The Western Pyrenean (Northern Iberian Peninsula) during the Upper Paleolithic: A palaeoenvironmental approach

A general survey of archaeological information regarding the Upper Paleolithic in the Iberian Peninsula suggests that the settlement of huntergatherers is characterized by a patchy pattern with clusters of sites in some regions and no reported settlements in others. The causes, characteristics, implications and consequences of those settlement patterns are still unclear. One of the main variables involved in this question is the relative changing climatic conditions of the Upper Paleolithic. Here we discuss the climatic conditions of the Upper Paleolithic and its influences on human behaviors in the Western Pyrenean Region (WPR, Northern Iberian Peninsula) during the Gravettian and Solutrean technocomplexes, a timeframe with several fluctuations in temperature and rainfall, leading to some cold and dry episodes followed by other more humid and temperate ones at both the Iberian and European scale.