial contexts are very frequent in karst areas of the Iberian Peninsula since the Early Neolithic, mostly in the Late Neolithic, and Copper Age, while findings from earlier chronologies are much more unusual. In this work, we present partial remains of a human skull from the Mesolithic period, recovered from a cave in the Strait of Gibraltar area. Although there is no conclusive evidence pointing to a dismantled burial context, this constitutes an isolated find, where its final location appears to be consistent with gravitational fall followed by water transportation., We are grateful to members of the caving groups GES Casares (Casares Underground Exploration Group) and SE Mainake (Speleo-Excursionist Society), and the town Council of Casares for their help throughout the work of survey and archaeological research inside Sima Hedionda II/IV. The frontal bone SHII/IV/7001-7 (known as Cecilín) was first located by Carlos Pintos Zanca, Juan Antonio Rodriguez Alarcón, Rafael Beltran, and Pascal Boutery de la SE Mainake. CT scan was carried out in the Clinical Veterinary Hospital of the University of Cordoba. We would like to thank especially Dr Manuel Novales Durán (Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, UCO) for his help in the scanning process. We would also appreciate the help of Alvaro Perea (Ergonidámica Clínica, Córdoba) in composing Figures 5 and 6 using the OsiriX DICOM Wiever software. Dating Beta-424650 was funded by an internal research grant from La Trobe University. The “Archaeological Survey Project in Sima Hedionda II/IV, Casares (Málaga)” was partly self-financed by the team members themselves, and also partly (Technical equipment, transportation, other datings, maintenance, and accommodation) with the support of the Casares Town Council. Thanks to the efforts of the last institution, this cave is now gated and protected. This work has been carried out in the framework of the Project “Archaeobiology of the Neolithic of the Southern Iberian Peninsula” (NeArqBioSI) A-HUM-460-UGR18 by Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad. FEDER Programme – Junta de Andalucía-Universidad de Granada. Call 2019. SPG is Juan de la Cierva Incorporación (IJC2019-038830-I) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and efforts in improving our manuscript.

Junta de Andalucía SIDPH/DI100/PI/MA/16 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HAR2016-77789-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HAR2013-44269-P European Commission. Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) US-1264079

Se ha realizado un estudio sistemático, autoecológico y antrópico de los moluscos e invertebrados recuperados en una intervención arqueológica en la Sala del Vestíbulo de la Cueva de Nerja (Málaga). Los sedimentos en los que se han recuperado se encuadran entre el Pleistoceno superior-Holoceno (21.000-6.000 B.P.). Hemos identificado 48 especies de invertebrados, de las que 45 son moluscos: dos especies de escafópodos, 15 de bivalvos y 30 de gasterópodos. Estos últimos son en su mayoría marinos, de la zona intertidal rocosa, si bien hay una especie de ambiente fluvial (Melanopsis laevigata Lamarck, 1818) y otras cinco de helícidos (pulmonados), de procedencia continental, recogidos en los alrededores de la cueva. Los otros invertebrados son un erizo de mar (Echinodermata): Paracentrotus lividus (Linné, 1758) y dos crustáceos (Balanus sp. y Brachiura sp.). En el Paleolítico Superior (Würm III-IV a Tardiglacial) el ambiente costero sería fundamentalmente de playa, lo que propiciaría la captura de fauna infralitoral arenosa-fangosa. Al menos tres especies de moluscos fueron utilizados en exclusiva como elementos ornamentales, los dos escafópodos: [Antalis inaequicostatum (Dautzenberg, 1896) y Antalis vulgare (Linné, 1758)] y un gasterópodo, Jujubinus exasperatus (Pennant, 1777), de fuerte color rojo.

The coast of Malaga constitutes a key territory for documenting the end of Palaeolithic times in the westernmost corner of the European continent. We present an overview of the economic, cultural and symbolic models documented in settlements from this region. Along with it, some of the main questions that will help to frame the research in this area are set out. Lastly, the use of the coastal fringe is discussed from the standpoint of mobility and economic strategies from southern Iberia, taking into account the hinterland and Guadalquivir basin territories.

