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Neanderthals have been claimed to have had a selective adaptation to rugged, wooded landscapes that would have partially compensate their high basal metabolic rate and locomotor energetic costs through reducing search time and increasing diet breadth. The archaeological site of the Navalmaíllo rockshelter (Pinilla del Valle, Madrid), located in a mountain environment in central Iberian Peninsula, has been interpreted as a repeated short-term occupation hunting camp by Neanderthal groups, mainly focused on primary access to large bovids and cervids. Navalmaíllo rockshelter has also furnished fish, toads, frogs, tortoises, lizards and snakes remains. This association of amphibians and reptiles suggests a much warmer climate (þ 2.8ºC) for layer F than at present, with similar temperatures during the summer but higher temperatures throughout the remaining months. Rainfall was slightly more abundant (þ180.6 mm) than today, with a more contrasted regime during the year, with rainier winters and drier summers. A two-month period of aridity is observed during summer, representing a similar duration to present-day climatic conditions. Reconstructed landscapes are mainly constituted by open areas with dry grassland and rocky or stony areas, evolving laterally to humid meadows, probably close to the aquatic and peri-aquatic areas, such as rivers or ponds with riverside vegetation. Woodland environments are lso well represented around the site, with medium scrublands to forest formations. Fish complete this reconstruction by documenting the presence of a pre-mountain well-developed river system characterized by relatively cold, permanent, oxygen-rich, and running waters. Such reconstruction is in disagreement with previous pollen interpretation for Layer F that suggested a very open and cold environment. Our new interpretation suggests that the Neanderthal occupation of the Navalmaíllo rockshelter occurred during a somewhat temperate and humid period, probably within the later part of the Marine Isotope Stage 5, effectively favouring the presence of a high biodiversity around the site., C.S.-B. was supported by a FPI Predoctoral Scholarship (PRE 2020-094482) associated to the project CEX 2019-000945-M-20-1 with the financial sponsorship of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. A.F. was beneficiary of a post-doctoral grant APOSTD/2021/110, granted by the Generalitat Valenciana and co-financed by the Fondo Social Europeo (FSE). AMM was supported by the Agencia de Gestio d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) and the Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya (grant 2021FI_B200207). “L'FSE inverteix en el teu futur”. A.C.D.-G. was beneficiary of a postdoctoral grant (POP-UCM CT17/17-CT18/17) funded by the Complutense University of Madrid. This research was conducted as part of competitive projects PGC 2018-094125-B-100 (MCIU/AEI/FED-ER,UE), PGC 2018-093925-B-C32 (MICINN-FEDER), 2017SGR1040 IPHES-URV and 2017SGR859 IPHES (AGAUR), PGC 2018-093612-B- 100 and PID 2021-122533NB-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion y Agencia Estatal de Investigacion), and funded by the I þ D activities program for research groups run by the Education Secretariat of the Madrid Regional Government (H2019/HUM-5840). The study was also partly funded by the MAR, Grupo Mahou and Canal de Isabel II-Gestion. The Institut Catal a de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolucio Social (IPHES-CERCA) has received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “María de Maeztu” program for Units of Excellence (CEX 2019-000945-M)., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence" accreditation CEX 2019-000945-M.

A new record from a long sediment core (S3) in Navamuño (1505 m asl, western Iberian Central System) provides the reconstruction of the vegetation history and environmental changes in the region between 15.6 and 10.6 ka cal BP, namely during the Late Glacial and the early Holocene, using a multiproxy analysis (pollen-based vegetation and climate reconstruction, sedimentary macrocharcoals, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurements). The results are then compared with other sequences from the Iberian Central System and the whole Iberian Peninsula in order to better understand the past dynamics of the main forest constituents. The pollen record shows a shift from open pine forests ∼15.6–14.7 ka cal BP (Oldest Dryas) to mixed open pine-birch woodlands ∼14.7–14.0 ka cal BP (Bølling). Woodlands were succeeded by a steppe-like landscape until ∼13.4 ka cal BP (Older Dryas), which was replaced again by high-mountain pine forests and riparian woodlands ∼13.4–12.6 ka cal BP (Allerød). A great development of cold steppe grasslands linked to the decline of birch woodlands is documented ∼12.6–11.7 ka cal BP (Younger Dryas). The early Holocene (11.7–10.6 ka cal BP) was characterized by a progressive reforestation of the study area by pine and birch forests in the highlands and oak woods in the lowlands. Temperate tree taxa (Carpinus betulus, Castanea sativa, Corylus avellana, Fraxinus, Juglans, Tilia, and Ulmus) were also common but likely at lower elevations. Pollen of Fagus sylvatica was already recorded during the Late Glacial and the early Holocene. The marked increasing local fire activity during the warmer and wetter Allerød oscillation could be related to a rise in tree cover, supporting the climatically driven character of these fires. Nevertheless, the strong increase in fire activity during the Younger Dryas would probably be related to growing tree and shrub mortality, as well as to the wet/dry biphasic structure of this stadial. The standard “Modern Analogue Technique” has been also applied to the Navamuño sequence to provide quantitative climate estimations for the Late Glacial and the early Holocene periods. This record is one of the few continental archives that show the climatic trend between the Late Glacial and the early Holocene in central Iberia, agreeing with many other regional records from the Western Mediterranean.

