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Artazu VII palaeontological site (Arrasate, Gipuzkoa) is one of the few deposits in the Iberian Peninsula in which humans did not intervene in its formation as the site acted as a natural trap. The vertebrate remains recovered are in a very good state of preservation and display great biodiversity. The large mammal assemblage from Artazu VII is studied in detail in this paper. Fourteen different species are described, including ungulates and carnivores. Morphological and osteometric descriptions are also provided, as well as a morphological study of chamois and leopard compared with the same species of similar chronology both in the surroundings of the site and in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. The existence of biases related to the form of the shaft is tested, as these might relativize the value of the remains as a representative proxy of the fauna in the early Late Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula. The palaeoecology inferred from this association indicates the existence of a woodland mass alternating with meadow biotope, and with a watercourse in the surrounding area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction based on microfaunal assemblages preserved at Lezetxiki II Cave (Arrasate, Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) and synthesize previously published and new chronological work from the cave to better understand the environmental history of the region. The stratigraphic sequence of this short gallery ranges from the end of the middle Pleistocene to the middle Holocene and has great micropaleontological relevance for the Iberian Peninsula, especially because it contains the most ancient small vertebrate remains found in the Cantabrian region, likely deposited during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7–6. Thirty-two small vertebrate taxa, including two extinct species, were identified. Environmental reconstruction based on small vertebrates suggests an open landscape at the base of the sequence (three lower levels) that progressively changed to woodland in the upper levels. Other paleoenvironmental data suggest a similar interpretation of the environmental history of the region, and although some uncertainty in the environmental reconstruction and chronology still exists, our data provide a richly detailed record of small vertebrates from an area that likely represented an important late Quaternary migration corridor for species traveling between the Iberian Peninsula and European continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aranbaltza is an archaeological complex formed by at least three open-air sites. Between 2014 and 2015 a test excavation carried out in Aranbaltza III revealed the presence of a sand and clay sedimentary sequence formed in floodplain environments, within which six sedimentary units have been identified. This sequence was formed between 137–50 ka, and includes several archaeological horizons, attesting to the long-term presence of Neanderthal communities in this area. One of these horizons, corresponding with Unit 4, yielded two wooden tools. One of these tools is a beveled pointed tool that was shaped through a complex operational sequence involving branch shaping, bark peeling, twig removal, shaping, polishing, thermal exposition and chopping. A use-wear analysis of the tool shows it to have traces related with digging soil so it has been interpreted as representing a digging stick. This is the first time such a tool has been identified in a European Late Middle Palaeolithic context; it also represents one of the first well-preserved Middle Palaeolithic wooden tool found in southern Europe. This artefact represents one of the few examples available of wooden tool preservation for the European Palaeolithic, allowing us to further explore the role wooden technologies played in Neanderthal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En 2010 y 2011, el área del sondeo en el cual niveles solutrenses habían sido expuestos en la Cueva del Mirón fué duplicada. Estos depósitos, en contraste marcado con los niveles del Magdaleniense Inicial e Inferior superyacentes (que yacen casi horizontalmente y que son extraordinariamente ricos en materia orgánica y toda clase de residuos culturalesartefactos de todo tipo, estructuras y restos de faunaindicativos de importantes ocupaciones residenciales repetidas y multifuncionales de la cueva), siguen la pendiente de 15 grados de la cara erosiva del relleno aluvial del interior de la cueva y son culturalmente bastante pobres. Los niveles solutrenses están datados por el radiocarbono entre 19,230 y 18,390 BP (sin calibrar), aunque el nivel más alto (121) es ambíguo debido a la ausencia de puntas solutrenses al menos en la pequeña área (ahora 4 m2) que ha sido excavada. Los otros niveles solutrenses (122-127) son particularmente ricos en fragmentos de puntas foliadas y de muesca de diversos tipos (incluyendo a las de base cóncava) y deshecho lítico, pero con relativamente pocos otros utensilios retocados, lo cual sugiere unas expediciones de caza en el interior montañoso del Este de Cantabria en parte en momentos de amelioración climática durante el Ultimo Máximo Glacial (sensu lato justo después del Evento Heinrich 2, durante o poco después del Interestadio Greenland 2), cuando, sin embargo, los glaciares todavía recubrían las laderas superiores de la vecina Cordillera. Otros indicios de la caza incluyen a unas azagayas de asta, algunas de las cuales tienen formas y decoraciones grabadas típicas del Solutrense cantábrico. Por otro lado estos niveles son extraordinariamente ricos en conchas marinas (de diversas especies), muchas de las cuales están perforadas. Estas están acompañadas por otros objetos perforados (caninos de ciervo, huesos y piedras tallados en forma de caninos), asi confimando el patrón revelado en el sondeo excavado en 1998 y 2000. Los restos de fauna están presentes, pero no son abundantes, lo cual podria sugerir o que los reses fueron descuartizados y depositados en otra(s) parte(s) de la cueva o llevados a otros sitios para su consumo, tal vez en la parte baja y así más habitable del valle del Río Asón.

Late Pleistocene palaeontological sites without human intervention are limited in the Cantabrian region, and even more so those with a good state of preservation and rich biodiversity. A new vertebrate fossiliferous locality discovered at Kobate Quarry (Arrasate, northern Iberian Peninsula) is presented in this article. This site, in which remains of 40 different vertebrate taxa were accumulated, acted as a natural trap. The preliminary vertebrate faunal list includes five amphibian taxa, four reptiles, seven species of birds and 24 mammalian taxa. While small mammals are represented by 13 small mammal taxa (seven in the Order Rodentia, five in the Order Eulipotyphla, and one in the Order Chiroptera), the large mammal fauna comprises eleven species, including ungulates and carnivores. The palaeoecology inferred from this faunal assemblage suggests the existence of large forested areas with some grassland and a watercourse nearby, within a notably warm and humid climate. These palaeoenvironmental conditions, combined with AMS and AAR results carried out in macrofaunal bone samples, suggest that the deposit from Artazu VII would be located in the first half of the Late Pleistocene, in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5c. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the Middle Pleistocene is an interesting period for investigating the transformation of Neandertal behavior from the early Middle Paleolithic to the late Middle Paleolithic. Few sites in the Iberian Peninsula have sequences corresponding to the last interglacial (MIS5) and even fewer in the Cantabrian Region. One of the best places to investigate this subject is the sequence recently excavated in Arlanpe cave. Several proxies (sedimentology, pollen, small vertebrates, malacofauna, U/Th dating) locate the first phases of this sequence between MIS7 and MIS5, with the important occurrence of temperate environmental evidence. The archaeological record describes populations with high mobility that used the cave as an occasional shelter in the first phases, or as an activity area in the later ones. The characteristics of lithic productions show a combination of Lower (Acheulean bifacial shaping) and Middle Paleolithic (Levallois Technology) traits that justifies an early Middle Paleolithic attribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]