After the Last Glacial Maximum in the refugium of northern Iberia: Environmental shifts, demographic pressure and changing economic strategies at Las Caldas Cave (Asturias, Spain)

Jones, J. G.; Marín-Arroyo, Ana B.; Rodríguez, C. Tejedor; Richards, Michael P.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106931

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 152 publications

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“…Both sites exhibit lower precipitation levels compared to the present, indicating significant aridity, supported by the animals predominantly feeding in open landscapes. El Otero's higher mean annual temperatures recorded in the Magdalenian horses are consistent with a climatic amelioration following the Last Glacial Maximum (Jones et al, 2021).…”

Section: Late Pleistocene Climatic Evolution In Northern Iberiamentioning

confidence: 52%

Ecological evolution in northern Iberia (SW Europe) during the Late Pleistocene through isotopic analysis on ungulate teeth

Fernández-Garcia,

Pederzani,

Britton

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. During the Late Pleistocene, stadial and interstadial fluctuations affected vegetation, fauna, and human groups that were forced to cope with these pronounced climatic and environmental changes in time and space. These changes were especially abrupt during the Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 3. However, little is still known about the local and regional climatic conditions experienced by hominins in Europe. Here we reconstruct the climatic trends in northern Iberia considering the stable isotopic composition of ungulate skeletal tissues found in archaeological deposits dated between 80 to 15,000 cal BP. The carbon and oxygen isotopic composition preserved in the carbonate fraction of tooth enamel provides a reliable and high-resolution proxy of the food and water consumed by these animals, which is indirectly related to the local vegetation, environment, and climate, allowing us to estimate paleotemperatures and rainfall data. This study presents 44 bovine, equid, and cervid teeth from five archaeological sites in the Vasco-Cantabrian region (El Castillo, El Otero, Axlor, Labeko Koba, Aitzbitarte III) and one in the Mediterranean area (Canyars), where human evidence is attested from the Mousterian to the Magdalenian. The carbon isotope values reflect animals feeding on C3 plants with a mix-feeder diet mainly developed in open environments. However, carbon isotope value ranges point to differentiated ecological niches for equids and bovines, especially during the Aurignacian in the Vasco-Cantabrian region. Temperature estimations based on oxygen isotopic compositions and rainfall obtained from carbon isotopic compositions indicate colder and more arid conditions than nowadays from the Late Mousterian to the Aurignacian. The contemporary Mediterranean site shows slightly lower temperatures related to an arid period when animals mainly graze in open landscapes. In the Vasco-Cantabrian region, during the MIS2, the Gravettian data reflect a landscape opening, whereas the Magdalenian point to warmer conditions but still arid.

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Section: Late Pleistocene Climatic Evolution In Northern Iberiamentioning

confidence: 52%

Ecological evolution in northern Iberia (SW Europe) during the Late Pleistocene through isotopic analysis on ungulate teeth

Fernández-Garcia,

Pederzani,

Britton

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…For example, a recent literature review showed that communities in urbanised and wealthier societies are less plant aware compared with communities that live closer to nature (Pilgrim et al, 2008; Stagg & Dillon, 2022). It has been suggested that rapidly changing climates during the Palaeolithic would have resulted in subsequent vegetation changes (Bertran et al, 2013; Finlayson & Carrión, 2007; Gómez‐Olivencia et al, 2015; Jones et al, 2021), indicating to have caused population migrations (Kondo et al, 2018) to refugia (Jones et al, 2020) and biomes that offered more diverse environmental opportunities (Gavashelishvili & Tarkhnishvili, 2016). Therefore, living in environments where plants are major feature of the landscape can help to foster plant awareness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absence of botanical European Palaeolithic cave art: What can it tell us about plant awareness disparity?

Walton

Mitchley

Reid

et al. 2023

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementCave art has been an integral part of human history, providing a glimpse into the lives and cultures of our ancestors. Prehistoric botanical art is an important medium that can help us to redefine our intimate relationship with plants. The findings from our work provide some evidence from the European Palaeolithic period that modern plant awareness disparity (PAD) might be more deeply rooted in our past. By inspiring a deeper appreciation and understanding of the natural world, cave art can help people to reconnect with plants, thus tackling PAD.

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“…In Layer VII (possible MIS 5c) the faunal spectrum is dominated by Capra pyrenaica and in Layer VIII (possible MIS 5c) a substantial proportion of the faunal remains stem from Cervus elaphus. A dominance of Capra pyrenaica could indicate cold-arid conditions, as it has been shown in northern Iberian examples that they may have been more resistant to arid conditions or phases of low primary productivity than other taxa such as large bovines (Jones et al, 2020(Jones et al, , 2021; but see Yravedra and Cobo-Sánchez, 2015). It should be noted that the Barandiarán faunal collection exhibits significant collection bias in favour of morphologically identifiable fragments and likely also mixes to some extent the material of different deposits due to excavation in artificial spits identified lying horizontally (Gómez-Olivencia et al, 2018), but species abundances in the material here are very similar to those in the more recent excavations (Castaños, 2005) and appear not significantly affected by this collection bias.…”

Section: The Site Of Axlormentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene Neanderthal exploitation of stable and mosaic ecosystems in northern Iberia shown by multi-isotope evidence

et al. 2023

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During the last glacial period, rapidly changing environments posed substantial challenges to Neanderthal populations in Europe. Southern continental regions, such as Iberia, have been proposed as important climatic “buffer” zones during glacial phases. Contextualising the climatic and ecological conditions Neanderthals faced is relevant to interpreting their resilience. However, records of the environments and ecosystems they exploited across Iberia exhibit temporal and spatial gaps in coverage. Here we provide new evidence for palaeotemperatures, vegetation structure, and prey herbivore ecology during the late Pleistocene (MIS 5–3) in northern Spain, by applying multiple stable isotope tracers (δ18O, δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) to herbivore skeletal remains associated with Neanderthal occupations at Axlor Cave, Bizkaia. The results show little change over time and indicate stable climatic conditions and ecosystems across different occupations. Large within-layer isotopic variability in nitrogen and sulphur suggests the presence of a mosaic environment and a variety of isotopic ecotones that were exploited by Neanderthals and their prey. We implement a combination of carbonate and phosphate δ18O measurements to estimate palaeotemperatures using a cost-effective workflow. We show that the targeted use of phosphate δ18O measurements to anchor summer peak and winter trough areas enables high-precision seasonal palaeoclimatic reconstructions.

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After the Last Glacial Maximum in the refugium of northern Iberia: Environmental shifts, demographic pressure and changing economic strategies at Las Caldas Cave (Asturias, Spain)

Cited by 11 publications

References 152 publications

Ecological evolution in northern Iberia (SW Europe) during the Late Pleistocene through isotopic analysis on ungulate teeth

Ecological evolution in northern Iberia (SW Europe) during the Late Pleistocene through isotopic analysis on ungulate teeth

Absence of botanical European Palaeolithic cave art: What can it tell us about plant awareness disparity?

Late Pleistocene Neanderthal exploitation of stable and mosaic ecosystems in northern Iberia shown by multi-isotope evidence

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