[EN] Understanding and highlighting the materiality and form of buildings as a key aspect in the way they relate to the landscape is the aim of the article presented here. To this end, we will examine the Dipoli project at the Helsinki Polytechnic University by Reima and Raili Pietilä, built between 1961-1966. The research carried out is based on the interpretation of plans, photographs, and technical reports, as well as a visit to the building itself, to demonstrate the relationships established between the building and the landscape. This reading of the landscape, which the pair of architects encountered in the area of action, became the driving force behind the project, confi guring a building which in itself is landscape. Within the complexity of the elements that make it up, this article focuses on the roof, a hollow shell of cast-in-place concrete. This element acquires protagonism in the project as it has the capacity both to organise the programme and to create a sequence of continuous and fl uid spaces underneath it of great spatial quality in connection with the surrounding landscape., [ES] El entendimiento y puesta en valor de la materialidad y la forma de los edificios como punto clave en la manera en la que estos se relacionan con el paisaje, es el objetivo del artículo que aquí se presenta. Para ello, recuperamos el proyecto de Dipoli de la Universidad Politécnica de Helsinki de Reima y Raili Pietilä desarrollado entre 1961-1966.La lectura del paisaje, propiamente fines con el cual se encuentran la pareja de arquitectos en el área de actuación, se convierte en el motor proyectual, configurándose así un edificio que en sí mismo es paisaje. Dentro de la complejidad de los elementos que lo conforman, en este artículo se presta especial atención al elemento de la cubierta, un caparazón hueco de hormigón in situ. Elemento que adquiere un gran protagonismo en el proyecto al tener una capacidad tanto organizativa del programa como de crear una secuencia de espacios continuos y fluidos bajo ella de gran calidad espacial en vinculación con el paisaje que los rodea.

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.

This paper constitutes the first comprehensive review of animal fossils retrieved in Iberian archaeological sites. Out of 633 items from 82 sites, 143 were analyzed and a further 13 assessed and their status clarified by us on 20 sites. Among others, this study is the first one in Iberia to assess the role played by fossil scaphopods and to carry out a systematic description of shark teeth. The relevance of those 156 fossils we assessed through a comparison with all the finds located in the Iberian literature. Failure to report fossils properly did not allow us to warrant such status for 352 items. We believe that the poor record of fossils in Iberian archaeological sites is the result of a combination of methodological and theoretical constraints. For that reason, we contend that the items herein reported probably represent a fraction, however substantial, of the evidence at hand. In light of the contrasted relevance of fossils for addressing cultural issues, some recommendations and a plea for a more systematic and rigorous search of archaeological specimens are made., This paper is a contribution to project HUM-949-PAI by the Junta de Andalucía and ICAREHB. The Junta de Andalucía granted permission to excavate Hedionda-IV. The research at La Pileta and El Pirulejo were supported by MEC (Ministerio de Economía y Competividad) grants US-1264079 (I+D+i FEDER Andalucía), HAR2013-44269-P and HAR2016-77789-P. Research also benefited from MEC grants HAR2014-55722-P and HAR2017-88325-P, and from grant 19438/PI/14 (SÉNECA Program). AGA was supported by a MINECO Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (RYC-2015-18966). Alfredo Prada (ANMRC) granted permission to study the specimens from Las Aguas, Tesoro, El Juyo, Rascaño and Altamira, and Lola Hernando (Museo Arqueológico Nacional) facilitate the study of fossils from El Oficio. We thank Ana Gómez Díaz, Ana Pajuelo and Alfred Sanchís for photographing the specimens from Campo Real, Grave-5/Señorío de Guzmán and Parpalló.

