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El Juyo is one of the Cantabrian sites of Iberia known from long ago for its important Lower Magdalenian sequence. The present study reports the results of the zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the avian remains recovered at the site, which complements the archaeological and palaeoecological data already avail-able. The remains recovered are limited, but they seem to indicate that humans were the main accumulating agent in the site, with sporadic presence of owls' activity. Additionally, humans could have used birds for other purposes than as a dietary resource, as suggested by cut marks observed on two wing bones. PID2019-103987 GB-C31 PID2020-114462 GB-I00 PID2019-104949 GB-I00 RYC2019-026386-I CLT009/18/00054 CLT009/18/00053 CLT009/18/00055 2017SGR836 CEX2019-000945M info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This paper is part of a broad special issue exploring the Cultures of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Western Europe. In this context our aim is to offer a state of the art review of the figurative Palaeolithic art spanning the period between 15000 and 11500 cal BP (12500-10000 BP) in the Mediterranean Iberia. We start with a short description of the few, but singular, finds published to date in the archaeological literature and ascribed to this period based on both absolute and relative dating techniques, assessing the quality and reliability of the ascription suggested. The aim is to offer an updated review of the main features, the evolution and sequencing of final Palaeolithic art in the study area, of interest for comparative analysis and for more global debates on the latest changes and final disappearance of figurative art of Palaeolithic style in this part of the world.

This paper presents new archaeological evidence recorded in the late Pleistocene levels from Arangas cave (Northern Spain). The main goal is to reconstruct the subsistence strategies of the hunter-gatherer groups that occupied the cave between 18,500 and 12,500 cal BP from the integral study of biotic and abiotic remains. Anthracological study reveals that during the Lower Magdalenian (Levels G and F) and Azilian (Level E) daily firewood was collected mainly from species such us as Scots pine nowadays disappeared around the catchment area of the cave or the common oak located in sheltered areas of the hillsides. Faunal remains indicate that the diet was based almost exclusively in the hunting of several ungulates species (red deer, Iberian ibex and chamois). Small vertebrate assemblage is only abundant during the Level G where an open humid and not very cold environment has been inferred. The abiotic evidence is characterized by a lithic assemblage made in local raw materials (above all quartzite). Whereas in the levels dated during the Lower Magdalenian the retouched implements are typologically unrepresentative, in the Azilian level they are more characteristic, above all with the classification of a "thumbnail" end scraper., This research was undertaken in the context of the Spanish project HAR2017-82557-P funded by the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia, of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

The cave of Hornos de la Peña contained one of the most relevant stratigraphic sequences for the study of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the Cantabrian Region, northern Iberia, as well as an important group of Paleolithic rock art. The site was discovered in 1903 and excavated during 1909-1910. Those excavations did not take place in the main hall of the cave because it was already emptied for modern phosphate extraction. At that time, in the preserved deposits, the archeological excavations revealed an interesting sequence with Mousterian, Early Upper Paleolithic, Solutrean and Magdalenian cultural remains. Since then, the site has received little attention owing to the difficulties of interpreting the sequence and the biased nature of the preserved collections. In 2016 and 2017 a limited area of the preserved section was excavated to document its archeological sequence, obtain samples for dating and achieve some insights about the cultural attribution of the identified units and their correlation with Obermaier's sequence. The results show that there is a coarse correlation between both sequences. More interestingly, this work has revealed the good preservation and interest of the Mousterian occupation, the presence of Early Upper Paleolithic, the indefinite nature of the Solutrean and the existence of a Middle Magdalenian occupation. These results provide new insights about the human presence at the site and allow to incorporate it into the new debates about the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in the Cantabrian Region. The authors wish to thank the Consejeria de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte of the Cantabria Government for funding the multidisciplinary study project “Estudio del arte parietal paleolitico de la Cueva de Hornos de la Pena” directed by Dr. Olivia Rivero. The present study has been carried out within the framework of this project. The results presented here have been partially funded by the research projects of the Spanish Science Ministry HAR2017-87739-P and HAR2017-84997-P led by Olivia Rivero and Ana B. Marin-Arroyo, respectively. Additionally, funds from CENIEH, UNED, USAL and the ERC-CoG project (SUBSILIENCE Ref 818299) also led by Ana B. Marin-Arroyo were used for radiocarbon dating, logistics expenses, making inventories and material analyses. Inaki Libano, Juan Vizcaino and Ana Maria Mateo took part in the excavation. Virginia Martinez-Pillado also helped with the speleothem sampling.