The Navamuño peatbog (Sierra de Béjar, western Spain) is a ∼14 ha pseudo-endorheic depression with boundaries defined by a lateral moraine of the Cuerpo de Hombre paleoglacier and fault-line scarps on granite bedrock. The stratigraphy of the Navamuño peatbog system is characterized here using borehole data to a depth of 20 m. An integrated interpretation from direct-push coring, dynamic probing boreholes and handheld auger drillings advances our knowledge of the Navamuño polygenetic infill. Correlating this data with those obtained in other studies of the chronology and evolutionary sequence of the Cuerpo de Hombre paleoglacier has enabled us to establish the sequence of the hydrological system in the Navamuño depression. During the Late Pleistocene (MIS2), the depression was dammed by the Cuerpo de Hombre glacier and fed by its lateral meltwaters, and was filled with glaciolacustrine deposits. The onset of the Holocene in Navamuño is linked to a flat, fluviotorrential plain with episodes of local shallow pond/peat bog sedimentation. This evolutionary sequence is congruent with the age model obtained from available radiocarbon dating, obtaining 19 ages from ∼800 cal yr BP (at depth 1.11 m) to ∼16800 cal yr BP (at depth 15.90–16.0 m). Finally, the sedimentary record enabled interpretation of the environmental changes occurring in this zone during the late glacial (from the Older Dryas to the Younger Dryas) and postglacial (Holocene) stages, placing them within the paleoclimatic context of the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean regions., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Projects CGL2013-44076-P and CGL2016-78380-P). The authors also wish to acknowledge the help and assistance of the Regional Environment Department (JCyL) and the Local Authority in the village of Candelario. Valenti Turu acknowledges grant ATC013 -and- 2015/2016 from the Government of Andorra.

In this paper we present a review of the available Holocene pollen records from the Spanish Central System (113 sites and 150 14C dates). Palynological data obtained from pollen analyses of peat-bogs, lakes and archaeological sites, as well as radiocarbon dating, were used to infer the human impact on vegetation and landscape during the last 9 millennia. The Neolithic contribution to the configuration of landscape is scarce, limited to the valleys, while Chalcolithic settlements and their related activities (agriculture and grazing) represent the first evidence of significant human impact on the high-mountains. The pollen record has allowed us to relate two cultural periods of changing, the Copper Age–Early Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transitions, to abrupt climate disruptions, the so-called 4.2 and 2.8 ka cal BP events respectively. From the Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages, anthropic activities were still sporadic, mainly located in the lowlands, but from the Feudal Period onwards, when La Mesta transhumance system takes place, high-mountain landscapes changed dramatically. Late Modern Period brings a further intensification of human pressure, especially related to forestry, with widespread pinewood afforestation., We are indebted to the CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 Program (CSD2007-00058), EXCELENCIA 2011 Program (RNM-7033) and AGRIWESTMED (ERC-Advanced Grants, proposal n° 230561)

Correlations between ecological and cultural changes occurred during a short period between the end of Subboreal and the beginning of Subatlantic in the Amblés Valley (Ávila, central Spain) are analyzed, taking into account palaeopalynological and archaeological data. Plant dynamics from pollen analyses, both from archaeological sites and peat bogs, have been interpreted in relation to human settlements and the transformation of economic practices. These provided a comprehensive hypothesis on human/climate interactions at the beginning of the 1st millennium cal BC. There was an ecological crisis in the region that lasted for a century (ca. 850-760 cal BC). This was especially sharp due to both the geographical constraints of the area and its previous agrarian history. This event implied a sudden and abrupt climatic change from xeric and warm conditions (Subboreal) to more humid and cooler ones (Subatlantic). Environmental stress derived from climatic crisis could be an important factor in the explanation of the historical process, whose main consequences were both the origin of the Iron Age peasant villages and the end of the 'dehesa' type landscape. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA.