Abstract
Documenting the first appearance of modern humans in a given region is key to understanding the dispersal process and the replacement or assimilation of indigenous human populations such as the Neanderthals. The Iberian Peninsula was the last refuge of Neanderthal populations as modern humans advanced across Eurasia. Here we present evidence of an early Aurignacian occupation at Lapa do Picareiro in central Portugal. Diagnostic artifacts were found in a sealed stratigraphic layer dated 41.1 to 38.1 ka cal BP, documenting a modern human presence on the western margin of Iberia ∼5,000 years earlier than previously known. The data indicate a rapid modern human dispersal across southern Europe, reaching the westernmost edge where Neanderthals were thought to persist. The results support the notion of a mosaic process of modern human dispersal and replacement of indigenous Neanderthal populations.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Iberian Peninsula holds a peculiar place in the problem of modern human dispersal ever since the publication of unexpectedly early dates for the first Upper Paleolithic appearance at El Castillo, l’Arbreda, and Abric Romaní in northern Spain [8, 9]
Documenting the first appearance of modern humans in a given region is key to understanding the dispersal process and the replacement or assimilation of indigenous human populations such as the Neanderthals
Undeterred by this uncertainty, the early appearance dates for the Upper Paleolithic and late appearance dates for Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals in southern Iberia led to the construction of various models to explain the apparent biogeographic boundary separating the two populations [19, 20]
Summary
The Iberian Peninsula holds a peculiar place in the problem of modern human dispersal ever since the publication of unexpectedly early dates for the first Upper Paleolithic appearance at El Castillo, l’Arbreda, and Abric Romaní in northern Spain [8, 9] Subsequent dating from these and additional sites has constrained the Aurignacian arrival in the region to ∼43.3 to 40.5 ka cal BP [10,11,12,13,14]. Since no Neanderthal sites contain evidence for the use of carinated technology to produce bladelets, we can assume that modern humans were the makers of the entire Aurignacian cultural complex Undeterred by this uncertainty, the early appearance dates for the Upper Paleolithic and late appearance dates for Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals in southern Iberia led to the construction of various models to explain the apparent biogeographic boundary separating the two populations [19, 20]. Until the Bajondillo publication, the earliest Upper Paleolithic held at ∼35 ka cal BP at Cova de les Cendres (Mediterranean coast) [26], ∼36.5 ka cal BP, at La Boja [22], (southern Spain), and ∼34.5 ka cal BP
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