Last Neanderthals and first Anatomically Modern Humans in the NW Iberian Peninsula: Climatic and environmental conditions inferred from the Cova Eirós small-vertebrate assemblage during MIS 3

Abstract

Cova Eirós is emerging as a reference site in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula for the study of the development of the last Neanderthal populations and the first populations of Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) in MIS 3. Cova Eirós is an archaeological site (with Middle and Upper Palaeolithic levels) located in Cancelo, Triacastela (Lugo, northwestern Iberian Peninsula), which has been systematically excavated from 2008 onwards. The small-vertebrate assemblage analysed came from the archaeo-palaeontological field seasons that took place from 2009 to 2014. At least 18 small-vertebrate taxa have been identified: 1 frog (Rana temporaria), 1 snake (Vipera sp.), 4 insectivores (Sorex minutus, Sorex sp., Talpa cf. occidentalis and Erinaceus europaeus), 4 chiropters (Myotis myotis/blythii, cf. Miniopterus sp., Myotis sp. and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and 8 rodents (Apodemus sylvaticus, Arvicola amphibius, Arvicola sapidus, Chionomys nivalis, Microtus (Terricola) lusitanicus, Microtus agrestis, Microtus arvalis and Microtus oeconomus). Using the Habitat Weighting method to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment, we reconstruct a landscape for MIS 3 characterized by open woodland formations. The Mutual Ecogeographic Range (MER) method and the Bioclimatic Model (BM) used for the palaeoclimatic reconstruction show lower temperatures and higher precipitation than at present in the region. Our results from Cova Eirós are compared with the data obtained from several other sites in the Iberian Peninsula; it can be said that Neanderthals and AMH were well adapted to the territory that they occupied, as well as to the surrounding environment and the climatic conditions prevalent in the unstable context of MIS 3 in the Iberian Peninsula.