The significance of stratigraphic discontinuities in Iberian Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transitional sites

Abstract

The extinction of the Neanderthals remains an open question and the current chronological, archaeological and paleoclimatic evidence reflects complex, regionally diverse scenarios. For the Iberian Peninsula, the existence of early Upper Palaeolithic assemblages in the North of Spain raises questions about the influence of incoming Upper Palaeolithic groups on the native Neanderthals. However, this evidence remains unexplained from a historical perspective. At the same time, recent paleoclimatic data suggest that the environmental effects of Heinrich Event 4 entailed a gap in human presence at the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic boundary, casting doubts on the archaeological evidence from the North of Spain. In order to evaluate the evidence of continuity vs discontinuity of human occupation in the Iberian Peninsula at the passage from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, a concise overview was conducted of lithostratigraphic data available in the archaeological literature on Iberian sites known to represent the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic Transition. The bulk of published sites show stratigraphic discontinuity between the latest Middle and earliest Upper Palaeolithic evidence, and in many cases, the sedimentary record reflects cold climatic conditions. This data support the existence of a gap in human presence, in disagreement with theories involving contact and acculturation, and suggesting that climate might have played a significant role in the population dynamics of the Iberian Peninsula at the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic boundary.