White, R; Bosinski, G; Bourrillon, R; Clottes, J; Conkey, MW; Rodriguez, SC; Cortes-Sanchez, M; Vives, MD; Delluc, B; Delluc, G; Feruglio, V; Floss, H; Foucher, P; Fritz, C; Fuentes, O; Garate, D; Gomez, JG; Gonzalez-Morales, MR; Solis, MGP; Groenen, M; Jaubert, J; Martinez-Aguirre, MA; Abadia, OM; Abadia, OM; Peredo, RO; Paillet-Man-Estier, E; Paillet, P; Petrognani, S; Pigeaud, R; Pincon, G; Plassard, F; Lopez, SR; Vila, OR; Robert, E; Ruiz-Redondo, A; Lopez, JFR; San Juan-Foucher, C; Torti, JLS; Sauvet, G; Simon-Vallejo, MD; Tosello, G; Utrilla, P; Vialou, D; Willis, MD

The Middle (MP) and Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) evidences of shellfish collection on the southern Iberian site of Bajondillo cave are presented and compared with Westernmost Mediterranean archaeological sites. The main feature is stasis for Mytilus galloprovincialis represents the dominant taxon during a ∼120kyr temporal sequence. The second feature is the decrease of the shellfishing signal when site distance to the coast increases. The data reveal that shellfish collection was practiced during Marine Isotopic Stage 4, a poorly documented stage in terms of aquatic adaptations. Striking is also that mollusc assemblages evidence an uninterrupted decreasing trend in terms of remains from the earliest to the latest levels, in particular when H. sapiens replaced H. neanderthalensis. Although taxa of secondary importance are too scarce to make reliable inferences, another difference between the MP and EUP collections is the substantial increase of infaunal bivalves in the latter cultural period. Warm and cold water mollusc records match temperature rises and drops although the scarcity of data do not allow one to proceed beyond qualitative statements. Likewise, the prevalence of fresh and brackish water mollusc hint at a permanent presence of freshwater around the site at all times. When compared with assemblages from the Alboran sea region (Westernmost Mediterranean Sea), the Bajondillo cave collections are remarkable for their abundance of mussels. Comparison between Bajondillo cave and Pinnacle Point reveal that infaunal bivalve abundances in the South African site are far higher than those recorded in the MP levels, though not those from the EUP. Whether this feature hints at subtle differences existing between the collection of shellfish by H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis, reflects a behavioral convergence between the two hominine lineages or represents an inherited cognitive trait from a common ancestor is an issue in need of further analysis., The research of the Bajondillo faunal assemblages was allowed by the Consejería de Cultura of the Junta de Andalucía (Spain) (UPPH/49/06) to one of the authors (MCS). This research has been sponsored by Grants HAR2013-44269-P, HAR2014-55722-P, HAR2016-77789-P and HAR2017-88325-P from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and 19438/PI/14. The paper constitutes a contribution of Research Group HUM-949 (University of Sevilla, Spain) and the ICArEHB (Universidade do Algarve, Portugal).

Se ha realizado un estudio taxonómico de los moluscos del Tirreniense (Pleistoceno Superior) encontrados en la Playa de la Araña-Cala del Moral (Málaga). Se aporta un listado de 45 especies de invertebrados, de los que 43 son moluscos, un equinodermo (Echinoidea) y un coral (Antozoa). Éste constituye el segundo afloramiento con mayor riqueza específica del Tirreniense andaluz después de Roquetas de Mar (Almería).

