journal contribution
posted on 2024-08-23, 04:42 authored by Nohemi Sala, M Alcaraz-Castaño, M Arriolabengoa, V Martínez-Pillado, A Pantoja-Pérez, A Rodríguez-Hidalgo, E Téllez, M Cubas, S Castillo, LJ Arnold, M Demuro, Mathieu DuvalMathieu Duval, A Arteaga-Brieba, J Llamazares, J Ochando, G Cuenca-Bescós, AB Marín-Arroyo, MM Seijo, L Luque, C Alonso-Llamazares, M Arlegi, M Rodríguez-Almagro, C Calvo-Simal, B Izquierdo, F Cuartero, L Torres-Iglesias, L Agudo-Pérez, A Arribas, JS Carrión, D Magri, JX Zhao, Adrián Pablos The Iberian Peninsula is a key region for unraveling human settlement histories of Eurasia during the period spanning the decline of Neandertals and the emergence of anatomically modern humans (AMH). There is no evidence of human occupation in central Iberia after the disappearance of Neandertals ~42,000 years ago until approximately 26,000 years ago, rendering the region “nobody’s land” during the Aurignacian period. The Abrigo de la Malia provides irrefutable evidence of human settlements dating back to 36,200 to 31,760 calibrated years before the present (cal B.P.) This site also records additional levels of occupation around 32,420 to 26,260 cal B.P., suggesting repeated settlement of this territory. Our multiproxy examination identifies a change in climate trending toward colder and more arid conditions. However, this climatic deterioration does not appear to have affected AMH subsistence strategies or their capacity to inhabit this region. These findings reveal the ability of AMH groups to colonize regions hitherto considered uninhabitable, reopening the debate on early Upper Paleolithic population dynamics of southwestern Europe.
Funding
This work was supported by Junta de Comunidades de Castilla la Mancha annual projects SBPLY/23/180801/000041; Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH); European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme: DEATHREVOL (no. 949330 to N.S., A.P.-P., E.T., M.R.-A., and C.C.-S.), MULTIPALEOIBERIA (no. 805478 to M.A.-C., S.C., and L.L.), and SUBSILIENCE (no. 881299 to A.B.M.-A.); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion PID2021-122355NB-C31 and PID2021-122355NB-C33 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE (to N.S., M.R.-A., A.P-P., and A.P.); Ramon y Cajal grants funded by the Fondo Social Europeo and Agencia Estatal de Investigacion, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by 'FSE Investing in your future' RYC2020- 029656- I (to N.S.), RYC2019- 026697- I (to M.C.), RYC2018- 025221-I (to M.Du.), and RYC2022- 037802- I (to A.R.-H.); Junta de Andalucia EMERGIA20_00403 (to A.P.); Australian research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship Project FT200100816 (to L.J.A. and M.De.); and Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DE160100743 (to M.De.). The dating work is part of Grant PID2021-123092NB-C22 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/"ERDF A way of making Europe." This work was also supported by the Palarq Foundation Abrigo de la Malia - Escenarios Ecologicos para la Evolucion y Biogeografia de Homo en el interior peninsular mediante el analisis polinico de los sedimentos"- Tamajon, Guadalajara (to J.O. and J.S.C.).
History
Publication Date
2024-06-26Journal
Science AdvancesVolume
10Issue
26Article Number
eado3807Pagination
18p.Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of ScienceISSN
2375-2548Rights Statement
© 2024 the Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
