a b s t r a c tThis paper presents the results of the first excavation campaign of the Artusia rock shelter in Unzu e, Navarre, Spain. Chronocultural and archaeobiological analyses revealed five different occupation phases (Artusia IeV) within the regional Mesolithic timeline, specifically in the Mesolithic of Notches and Denticulates (Artusia I and II) and the Geometric Mesolithic (Artusia III, IV, and V). In addition, the study of the sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental evolution in the entire record helped to clearly define several climatic events which developed around 6550 cal BCe8500 cal BP and 6250 cal BCe8200 cal BP. Here, we present a description of these events and their (pre)historical interpretation with the aim of recognizing how they influenced the Mesolithic hunteregatherer groups living in the Ebro Basin of the Iberian Peninsula.© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.Lydia Zapata, in memoriam IntroductionIn recent decades, the study of the Mesolithic in the Iberian Ebro Valley has focused mainly on the definition of different phases in accordance with the lithic industry as well as on the publication of several time series. Questions relating to subsistence and environment have also been addressed which results suggest an intense, planned and diversified type of exploitation and economy. The publication of a variety of monographs on particular sites (Barandiar an-Maestu, 1978 However, aspects related to palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes and their influence on the historical evolution of Mesolithic groups have only been tackled in recent years (Gonz alez-Samp eriz et al., 2008García-Martínez de Lagr an, 2012). From this perspective, the data obtained on the Artusia rock shelter help to reinitiate the * Corresponding author.E-mail address: igmtzl@gmail.com (I. García-Martínez de Lagr an). Contents lists available at ScienceDirectQuaternary International j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / q u a i n t Archaeological site: discovery and geographical frameworkThe Artusia rock shelter is located at Unzu e, a small village in the eastern part of Navarre, in the Valdorba region (Fig. 1). This archaeological site was discovered in 1996, and the preservation problems that this rock shelter faces due to the erosion derived by the Artusia stream are highlighted. Artusia is located, as are many other Mesolithic rock shelters from the southern Pyrenean slope, on a rock face, to which morphology refers its name in Basque (Arluxea ¼ long crag). It is located at the southern slope of a narrow pass that the Artusia stream excavated between the Alaiz Mountains on the north, and the Unzu e Crag on the south (Fig. 1). The rock shelter is filled by a stratigraphic package cut lengthwise by the stream that exposes the different archaeological levels which form most of the sequence (Figs. 2 and 3).The area where Artusia is situated represents the geological, climatic, floristic and politico-administrative border between the pre-Pyrenean Pamplona ...

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Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope research on past populations in the Iberian Neolithic has emphasized the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. This study provides the first isotopic insights into the diet and subsistence economy of Early and Middle Neolithic populations from open-air sites in interior north-central Iberia. We present bone collagen carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope ratios for 44 humans and 33 animals recovered from six cemeteries of the Ebro valley and the northern Iberian Plateau. The results obtained are consistent with the C 3 terrestrial diets typical of other contemporary south-western European populations, but the spacing between human and herbivore values from Los Cascajos and Paternanbidea sites is higher than expected, and a significant positive correlation is identified between the δ 13 C and δ 15 N human values at both. Moreover, the results clearly differ from those of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic in the same region, which show significantly lower δ 13 C and δ 15 N values. These findings contribute to an understanding of the implementation of an agro-pastoral economy in interior Iberia, suggesting a stronger reliance on animal foods among the first Neolithic groups of inner Iberia than in subsequent periods as well as differential access to some resources (possibly suckling herbivores) in the diet, which may point to the existence of early social or economic inequalities that do not seem to be linked to age and sex parameters or to mortuary treatment.

Se expone un estado de la cuestión sobre el Paleolítico Inferior en Navarra con los datos disponibles hasta 1993. En la segunda parte se aporta un estudio preliminar de los nuevos hallazgos en la Cuenca de Pamplona, que pueden ser incluidos dentro del Achelense.

En este trabajo se proceden a analizar los materiales, principalmente líticos, de dos yacimientos "al aire libre" de la Navarra Media Oriental (Liédena). Su tipología permite atribuir ambos conjuntos al eneolítico. Funcionalmente uno de ellos parece responder a actividades estacionales de siega (Saso II), mientras que el otro yacimiento (Saso I) era una pequeña área de talla al servicio de las actividades desarrolladas en el glacis.