This paper presents an archaeological, paleontological, taphonomical, chronological and geochemical study of a fossil oyster valve retrieved at the cave of La Pileta. The specimen was taken from Neogene fossiliferous deposits located more than 10 km away from the site. The shell was worked so as to become a portable lamp. 14C/AMS dating of the carbonate crust overlying the shell indicates a Gravettian chronology. Different lines of evidence indicate that during its use life, the valve was used to harbor or process pigments. The data presented throw light on the spread of symbolism in the southwestern corner of Europe during the Early Upper Palaeolithic, and add elements to the debate on the existence of a pre-Solutrean stage in the rock art of La Pileta and, by extension, of the southern Iberian Peninsula., En este trabajo presentamos el estudio arqueológico, paleontológico, tafonómico, cronológico y geoquímico de una valva de ostra hallada en la cueva de La Pileta. El ejemplar procede de depósitos fosilíferos neógenos distantes más de 10 km del yacimiento. Una vez adaptada, la concha fue empleada como lámpara portátil. La cronología 14C/AMS de la costra carbonatada que sellaba la cubeta nos remite al periodo Gravetiense. Según diversos indicios en la lámpara, durante su vida útil se procesaron o almacenaron pigmentos. Los datos aportados informan sobre la dispersión del simbolismo del Paleolítico Superior Inicial hasta el extremo sudoccidental europeo, así mismo, suma nuevos elementos al debate sobre la existencia de una fase presolutrense en el arte parietal de La Pileta y, por ende, de todo el sur de la Península Ibérica.

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]

article i nfo This study utilizes geomorphology, marine sediment data, environmental reconstructions and the Gorham's Cave occupational record during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition to illustrate the impacts of climate changes on human population dynamics in the Western Mediterranean. Geomorphologic evolution has been dated and appears to be driven primarily by coastal dune systems, sea-level changes and seismo-tectonic evolution. Continental and marine records are well correlated and used to interpret the Gorham's Cave sequence. Specific focus is given to the three hiatus sections found in Gorham's Cave during Heinrich periods 4, 3 and 2. These time intervals are compared with a wide range of regional geomorphologic, climatic, paleoseismic, faunal and archeological records. Our data compilations indicate that climatic and local geo- morphologic changes explain the Homo sapiens spp. occupational hiatuses during Heinrich periods 4 and 3. The last hiatus corresponds to the replacement of Homo neanderthalensis by H. sapiens. Records of dated cave openings, slope breccias and stalactite falls suggest that marked geomorphologic changes, seismic activ- ity and ecological perturbations occurred during the period when Homo replacement took place.

This paper presents the first evidence for Palaeolithic portable art in Southern Portugal. This include two plaques, dated between 20,500 and 19,500 BP from Solutrean levels from the site of Vale Boi, Western Algarve (Portugal). One of the pieces is a small engraved schist plaque (14,6 × 8,1 mm) with abstract lines on one side. The other artefact is an 8 × 5 cm schist plaque. One side is an oxide natural deposit, used to produce dye; the other side has three aurochs and a probable cervid. Stilistic information and the engraving sequence indicate probably production by a single artist. The stylistic characteristics are in full agreement withi those from late Gravettian and early Solutrean art known from Valencia, Andalucia (Spain) and the Côa valley (Portugal), thus confirming the absolute AMS dates from the Vale Boi Levels., En este trabajo presentamos la primera evidencia de arte mueble paleolítico en el sur de Portugal: dos plaquetas de pizarra procedentes de niveles solutrenses del yacimiento de Vale Boi, zona occidental del Algarve (Portugal). La primera de las piezas es una pequeña placa (14,6 × 8,1 mm) que presenta sobre una de sus caras un ideomorfo grabado. La segunda (8 × 5 cm) cuenta con una superficie ocupada por óxido de hierro natural de color amarillento, tiene claros indicios de extracción de mineral para producir colorantes. En la superficie opuesta han sido grabados tres uros y una posible cierva. El estilo y secuencia de los grabados apuntan a un solo artista. Las características estilísticas de los zoomorfos concuerdan bien con los rasgos comunes del arte del ciclo Gravetiense final y Solutrense antiguo del País Valenciano, Andalucía y Valle de Côa (Portugal). Esta afinidad sintoniza asimismo con las fechas AMS de los niveles solutrenses de Vale Boi, datados entre ca. 20.500 y 19.500 BP.

