Early human occupation of Iberia: the chronological and palaeoclimatic inferences from Vallparadís (Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

Vallparadís is one of the best calibrated and most accurately dated archaeological sites from the European Early Pleistocene. Chronological analyses combined with palaeomagnetism, ESR-U/series and OSL, and the biochronology of macro- and micromammals are fully consistent and situate the site just above the upper limit of the Jaramillo subchron. In this article we compare the mandibular first molar (m1) of individual adult specimens of Mimomys savini recovered from level 10 (EVT7) at Vallparadís with specimens from the stratigraphic sequence at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca), Fuente Nueva 3 and Barranco León D (Orce). This comparison allows us to chronostratigraphically relate level 10 at Vallparadís with level TD5 at Gran Dolina and to fix the former's chronology to around 0.98–0.95 Ma (MIS 27) and, therefore, prior to level TD6 in which fossil remains of Homo antecessor were recovered. The chronology of Vallparadís and the set of contemporary palaeoclimatic proxies regarding the Iberian Peninsula strengthen the hypothesis that hominins continuously populated Europe, at least in Iberia, throughout the late Early Pleistocene between the Jaramillo subchron and the Matuyama–Brunhes boundary by overcoming the climatic fluctuations and changes to the landscape that occurred during this period.