Late quaternary pollen sequence from Carihuela Cave, southern Spain

Abstract

This study forms part of an interdisciplinary research project, the aim of which is to provide a regional palaeoecological sequence suitable for inter-regional comparisons. Carihuela Cave is a major archaeological site in the Granada province of eastern Andalusia. It falls within the Upper Mesomediterranean bioclimatic belt, lies at 1020 m a.s.l. and has a northerly aspect. An overview of the background of archaeological, palaeontological, sedimentological, and geochronological research at the cave is followed by a presentation of new palynological data from its Pleistocene deposits. The sediments contain Middle Palaeolithic artefacts and are of exogenous origin. Samples for pollen analysis were taken from five stratigraphical sections and a pollen diagram was drawn up for each. Correlation of these permitted two synoptic diagrams to be constructed, with the exclusion in one of them of Asteraceae pollen other than Artemisia and Centaurea.Würmian vegetation fluctuated between an arboreal type indicative of a mild climate and a herbaceous type suggestive of cold, dry conditions. Marked expansion of Pinus in one stage coincided with slight expansion of mesothermophilous taxa. For the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, there is evidence for the existence of a last glacial warm oscillation characterized by Mediterranean vegetation. Juglans regia and Castanea sativa pollen, associated with mild/warm episodes during the Pre-Würm, Eo-Würm and Middle Würm, support the interpretation of these as autochthonous Western Mediterranean species. Arid climatic crises are marked by abrupt increases in Artemisia or Poaceae,with occasional over-representation of entomophilous Asteraceae.Correlations are proposed between the Carihuela sequence and other palaeoclimatic findings. The sequence shows correspondence to marine oxygen-isotope stages 2–5, i.e. to the first three Würm stadia, as well as to other regional stratigraphical records. There is a complex interpleniglacial period, very similar to the Würmian interstadial described from the Aquitanian Basin. The Carihuela pollen zones correlate well with the sedimentary sequence. The chronostratigraphical interpretation supports the long survival of the Mousterian in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.