Presentamos los resultados sobre la función de un conjunto de instrumentos de sílex documentados, durante las campañas de excavación de 1965 a 1967, en los niveles neolíticos de la cueva de nerja (sala de la mina). La información obtenida nos ayuda a comp This paper focus on the results on the function of flint implements recovered during the 1965-1967 field seasons from the neolithic levels from cueva de nerja (room of the mina). The new data help to understand, on one hand, the importance of the daily ac

To clarify the species status of sturgeon from rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, eight molecular markers (4 nuclear and 4 mitochondrial) have been analysed in different specimens from historical museum samples and prehistoric samples from archaeological sites. These analyses indicate that one of these specimens (UGP captured in the Guadalquivir River in the 19th century) is A. sturio, based on all the eight molecular markers, four of them used from the first time in this study. In previous analyses based on 5 genetic markers, our group assigned two specimens captured in this river in the 1970-80s (EBD8173 and EBD8401) to the species A. naccarii, suggesting the presence of this species in the Iberian Peninsula. In this work, this conclusion is drawn after successfully obtaining a mitochondrial marker in a very old scute from a prehistoric site (Acinipo, about 1500 BC, from the Guadalquivir River basin). On the other hand, in the specimen EBD8174 captured in the Guadalquivir in 1975, we have obtained two new mitochondrial markers confirming that it can be considered A. sturio for all the mitochondrial markers, but nuclear ones identify it as A. naccarii. Finally, two very old samples (Nerja E-VI and Nerja N/62-63) were not successfully characterized by any molecular markers. Some aspects and consequences of our results are discussed, such as the origin of the “mosaic” specimen EBD8174 and, above all, the native status of A. naccarii in historic and prehistoric times in the southern Iberian Peninsula.

La Cueva de Nerja constituye uno de los principales yacimientos arqueológicos para el conocimiento del Paleolítico Superior en el sur de la Península Ibérica. Entre 1962 y 1963 se llevó a cabo una excavación sistemática sobre 14 metros cuadrados de la Sala del Vestíbulo, en la que se documentó una amplia secuencia con ocupaciones del Paleolítico Superior, Epipaleolitico y Neolítico. No obstante, los materiales recuperados en las citadas intervenciones permanecían por diversas circunstancias sin estudiar. En este trabajo abordamos la colección de mamíferos porvedentes de los tres niveles solutrenses, comprendidos cronológicamente entre c. 20-17.5 ka B.P., rango cronológico del cual apenas contamos con registros bien publicados en el contexto meridional peninsular.

Homo species were exposed to a new biogeochemical environment when they began to occupy caves. Here we report the first evidence of palaeopollution through geochemical analyses of heavy metals in four renowned archaeological caves of the Iberian Peninsula spanning the last million years of human evolution. Heavy metal contents reached high values due to natural (guano deposition) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. combustion) in restricted cave environments. The earliest anthropogenic pollution evidence is related to Neanderthal hearths from Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar), being one of the first milestones in the so-called “Anthropocene”. According to its heavy metal concentration, these sediments meet the present-day standards of “contaminated soil”. Together with the former, the Gibraltar Vanguard Cave, shows Zn and Cu pollution ubiquitous across highly anthropic levels pointing to these elements as potential proxies for human activities. Pb concentrations in Magdalenian and Bronze age levels at El Pirulejo site can be similarly interpreted. Despite these high pollution levels, the contaminated soils might not have posed a major threat to Homo populations. Altogether, the data presented here indicate a long-term exposure of Homo to these elements, via fires, fumes and their ashes, which could have played certain role in environmental-pollution tolerance, a hitherto neglected influence., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, has no Pleistocene record in Europe. Consequently, it has been suggested that this animal was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Arabs, who employed it for eliminating rodents and reptiles, as in the case of the genet, Genetta genetta. Here we describe a subfossil mongoose skull from the Cave of Nerja, southern Spain, which has been AMS dated 885 ± 40 years BP. This specimen constitutes the oldest record of mongooses in Europe, providing evidence that these animals were introduced during historical times in the South of the Iberian Peninsula.