The lithic assemblage studied here comes from El Horno Cave (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria, Spain) and is dated in the recent Magdalenian. It was recovered in Level 2 in this site, during fieldwork in 2000 and 2001, in association with a large collection of bone industry, portable art and fauna. The study has been conducted within an integral approach, on the premise that the technological organisation of Magdalenian groups included a series of inter-related strategies involving the procurement of raw materials and the production and fabrication, use and discard of lithic artefacts. Groups of raw materials were established for the technological study in order to characterise the different chaînes opératoires. These vary significantly depending on the flint type. In some cases all or part of the technological process is present, whereas in others only the implement use and discard stage is documented. The flint knappers at El Horno Cave used high-quality raw materials, particularly the Flysch flint-type. The circulation of raw materials indicates that the record at El Horno resembles the pattern identified at other Magdalenian sites in the region. The assemblage appears to correspond to a context of débitage. Although materials were widely available, only a moderate number of potential blanks were retouched into tools, and the choice of these was not especially strict. The retouched tools are not indicative of a situation of specialisation, and use-wear analysis has revealed functional diversity, including complex transformation activities, which are usually linked to stable occupations., The authors would like thank the staff at the Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria (MUPAC), where the studied assemblage is deposited, for their attention and assistance during the research. The excavations in El Horno were funded by the Government of Cantabria and the Mirón Project. The present study received financial support from the Human Sciences Department at the University of La Rioja (UR), EUSOT Research Group (UR), and Project HAR2015-67429-P of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) .

Traditionally, the Iberian Peninsula has been considered to be a “land of rabbits”, a notion reinforced through the frequent appearance of these animals throughout the Palaeolithic on Mediterranean sites. However, the Cantabrian coast has shown a different pattern, with rabbits being scarce or exceptional at most Northern peninsular sites, with only a few evidences of exploitation. Nevertheless, lagomorphs represent around 10% of the bone assemblage at the Upper Magdalenian levels of Coímbre Cave (Peñamellera Alta, Asturias). In this paper, we conduct a taphonomical analysis of the rabbit assemblage from Coímbre Cave. We note that bones have been exposed to several taphonomical processes, including carnivore tooth marks, chemical alterations on teeth caused by raptor digestion, and the presence of cut-marks on some bone surfaces. Therefore, we argue that the rabbit assemblage at Coímbre is the result of a complex taphonomical history, with evidence for both anthropogenic activity and the actions of other biological agents. This new evidence retrieved from Coímbre Cave further highlights its exceptionality within other Cantabrian sites., This research was part of Project: "Paleoecología y Poblamiento en la Cuenca Media del Río Cares durante el Pleistoceno Superior: La cueva de Coímbre (Alles, Peñamellera Alta)", autorized by the Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural de la Consejería de Cultura del Principado de Asturias with founds from the Research Group: Investigación de Alto Rendimiento de Prehistoria de la Universidad del País Vasco (IT-288-07) and the project HAR 2008–3976/HIST del Ministerio de Educación for the season of 2008, the Sociedad de Ciencias de Aranzadi in 2009 and the Ma. Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation since 2010.

This paper revisits the main sites of the Northern Valencian region dating to the end of the Pleistocene. The analysis of the material culture recovered at these sites provides the necessary data to offer an updated overview of the main characteristics and changes of the industries of this period in Mediterranean Iberia. The initial division of the period into four major stages (Upper Magdalenian, Early Epimagdalenian, Late Epimagdalenian and Sauveterrian) can now be redefined according to the changes observed, suggesting the existence of a new short time facies typified by the presence of Truncated backed points. The new facies, never identified before, marks the change from the Upper Magdalenian to the Epimagdalenian.

