Vegetal landscape and firewood supply strategies in N Spain at the Greenland Stadial 2

Abstract

Recent series of charcoal analyses conducted on materials from Upper Palaeolithic caves in Asturias (N Spain) shed new information about wood resource exploitation by humans during the Greenland Stadial 2 (GS-2) (ca. 22-15 Kyr cal BP), complementing available data for this period in N Spain.Woody flora is mainly characterised by Fabaceae as the dominant taxa, particularly the Cytisus and Ulex genera, which were exploited throughout the Gravetian, Upper Solutrean and Lower Magdalenian cultural periods. Some minor occurrences of Arbutus and Erica complete the ensemble of shrubby taxa. Juniperus, Salix and Sorbus are also typical, with rates variations depending on the geographical location of sites.This study aims to integrate these new data with available charcoal information from neighbouring Cantabria. The resulting cross-disciplinary discussion correlates climatic events, vegetation dynamics and human adaptations to the changing environments derived from the GS-2 and the subsequent wood management strategies observed in the charcoal spectra of both regions.