New data and a review of historiographic information from Neolithic sites of the Malaga and Algarve coasts (southern Iberian Peninsula) and from the Maghreb (North Africa) reveal the existence of a Neolithic settlement at least from 7.5 cal ka BP. The agricultural and pastoralist food producing economy of that population rapidly replaced the coastal economies of the Mesolithic populations. The timing of this population and economic turnover coincided withmajor changes in the continental and marine ecosystems, including upwelling intensity, sea-level changes and increased aridity in the Sahara and along the Iberian coast. These changes likely impacted the subsistence strategies of the Mesolithic populations along the Iberian seascapes and resulted in abandonments manifested as sedimentary hiatuses in some areas during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. The rapid expansion and area of dispersal of the early Neolithic traits suggest the use of marine technology. Different evidences for a Maghrebian origin for the first colonists have been summarized. The recognition of an early North-African Neolithic influence in Southern Iberia and the Maghreb is vital for understanding the appearance and development of the Neolithic in Western Europe. Our review suggests links between climate change, resource allocation, and population turnover., The results presented in this paper derive from research carried out under the sponsorship of the following projects: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) and the European Science Foundation (III Community Support Framework), PTDC/HAH/64548/2006, A.F.C. & J.F.G., funded by the European Union and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnología; HAR 2008-1920 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain) and European Research Council2008-AdG 230561. Archeological sites management by M.C.S. & M.D.S.V. with permits from the Junta de Andalucía (Spain). This work also benefited from funding from the following projects: CGL2009-07603, CTM2009-07715, CSD2006-00041 and HAR2008-06477-C03-03/HIST, all from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain; 200800050084447 (MARM), Project RNM 05212 and Research Group 0179 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain). E.S. received financial support of the FCT (grant: SFRH/BPD/26525/2006). F.J. Jiménez Espejo acknowledges the CSIC “JAE-Doc” postdoctoral program for funding.

Cortés-Sánchez, Miguel et al., Numerous studies along the northern Mediterranean borderland have documented the use of shellfish by Neanderthals but none of these finds are prior to Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3). In this paper we present evidence that gathering and consumption of mollusks can now be traced back to the lowest level of the archaeological sequence at Bajondillo Cave (Málaga, Spain), dated during the MIS 6. The paper describes the taxonomical and taphonomical features of the mollusk assemblages from this level Bj19 and briefly touches upon those retrieved in levels Bj18 (MIS 5) and Bj17 (MIS 4), evidencing a continuity of the shellfishing activity that reaches to MIS 3. This evidence is substantiated on 29 datings through radiocarbon, thermoluminescence and U series methods. Obtained dates and paleoenvironmental records from the cave include isotopic, pollen, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological analyses and they are fully coherent with paleoclimate conditions expected for the different stages. We conclude that described use of shellfish resources by Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) in Southern Spain started ~150 ka and were almost contemporaneous to Pinnacle Point (South Africa), when shellfishing is first documented in archaic modern humans., The works at Bajondillo Cave and the shellfish harvesting in the Natural Park of Maro-Cerro Gordo were approved by the Junta de Andalucía (Spain). The manuscript was greatly improved by the instructive comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.

Bajondillo Cave is located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. The stratigraphy of the cave comprises a long chrono-cultural sequence (Middle Paleolithic, Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, Epipaleolithic and Neolithic). One of the outstanding elements of this site is the presence of Aurignacian levels overlaying late Mousterian levels, unknown in other sites of the region. In this paper we present new data (techno-cultural, chronological, environmental, landscape usage and use-wear analysis of lithic tools) from the late Middle Paleolithic level Bj/14. We also compare this information to previous knowledge of the late Middle Paleolithic from Southern Iberia. Available data suggests that there is little change within the local Middle Paleolithic and that an abrupt transition to the Upper Paleolithic took place between 3.5 and 7 kyr later than in the northern Iberian Peninsula.

