Cova de les Malladetes (Valencia, Spain): New Insights About the Early Upper Palaeolithic in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula

Bonilla, Valentín Villaverde; Sanchís, Alfred; Badal, Ernestina; Martínez, Miguel Ángel Bel; Bergadà, M. Mercè; Eixea, Aleix; Guillem, Pere; Alfaro, Álvaro Martínez; Martínez-Valle, Rafael; Varea, Carmen María Martínez; Real, Cristina; Steier, Peter; Wild, Eva Maria

doi:10.1007/s41982-021-00081-w

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…As for the dating 65, this could fit with the recent Aurignacian. This is a period that has already been detected in the east of the Iberian Peninsula with occupations that include the characteristic industry and personal ornamentation [33][34][35][36][37][38][39] . This second dating would be one of the few evidences of recent Aurignacian in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, coeval with the recently published dates obtained in a sector near the prehistoric entrance of the Ardales cave 40 (Supplementary information S8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

35,000 years of recurrent visits inside Nerja cave (Andalusia, Spain) based on charcoals and soot micro-layers analyses

Medina‐Alcaide

Vandevelde

Quilès

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Charcoal and micro-layers of soot trapped in speleothems from the inner galleries of Nerja Cave were analysed through an interdisciplinary study. The absolute dating of the prehistoric subterranean activity of the cave and the identification of different phases of visits to the deep parts are presented and discussed. The charcoal analysis includes anthracological analysis and SEM–EDX. The soot analysis includes optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and TEM–EDX, and the microcounting of soot microlayers. The 14C dating of 53 charcoals identified 12 phases of prehistoric visits to the cave between 41,218 and 3299 cal. BP, putting back the origin of human occupation of this emblematic cave by 10,000 years. The interdisciplinary analysis of the soot microlayers allowed us to perform a high-precision zoom on the last three visitation phases identified by Bayesian analysis (8003–2998 cal. BP.), demonstrating that these phases contain at least 64 distinct incursions, with an average of one visit every 35 years for the Neolithic period. Spatial analysis showed that not all areas of the cave were used in the same periods, highlighting the repetition of visits to certain specific sectors of the Lower Galleries of the cave. Lastly, the anthracological data indicate a cross-cultural and unique use of Pinus tp. sylvestris-nigra wood for lighting activities over an extended period between the Gravettian and Upper Magdalenian.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

35,000 years of recurrent visits inside Nerja cave (Andalusia, Spain) based on charcoals and soot micro-layers analyses

Medina‐Alcaide

Vandevelde

Quilès

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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“…Those results cluster into two statistically distinct groups, strongly suggesting a palimpsest situation: the earlier cluster, represented by three results in the 37.9–39.5 ka range, may well relate to carnivore activity; the younger cluster, represented by two results in the 35.6–38.8 ka range, overlaps with those for La Boja and the Aurignacian sequence of Cova de Malladetes (Valencia, Spain; Fig 1 , no. 10) [ 106 ] and may well be that which reliably reflects Aurignacian human activity at the site. Under this alternative view, Picareiro remains consistent with the Middle Palaeolithic persisting at nearby Caldeirão into the timespan of the Early Aurignacian.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)

et al. 2021

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Gruta do Caldeirão features a c. 6 m-thick archaeological stratification capped by Holocene layers ABC-D and Ea, which overlie layer Eb, a deposit of Magdalenian age that underwent significant disturbance, intrusion, and component mixing caused by funerary use of the cave during the Early Neolithic. Here, we provide an updated overview of the stratigraphy and archaeological content of the underlying Pleistocene succession, whose chronology we refine using radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating. We find a high degree of stratigraphic integrity. Dating anomalies exist in association with the succession’s two major discontinuities: between layer Eb and Upper Solutrean layer Fa, and between Early Upper Palaeolithic layer K and Middle Palaeolithic layer L. Mostly, the anomalies consist of older-than-expected radiocarbon ages and can be explained by bioturbation and palimpsest-forming sedimentation hiatuses. Combined with palaeoenvironmental inferences derived from magnetic susceptibility analyses, the dating shows that sedimentation rates varied in tandem with the oscillations in global climate revealed by the Greenland oxygen isotope record. A steep increase in sedimentation rate is observed through the Last Glacial Maximum, resulting in a c. 1.5 m-thick accumulation containing conspicuous remains of occupation by people of the Solutrean technocomplex, whose traditional subdivision is corroborated: the index fossils appear in the expected stratigraphic order; the diagnostics of the Protosolutrean and the Lower Solutrean predate 24,000 years ago; and the constraints on the Upper Solutrean place it after Greenland Interstadial 2.2. (23,220–23,340 years ago). Human usage of the site during the Early Upper and the Middle Palaeolithic is episodic and low-intensity: stone tools are few, and the faunal remains relate to carnivore activity. The Middle Palaeolithic is found to persist beyond 39,000 years ago, at least three millennia longer than in the Franco-Cantabrian region. This conclusion is upheld by Bayesian modelling and stands even if the radiocarbon ages for the Middle Palaeolithic levels are removed from consideration (on account of observed inversions and the method’s potential for underestimation when used close to its limit of applicability). A number of localities in Spain and Portugal reveal a similar persistence pattern. The key evidence comes from high-resolution fluviatile contexts spared by the site formation issues that our study of Caldeirão brings to light—palimpsest formation, post-depositional disturbance, and erosion. These processes. are ubiquitous in the cave and rock-shelter sites of Iberia, reflecting the impact on karst archives of the variation in climate and environments that occurred through the Upper Pleistocene, and especially at two key points in time: between 37,000 and 42,000 years ago, and after the Last Glacial Maximum. Such empirical difficulties go a long way towards explaining the controversies surrounding the associated cultural transitions: from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, and from the Solutrean to the Magdalenian. Alongside potential dating error caused by incomplete decontamination, proper consideration of sample association issues is required if we are ever to fully understand what happened with the human settlement of Iberia during these critical intervals, and especially so with regards to the fate of Iberia’s last Neandertal populations.

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“…The earliest manifestations of the Aurignacian are statistically constrained between 44 and 42 ky cal BP and are mainly concentrated along Mediterranean Europe and the Danube Basin (Barshay- Szmidt et al, 2013Szmidt et al, , 2018Bolus, 2003, 2008;Davis and Hedges, 2008;Douka et al, 2012;Falcucci et al, 2017;Haws et al, 2020;Higham et al, 2012;Marciani et al, 2020;Nigst et al, 2014;Szmidt et al, 2010;Teyssandier and Zilhão, 2018;Valdes and Bischoff, 1989;Villaverde et al, 2021;Wood et al, 2014). The seemingly marked differences in the material culture between these two macro-regions and the very old radiocarbon dates obtained in the Swabian Jura (southwestern Germany), led a few authors to suggest that modern humans might have followed different cultural trajectories during their expansion across Europe (Conard and Bolus, 2006;Davies, 2007;Higham et al, 2012) contra (Chu, 2018;Zilhão and D'Errico, 2003).…”

Section: Foreword Definition and Geographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling technological behaviors through core reduction intensity. The case of the early Protoaurignacian assemblage from Fumane Cave.

Lombao,

Falcucci,

Moos

et al. 2023

Preprint

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This paper investigates core reduction intensity in the early Protoaurignacian lithic assemblage from Fumane Cave in northeastern Italy. Here, reduction intensity was used as a means to characterize blank selection strategies and raw material management, explore the variability of knapping strategies throughout the reduction sequence by reconstructing the operatory field of core assemblages, and finally address the relationship between blades and bladelets. The latter aspect was particularly important to gain insights into the behavioral and chrono-cultural significance of laminar productions in the framework of the Aurignacian technocomplex. To meet these goals, experimental work was conducted thanks to 3D scanning technology to compare different methods and variables for measuring reduction intensity, including the percentage of non-cortical surface, the Scar Density Index (SDI), and a novel adaptation of the Volumetric Reconstruction Method (VRM). Results demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of adapting VRM for studying reduction intensity in Upper Paleolithic laminar cores, and the provided R scripts and datasets will enable this method to be applied to other contexts with little or no modification of the workflow. The reduction intensity measures applied to the Protoaurignacian assemblage from Fumane Cave reveal slight variations depending on the abundance and proximity of available raw materials selected for blank production. Not surprisingly, the most abundant raw material variety – the Maiolica – has the largest number of less reduced cores, although reduction is fairly high across all cores discarded at the site. The observed variability in the operatory field and the interrelation between blade and bladelet productions underscore the complexity and flexibility of Protoaurignacian human behavior, which also complicate a definitive separation between the operatory fields of blade and bladelet productions. These findings are particularly important to emphasize the importance of considering reduction intensity when examining technological variability and human behavior in Aurignacian studies. We hope that the proposed adaptation of the VRM and the effective combination with other measures of reduction will allow future studies to rightfully incorporate reduction intensity as a temporal component in studies on stone tool production to enhance our understanding of the adaptive behaviors of Homo sapiens in diverse ecological settings and better frame the development of the Upper Paleolithic.

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Cova de les Malladetes (Valencia, Spain): New Insights About the Early Upper Palaeolithic in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 21 publications

References 76 publications

35,000 years of recurrent visits inside Nerja cave (Andalusia, Spain) based on charcoals and soot micro-layers analyses

35,000 years of recurrent visits inside Nerja cave (Andalusia, Spain) based on charcoals and soot micro-layers analyses

Revisiting the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeology of Gruta do Caldeirão (Tomar, Portugal)

Unravelling technological behaviors through core reduction intensity. The case of the early Protoaurignacian assemblage from Fumane Cave.

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