Atapuerca Neanderthal landscape at Fuente Mudarra site in Burgos, Spain, during Marine Isotope Stages 5–3

Abstract

Fuente Mudarra is on a gentle slope on the left bank of the Pico River, near Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. A 12−m2 test pit was dug at this large open-air site between 2012 and 2017. Several upper Pleistocene archaeological levels were documented. Results from Fuente Mudarra confirm that Neanderthal groups, little represented at cave sites, occupied Sierra de Atapuerca from the end of the middle Pleistocene and during the upper Pleistocene. The site also provides insight into Neanderthal spatial organization in the Atapuerca area and whether they used the caves in an occasional, non-habitual way like the open-air sites.

Los Aljezares archaeological site (Alicante, Spain) and the MIS 6/5 open‐air settlement in the Iberian Peninsula

“…In the Iberian plateau and Cantabrian region, the sites are dated in relatively older chronologies, and technologically, a marked archaic character in their industries can be observed (simple, bifacial, multifacial, tested nodules, indeterminate, etc.) (Montes, 2003; Pérez‐González et al , 2008; Rios‐Garaizar et al , 2008; Sánchez Yustos and Díez Martín, 2015; Díez Martín et al , 2018; Santamaría et al , 2020). This aspect also seems to be closely related to the use or absence of macro‐tooling.…”

“…It is also noteworthy that there are sites in which its position is the main characteristic, whether in natural corridors, passageways, natural routes and so forth. In these, such as Las Callejuelas, Fuente Mudarra or Los Aljezares (Domingo et al , 2017; Santamaría et al , 2020), the site's strategic position suggests that (a) it was a key point in the migration routes of ungulate herds that traversed this area or (b) that they are rich sites for the raw material provisioning. These sites are used as a camp, probably seasonally based mainly on data from fauna, and as stopping points to carry out different subsistence strategies for a short time and then continue with their movement throughout their territory.…”

Low‐cost technologies in a rich ecological context: Hotel California open‐air site at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

“…There are several sites with evidence of a Neanderthal presence across the Sierra de Atapuerca, both in caves and open landscapes, which have, since the year 2000, provided information on the way of life and settlement patterns of the Neanderthal groups that lived in this region. Following an extensive surface survey, the documentation of 30 Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5–3 open‐air sites has also allowed us to study aspects of how these groups procured biotic and abiotic resources, infer the activities that were carried out in this space, and learn how these hominids managed and used the area that they inhabited (Navazo, 2006; Navazo et al 2008; Navazo et al 2011; Arnold et al 2013; Ollé et al 2013; Navazo and Carbonell, 2014; Navazo et al 2017; Santamaría et al 2021; Santamaría Cabornero et al 2021).…”

“…So far, five Neanderthal sites have been excavated: two cave sites, Cueva Fantasma and Galería de las Estatuas, located in the upper level of Cueva Mayor's karstic complex (Arsuaga et al 2017; Demuro et al 2019a); and three open‐air sites (Fig. 1a), Hundidero, located by a pond (Navazo et al 2011), and Fuente Mudarra and Hotel California, on the bank of the Pico River (Arnold et al 2013; Santamaría et al 2021). These, along with surface assemblages, provide an interesting picture of a Neanderthal territory that is framed around different land features.…”

“…Archaeological remains were originally detected from surface surveys undertaken on the left (south) side of the Pico River, where two sites with Mousterian chronologies have since been excavated: Fuente Mudarra (Santamaría et al 2021) and Hotel California, whose archaeological remains are the focus of this paper. Hotel California is an open‐air site located in the Sierra de Atapuerca, nearly 2 km from the Railway Trench (‘Trinchera del Ferrocarril’) sites.…”