RESUMEN: Presentamos en este trabajo el estudio de un objeto de arte mueble postpaleolítico realizado en cerámica procedente de la Cueva de Nerja. La datación directa mediante termoluminiscencia y el contexto cronológico donde fue hallado permiten encuadrarlo dentro de la segunda mitad del III milenio ANE y el Calcolítico reciente del yacimiento. El “Torso de Nerja” dispone de una profusa decoración mediante puntillado, cuyo análisis morfotécnico, decorativo e iconográfico entronca con las manifestaciones artísticas del “Fenómeno Esquemático”. Así, la pieza constituye un nuevo ejemplo de arte mobiliar modelado en cerámica y además sobre sus facetas aglutina buena parte de los elementos más usuales en el Arte Esquemático. El análisis arqueológico del horizonte reciente del Calcolítico y Bronce antiguo en la Cueva de Nerja y su entorno permiten deducir la existencia de procesos sociales entroncados en el complejo contexto histórico en transformación que afecta a las sociedades humanas del sur peninsular en la segunda mitad del III milenio ANE y que manifiestan una tendencia hacia la complejización social, en el que se están articulando nuevos modelos semánticos de expresión iconográfica.ABSTRACT: We present in this work the study of an object of art postpaleolithic mobiliar made of ceramics proceeding from Nerja’s cave. The direct datation by thermoluminiscence method and the chronological context where it was found they allow to fit it inside the second half of the millenium III ANE and the most recent Chalcolithic levels of this site. “Nerja’s Torso” has a profuse decoration by means of impression points, which morfo-technical, decorative and iconographic analysis is connected with the artistic manifestations of the “Schematic Phenomenon”. In this way, the piece constitutes a new example of art mobiliar shaped in ceramics and for other one on its facets it agglutinates good part of the most usual elements in the Schematic Art. The archaeological analysis of the recent horizon of the Chalcolithic and ancient Bronze age in Nerja’s cave and his environment they allow to deduce the existence of social processes connected in the complex historical context in transformation that affects to the human societies of the peninsular south in the second half the IIIrd millenium ANE and that they demonstrate a trend towards the social complexity, in that there are articulated new semantic models of iconographic expression.

Cortés-Sánchez, Miguel et al., The impact of late Upper Pleistocene climate change in the western Mediterranean region has been mainly documented through marine records. Archaeological and geomorphological continental records now available for the coast of Málaga complement these records for the second part of the last major glacial episode and the early stages of the Holocene. This paper provides an overview of the archaeological, chronological and palaeoenvironmental data from the end of the Middle Palaeolithic period to the Epipalaeolithic. Sequences from the two major sites, Nerja and Bajondillo, indicate a mosaic-type response of ecosystems to the rapidly shifting conditions of the Last Glacial episode. Terrestrial mammals, for example, show no major variations from present-day communities. Plant remains in contrast, demonstrates the existence of localised refuge areas for species that would not otherwise have survived in the more widely prevailing climatic conditions of the time, whereas remains of fish and, secondarily, birds demonstrate the existence of communities without any present-day analogues combining Mediterranean and Boreal (i.e., northern Atlantic) taxa. From an archaeological standpoint, the major cultural shift is the onset of marine fishing, beginning in the Solutrean. This coincided with the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) episode. The faunal record also testifies to the rising importance of marine resources more generally. Although the data have not been used systematically to test the validity of the Broad Spectrum Revolution (BSR) hypothesis, the hints for it in the area seem compelling from the start of the Solutrean onwards. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The authors would like to thank the following funding agencies: Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucia (Project: “Estudio y contextualización cronoestratigráfica de las antiguas excavaciones del Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja”, “Muestreo de Cueva Bajondillo”, “Prospección Arqueológica superficial de Torremolinos”; Miguel Cortés); Patronato de la Cueva de Nerja (Project: “Correlación de la secuencia estratigráfica de las cuevas de Nerja y Bajondillo”; Miguel Cortés); and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (Grant CGL2004-00891; Arturo Morales-Muñiz).