First modern human settlement recorded in the Iberian hinterland occurred during Heinrich Stadial 2 within harsh environmental conditions

M Alcaraz-Castaño,S Castillo-Jiménez,J J Alcolea-González,M De Andrés-Herrero,G.-C Weniger,R Piqué,F Cuartero,L Luque,S Pérez-Díaz,G Cuenca-Bescós,M Ruiz-Alonso,J Yravedra,M Kehl,J A López-Sáez

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94408-w

Abstract

As the south-westernmost region of Europe, the Iberian Peninsula stands as a key area for understanding the process of modern human dispersal into Eurasia. However, the precise timing, ecological setting and cultural context of this process remains controversial concerning its spatiotemporal distribution within the different regions of the peninsula. While traditional models assumed that the whole Iberian hinterland was avoided by modern humans due to ecological factors until the retreat of the Last Glacial Maximum, recent research has demonstrated that hunter-gatherers entered the Iberian interior at least during Solutrean times. We provide a multi-proxy geoarchaeological, chronometric and paleoecological study on human–environment interactions based on the key site of Peña Capón (Guadalajara, Spain). Results show (1) that this site hosts the oldest modern human presence recorded to date in central Iberia, associated to pre-Solutrean cultural traditions around 26,000 years ago, and (2) that this presence occurred during Heinrich Stadial 2 within harsh environmental conditions. These findings demonstrate that this area of the Iberian hinterland was recurrently occupied regardless of climate and environmental variability, thus challenging the widely accepted hypothesis that ecological risk hampered the human settlement of the Iberian interior highlands since the first arrival of modern humans to Southwest Europe.

Highlights

The first modern human settlement of southwest Europe and the role of the Iberian hinter‐ land
To date, effective presence of modern human occupations in the central regions of Iberia is not found until ∼25.5 ka cal BP, as shown by preliminary evidence gathered at one single site: the Peña Capón rock s helter[25,26] (Fig. 1C)
The geomorphological analysis of the site indicates that the accommodation space where the Upper Pleistocene sediments were deposited, at the foot of the rock wall, was created due to (1) the high slope angle of the dolostone running west to east and crossing this sector of the valley and (2) the differential erosion of a less compact marly and finely laminated layer at the base of the compact dolostone formation

Summary

Introduction

The first modern human settlement of southwest Europe and the role of the Iberian hinter‐ land. Bearing aside the controversy on the makers of the Chatelperronian and other so-called transitional technocomplexes[1,2,3], if we accept the Proto-Aurignacian as the first proxy for modern humans in Western Europe, these people were present in the Cantabrian and northern Mediterranean regions of Iberia at ∼42 ka cal BP4,5 (Fig. 1A), or even 43 ka cal B P6. This is a roughly similar time as recorded in other regions of Western and Central Europe[7,8], significantly younger than in Eastern Europe according to recent data[9,10]. Reasons behind this odd population pattern have revolved around a potentially late-persisting Neandertal presence in the center and south of Iberia[12] and, more prominently, the potentially harsh climatic and environmental conditions of the interior and upland regions of Iberia as opposed to the more favored environments

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion