Abstract
We describe a European Acheulean site characterised by an extensive accumulation of large cutting tools (LCT). This type of Lower Paleolithic assemblage, with dense LCT accumulations, has only been found on the African continent and in the Near East until now. The identification of a site with large accumulations of LCTs favours the hypothesis of an African origin for the Acheulean of Southwest Europe. The lithic tool-bearing deposits date back to 293–205 thousand years ago. Our chronological findings confirm temporal overlap between sites with clear “African” Acheulean affinities and Early Middle Paleolithic sites found elsewhere in the region. These complex technological patterns could be consistent with the potential coexistence of different human species in south-western Europe during the Middle Pleistocene.
Highlights
The broad-scale technological affinities between the Acheulean tradition of southwest (SW) Europe and the African Acheulean have been widely documented, especially those identified in the large Atlantic basins of the Iberian Peninsula and Aquitanian region (SW France)[2,4,21,22,23]
Against this complex geographic backdrop and the ongoing debate surrounding the origins of the European Acheulean, we present important new archaeological evidence from the site of Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain)
PM4 sits unconformably on PM3 and has an accumulation of large cutting tools (LCT) at its base, which is anthropic in origin
Summary
The broad-scale technological affinities between the Acheulean tradition of southwest (SW) Europe and the African Acheulean have been widely documented, especially those identified in the large Atlantic basins of the Iberian Peninsula and Aquitanian region (SW France)[2,4,21,22,23]. Differences in the occurrences of cleavers and the use of large flake blanks (LFB sensu Sharon24) for the configuration of large cutting tools (LCTs) between the Iberian Acheulean tradition and Acheulean industries found in northwest (NW) Europe[3,4,5,9,21,23]. Against this complex geographic backdrop and the ongoing debate surrounding the origins of the European Acheulean, we present important new archaeological evidence from the site of Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain). This represents the first European site to document an Acheulean occupation pattern comparable to that known exclusively from Africa, characterised by extensive accumulations of LCTs
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