This article presents the second study of ochres associated with the Lower Magdalenian (18.7 cal kya) “Red Lady” human burial in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain). In the first study (Seva Román et al., 2015), we determined that the burial deposit contained iron oxides and idiomorphic hematite that were not from sources near the site, but possibly from Monte Buciero, some 27 km to the north on the present Atlantic shore in Santoña. We have now analyzed sediments both from the burial and from samples taken during prospection on Monte Buciero, along with ochres from deposits above the burial layer, from the face of a large limestone block immediately adjacent to the burial, and from an area of the cave wall close to it in the NE corner of the cave vestibule that bears the engraving of a horse. As before, the analyses used were binocular microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We were thus able to determine that the sources of the ochres in the burial deposit and on the block are the same—Monte Buciero. However we found substantial differences between the ochre on the block and the ochre underlying the horse panel image on the cave wall, which very likely also dates to sometime in the Magdalenian. This ochre analysis project was financed by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain (HAR2010-22115-C02-02).

The inter-and intra-crystalline fractions of the topshell Phorcus lineatus recovered from modern specimens and shells from archaeological sites in Northern Spain covering Neolithic, Mesolithic, and Upper Magdalenian periods were examined for amino acidcomposition and racemisation over time. The main loss of proteins from the inter-crystalline fraction occurred within the first 6000 years after the death of the organism. In contrast, the intra-crystalline fraction isolated by bleaching?with a different protein composition to that of the inter-crystalline fraction?appeared to behave like a closed system for at least 12.6 ka, as reflected by the lack of a significant decrease in amino acid content. However, changes in the relative composition of the amino acids present in these shells occurred during this period. The concentration of aspartic acid remained almost constant with age within the intra-crystalline fraction and its contribution to the total amino acid content also remained the same. Good correspondence was obtained between Asx D/L values in unbleached and bleached samples and age, thereby allowing the dating of archaeological sites and the determination of chronometric age. This research was part of the projects HAR2010-22115-C02-01, HAR2010-22115-C02-02, and HAR2013-46802-P, all of them funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. IGZ was supported by the Newton International Fellowships scheme (grant number NF100413) and the Juan de la Cierva Research Programme (grant number This research was part of the projects HAR2010-22115-C02-01, HAR2010-22115-C02-02, and HAR2013-46802-P, all of them funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. IGZ was supported by the Newton International Fellowships scheme (grant number NF100413) and the Juan de la Cierva Research Programme (grant number JCI-2012-12094))

Cova Rosa is an archaeological site in Asturias, Spain, excavated by Francisco Jordá Cerdá in 1958, 1959 and 1964. Later, the same archaeologist and Alejandro Gómez Fuentes carried out an excavation from 1975 to 1979. They documented two levels, named Cova Rosa A and Cova Rosa B. The archaeological material resulting from this excavation has remained practically unpublished. This paper presents the biotic remains (ligneous and faunal resources) in Layer B6, dated by radiocarbon to about 15,800 BP (c. 18,700 cal BP), corresponding to the Lower Magdalenian. Anthracological analysis shows that the human groups selected mostly shrub species for their fires. Archaeozoological information indicates that hunting specialising in red deer predominated, while fishing salmonids and shellfishing (mostly limpets and periwinkles) were complementary activities to hunting and gathering plants. Other economic activities practiced in the cave were the fabrication of osseous implements and objects of adornment made with animal raw materials. Through the biotic remains that have been documented, it can be inferred that, at that time in Greenland Stadial 2, conditions were relatively cold and humid, and the vegetation was dominated by grasslands and shrubs., This research was undertaken in the context of the Spanish projects HAR2014-51830-P and HAR2014-53536-P, funded by the Programa Nacional de Humanidades in the R&D Plan of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and HAR2017-82557-P and HAR2017-82483-C3-1-P, funded by the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia, of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

