Browsing by Subject "Paleontology"

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    Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a Dated Late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic Site in Southeastern Spain
    (Springer, 2020-10-06) Walker, Michael J.; Haber Uriarte, María; López Jiménez, Antonio; López Martínez, Mariano; Martín Lerma, Ignacio; Van der Made, Jan; Duval, Mathieu R.; Grün, Rainer; Walker, Michael J.; Prehistoria, Arqueología, Historia Antigua, Historia Medieval y Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas; Haber Uriarte, María; López Martínez, Mariano; Walker, Michael J.; Facultad de Letras
    Systematic excavation and multidisciplinary research undertaken over three decades have deepened our understanding of the early Palaeolithic archaeology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain). New results from biochronology and combined ESR and U-series dating corroborate previous magnetostratigraphy, placing the entire excavated sequence between the Jaramillo sub-chron and the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (i.e. ca. 990–772 thousand years ago (ka)); palaeontological and palynological findings reflect temperate environmental conditions. A bifacially flaked limestone hand axe was excavated 1 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence. The Equus cf. altidens tooth that provided the ESR estimate was excavated 1 m below the hand axe. Throughout its 5-m-deep sedimentary sequence, small nodules, fragments and struck flakes make up the bulk of the Palaeolithic assemblage. Stratigraphical analysis points to undisturbed continuous sedimentary deposition above a layer of ashy sediment, encountered 4.5 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence, which contained thermally altered bone and heat-shattered chert cores and flakes. Cueva Negra is among the earliest European sites with firm evidence of combustion.
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    Greening a lost world: paleoartistic investigations of the early Pleistocene vegetation landscape in the first Europeans' homeland.
    (Elsevier, 2024-03-25) Amorós, Ariadna; Ochando, Juan; Munuera, Manuel; Marín-Arroyo, Ana Belén; Jiménez-Arenas, Juan Manuel; Sánchez Giner, María Victoria; Amorós Seller, Gabriela; Carrión García, José Sebastián; Bellas Artes
    The scarcity of pictorial reconstructions focusing on Quaternary flora and vegetation prompts a reevaluation of traditional zoocentrism in future paleoartistic research. Here we present paleoartistic renderings depicting vegetation landscapes around the Orce Archaeological Zone (OAZ), encompassing sites dating from 1.6 to 1.2 million years ago during the Early Pleistocene of the Guadix-Baza Basin in southern Spain. Four pieces are based on fossil pollen data from Venta Micena 1 (VM1), Barranco León (BL), and Fuente Nueva 3 (FN3). The artwork considers altitudinal belt distribution, taxonomic and structural diversity, extinct taxa in the Iberian Peninsula post-Early Pleistocene, and those previously extinct at higher latitudes in Europe. This essay visually represents the coexistence of mesophytic, thermophytic, and xerophytic plant communities within a glacial refugium of woody species. Lastly, employing a non-conventional iconographic approach, we portray a female Homo individual in the forest refugium to draw up on possible adaptive traits of these early Europeans.