The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition occupations from Cova Foradada (Calafell, NE Iberia)

PLoS One. 2019 May 16;14(5):e0215832. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215832. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe covers the last millennia of Neanderthal life together with the appearance and expansion of Modern Human populations. Culturally, it is defined by the Late Middle Paleolithic succession, and by Early Upper Paleolithic complexes like the Châtelperronian (southwestern Europe), the Protoaurignacian, and the Early Aurignacian. Up to now, the southern boundary for the transition has been established as being situated between France and Iberia, in the Cantabrian façade and Pyrenees. According to this, the central and southern territories of Iberia are claimed to have been the refuge of the last Neanderthals for some additional millennia after they were replaced by anatomically Modern Humans on the rest of the continent. In this paper, we present the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition sequence from Cova Foradada (Tarragona), a cave on the Catalan Mediterranean coastline. Archaeological research has documented a stratigraphic sequence containing a succession of very short-term occupations pertaining to the Châtelperronian, Early Aurignacian, and Gravettian. Cova Foradada therefore represents the southernmost Châtelperronian-Early Aurignacian sequence ever documented in Europe, significantly enlarging the territorial distribution of both cultures and providing an important geographical and chronological reference for understanding Neanderthal disappearance and the complete expansion of anatomically Modern Humans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Archaeology*
  • Carnivory
  • Caves
  • Fossils
  • Neanderthals*

Grants and funding

Fieldwork has been funded by Departament de Cultura, Generalitat de Catalunya (ES) CLT009-18-00024. The whole research has been funded by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad projects HAR2014-55131 and HAR2017-86509, and by the Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació and Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya, projects 2014SGR-108, 2017SGR 11 and 2017 SGR 1040.