The use of space inside La Peña de Estebanvela Rock-shelter and the activities carried out away from the site are analysed in this article in order to reconstruct the economic and social behaviour of the human group that occupied the site in the Upper Magdalenian (15,010–14,610 cal BP and 14,290–13,730 cal BP). Level III, which is geologically homogeneous and has yielded a large lithic and faunal record was selected for this purpose. The micro-spatial analysis of the level has differentiated two significant units in the central sector of the deposit which may correspond to an area used for intensive flint knapping (Unit 2), and a multi-functional area where hunting weapons were prepared, prey was butchered and defleshed, and hides were processed (Unit 3). The study of the use of the territory around the site reveals a strategy of diversified hunting, especially between late spring and early autumn, oriented towards ibex, horse, red deer and, to a lesser extent, chamois, roe deer and lynxes. This activity was complemented by the use of other resources, like fishing and gathering plants. Stocks of flint and personal ornaments made from marine molluscs confirm the territorial mobility of the residents of La Peña de Estebanvela., We would like to acknowledge la Junta de Castilla y León and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas for financial support to this research project (CyL-14-40.024.002.01).

The role played by the Magdalenian site of El Horno in the context of the Asón river basin (northern Spain) is considered in relation to its location and the physical characteristics of the surrounding area. This information has been integrated with data from the archaeological study. Special attention has been paid to the lithic tools and mammal remains recovered in the excavation as these played a particularly significant role at the site. The results suggest that the cave was occupied on a relatively stable basis although the situation changed in the course of the sequence. Level 1 reflects an occupation linked to the acquisition of meat and animal skins, worked mainly in a fresh state. The use of the site represented by Level 2 may have been more stable and complex, as this level displays greater functional diversity. Tasks involving hard animal material have been documented, as well as dry hide or leather processing. In addition, lithic reduction seems to have been more intense in Level 2., The excavation at El Horno was funded by the Government of Cantabria and El Mirón Project. The Human Sciences Department at the University of La Rioja funded the transportation of lithic material to be studied at the Institution Milà and Fontanals e CSIC (Barcelona) and the University of the Basque Country (Vitoria). The staff at the Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria (MUPAC), especially Roberto Ontañón and Eva Pereda, assisted our research at all times. Luis Teira (IIIPC e University of Cantabria) took the photographs in Figs. 7 and 9. Finally, the anonymous reviewers helped us to improve the manuscript.

The Upper Arba de Biel constitutes a small valley in north-eastern Spain where a detailed study of five archaeological sites (Peña-14, Legunova/Rambla, Valcervera and Paco-Pons) has been performed, defining the recurrent prehistoric occupation from the Late Magdalenian until the Chalcolithic. The aim of this study focuses on exploring the main drivers of long-term human persistence on a particular humid shelter located in the Pre-Pyrenean area. The combination of a multiproxy dataset evidenced by the detailed synthesis of lithic tools and pottery, faunal remains, pollen and charcoal assemblages has been integrated with a GIS approach and a regional cultural and palaeoenvironmental contextualization. After an occupation gap that coincides with the second half of the Younger Dryas and the first Holocene millennia synchronous to other archaeological records found in NE Iberia, the Arba de Biel valley was recurrently visited by small hunter–gatherer groups along the Mesolithic and by herders during the Neolithic. These people profited this territory, independently of environmental changes, because the easy access to a wide spectre of economic resources (flint nodules, diverse vegetation supplies, varied preys, etc.,) in a heterogeneous mosaic-type landscape. The valley main habitation spots (Peña-14, Legunova/Rambla and Valcervera) could have been occupied at the same time by small groups that did not interfere each other. The use of the fifth rockshelter (Paco-Pons) seems to be related to the exploitation of copper mineral outcrops in the Neolithic and for metallurgical activities during the Chalcolithic. These last prehistoric visits to the valley reflect a notable shift in the human employment of the shelters: they cease to be living points to be used as funerary deposits., This work has partially benefitted from financial and technical support provided by the Projects: HAR2014-59042-P Transiciones climáticas y adaptaciones sociales en la Prehistoria de la Cuenca del Ebro, CGL2012-33063 DINAMO 2: Dinámica de la vegetación Mediterránea: Los cambios climáticos abruptos y la influencia del fuego en el NE de la Península Ibérica durante el Pleistoceno Superior y Holoceno (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) and CSO2013-46863-C3-3-R Herramientas cartográficas para una gobernanza inteligente en las ciudades digitales: análisis territorial de las condiciones de vida (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation), and the Consolidated Research Groups H07-Primeros Pobladores del Valle del Ebro and E68-Cuaternario y Geomorfología (Aragón Government). The authors also participate in the Research Network CTPR4/12 PalMesoPyr: “Entre el Ebro y el Garona. Los Pirineos durante el Paleolítico y el Mesolítico” (CTP-Comunidad de Trabajo de los Pirineos). R. Domingo is a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow (ref: RyC2013-12613, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation). J. Aranbarri acknowledges the predoctoral funding provided by the Basque Country Government (ref: FI-2010-5). M. Alcolea acknowledges the predoctoral funding of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation (ref: BES 2012-0553828). R. Laborda acknowledges the predoctoral funding provided by the Aragón Government (ref: B041/12).

