Palaeoenvironmental and Chronological context of human occupations at El Cierro Cave (Northern Spain) during the transition from the late Upper Pleistocene to the early Holocene /
Esteban Álvarez Fernandez, Julián Bécares Pérez, Jesús F. Jordá Pardo, Amaia Aguirre, David Álvarez-Alonso, María Teresa Aparicio, Inmaculada Barrera, Pilar Carral, René Pierre Carriol, Miriam Cubas, Marián Cueto, Katerina Douka, Mikelo Elorza, María José Fernández-Gómez, Sónia Gabriel, Naroa Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, Maria-Jose Iriarte-Chiapusso, Carlos Llave, Adolfo Maestro, Sergio Martín-Jarque, Rodrigo Portero Hernández, Aitziber Suárez Bilbao, Antonio Tarriño Vinagre, Luis Teira, Paloma Uzquiano, Pablo Arias.
-- [S.l.]: Elsevier, 2019.
Restringido
El Cierro Cave possesses one of the few sequences in SW Europe in which archaeological levels cover the transition from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene. Information contributed by the palynological and anthracological studies indicates that this transition was marked by a steady expansion of broadleaf woodland and a reduction in herbaceous-shrub communities. Archaeofaunal studies reveal continuity in subsistence strategies throughout the sequence. This was based on specialisation in hunting red deer, fishing, and gathering molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderm species on rocky shores. The difference between the Azilian and Mesolithic occupations lies in the replacement of some marine invertebrate species and the decrease in limpet sizes. The abiotic evidence is characterised by a lithic assemblage with allochthonous flint types, which has been interpreted as continuity of the raw material procurement strategies inherited from the Magdalenian.
Álvarez Fernandez, E., Bécares Pérez, J., Jordá Pardo, J.F., Aguirre, A., Álvarez-Alonso, D., Aparicio, M.T., Barrera, I., Carral, P., Carriol, R.P., Cubas, M., Cueto, M., Douka, K., Elorza, M., Fernández-Gómez, M.J., Gabriel, S., Garcia-Ibaibarriaga, N., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M.J., Llave, C., Maestro, A., Martín-Jarque, S., Portero Hernández, R., Suárez Bilbao, A., Tarriño Vinagre, a., Teira, L., Uzquiano, P., Arias, P., 2019. Palaeoenvironmental and Chronological context of human occupations at El Cierro Cave (Northern Spain) during the transition from the late Upper Pleistocene to the early Holocene. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29.