This paper proposes a specific methodology for calculating the potential insolation received by a set of Late Palaeolithic (Upper Magdalenian and Azilian) sites in western Cantabria (northern Iberia). The goal of this study is to test whether insolation is linked to the mobility strategies of foraging communities, and if insolation is a conditioning factor when choosing settlement areas or the season in which they are occupied. The potential insolation at the sites is then compared to the available archaeological evidence in order to test if a correspondence exists between the sites' season of occupation and the insolation they each receive during the year. This research is part of Ph.D. funded by a Predoctoral Fellowship from the University of Cantabria, and was supported by the Cantabria International Institute for Prehistoric Research (IIIPC) and the “Creación de un GIS integral para la Prehistoria de la Cuenca del Asón y la Costa Oriental de Cantabria (HUM2006-13729)” research project, directed by M. González-Morales.

This chapter considers the chronological evidence from the British Isles for Later Upper Palaeolithic recolonisation as revealed by new ultrafiltered radiocarbon age determinations on bone collagen. Using Bayesian modelling, subtle differences in age and duration of occupation are apparent between find-spots, and for the first time it is possible to demonstrate the occupation of two areas (Cheddar Gorge and the Wye Valley) as beginning before the sudden warming of the Lateglacial Interstadial. We associate a Final Magdalenian (‘Creswellian’) with this recolonisation and show that this technology had a longer time-span than has previously been allowed—lasting through most of Greenland Interstadial 1e (Bolling).

Cut-marks observed on fossil bones and teeth are an important source of evidence in the reconstruction of prehistoric butchery strategies. Micromorphological analyses of cut-marks have been shown to further the interpretation of hominin behavioural patterns. However, to date, the microscopic investigation of cut-marks has been limited to two-dimensional analyses or to the qualitative assessment of three-dimensional (3D) morphology. A new technology using the Alicona 3D InfiniteFocus imaging microscope reported here surpasses any current observational or microscopic method for the analysis of cut-marks. By creating a series of image planes and overlapping focus levels to construct a 3D composite image, vertical variations in the surface structure can be used to interpret differences in the mechanical impact caused by different types of tool and different butchery techniques. Three case studies are presented. The first describes cut-marks observed on the human anterior teeth from the Middle Pleistocene site of Boxgrove (West Sussex, England) which are interpreted as indications of two possible types of human behaviour: the use of the mouth as a third hand and postmortem treatment of the body. The second case study, an analysis of cut-marks on human remains at the Later Upper Palaeolithic (Magdalenian) site of Gough's Cave (Somerset, England), questions the interpretation of cannibalism previously accepted for this site by suggesting the hypothesis of burial ritual involving the butchering, but not the consumption, of human bodies. Finally, the butchery techniques adopted at Boxgrove and Gough's Cave are compared. This third study indicates that differences in the micromorphological characteristics of cut-marks reflect diversity in the type of tools used at these two sites.