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. 2017 Nov 16;3(11):e00435.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2017.e00435. eCollection 2017 Nov.

Precise dating of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Murcia (Spain) supports late Neandertal persistence in Iberia

João Zilhão  1   2   3 , Daniela Anesin  4 , Thierry Aubry  5 , Ernestina Badal  6 , Dan Cabanes  7 , Martin Kehl  8 , Nicole Klasen  8 , Armando Lucena  3 , Ignacio Martín-Lerma  9 , Susana Martínez  3 , Henrique Matias  3 , Davide Susini  4   10 , Peter Steier  11 , Eva Maria Wild  11 , Diego E Angelucci  4 , Valentín Villaverde  6 , Josefina Zapata  12
Affiliations

Precise dating of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Murcia (Spain) supports late Neandertal persistence in Iberia

João Zilhão et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

The late persistence in Southern Iberia of a Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic is supported by the archeological stratigraphy and the radiocarbon and luminescence dating of three newly excavated localities in the Mula basin of Murcia (Spain). At Cueva Antón, Mousterian layer I-k can be no more than 37,100 years-old. At La Boja, the basal Aurignacian can be no less than 36,500 years-old. The regional Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition process is thereby bounded to the first half of the 37th millennium Before Present, in agreement with evidence from Andalusia, Gibraltar and Portugal. This chronology represents a lag of minimally 3000 years with the rest of Europe, where that transition and the associated process of Neandertal/modern human admixture took place between 40,000 and 42,000 years ago. The lag implies the presence of an effective barrier to migration and diffusion across the Ebro river depression, which, based on available paleoenvironmental indicators, would at that time have represented a major biogeographical divide. In addition, (a) the Phlegraean Fields caldera explosion, which occurred 39,850 years ago, would have stalled the Neandertal/modern human admixture front because of the population sink it generated in Central and Eastern Europe, and (b) the long period of ameliorated climate that came soon after (Greenland Interstadial 8, during which forests underwent a marked expansion in Iberian regions south of 40°N) would have enhanced the "Ebro Frontier" effect. These findings have two broader paleoanthropological implications: firstly, that, below the Ebro, the archeological record made prior to 37,000 years ago must be attributed, in all its aspects and components, to the Neandertals (or their ancestors); secondly, that modern human emergence is best seen as an uneven, punctuated process during which long-lasting barriers to gene flow and cultural diffusion could have existed across rather short distances, with attendant consequences for ancient genetics and models of human population history.

Keywords: Archaeology.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The Mula basin sites. a. Location of the late Middle Paleolithic sites of Southern and Western Iberia relative to the Ebro basin (1. Cueva Antón; 2. Sima de las Palomas; 3. Gorham’s Cave; 4. Gruta da Oliveira; 5. Foz do Enxarrique). b. Location of the Mula basin sites in a 2013 orthophoto.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Cueva Antón. a. Site plan and excavation grid. b. Cross-section illustrating the position of layer I-k — sandwiched between the DD reservoir-inundation silts and the basal alluvium of sub-complex AS1 (here represented by layers I-i, I-j and II-a). c. View from the West at the end of the 2011 field season; the layer labels designate the units whose surface is exposed in each sector. d. View from the East at the end of the 2012 field season. Elevations are in m asl. Figs. 2a, 2c and 2d after (Zilhão et al., 2016), with permission from Elsevier.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Finca Doña Martina. a. 3D model of the accumulation (for an extended discussion, see the SI appendix); the labels denote the different stratigraphic units recognized. b. The stratigraphic succession in the trench’s western wall. Elevations are in m asl.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
La Boja. The archeo-stratigraphic sequence. Trench cross-sections as recorded at the end of the 2013 field season (for an extended discussion, see the SI appendix). Elevations are in cm below datum.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The basal, Mousterian and Aurignacian sections of the La Boja sequence. Elevations are in cm below datum. a. The OH19 double hearth in grid unit T3 at exposure of the feature’s top (above, orthorectified plan view) and base (below, oblique view from the opposite angle). b. Orthorectified plan view of the OH19 hearth in grid unit U4; the provenience of the sample that established this horizon’s radiocarbon age is indicated by the red diamond. c. Stratigraphic cross-sections representing the basal parts of the sequence extant at the end of the 2014 field season; the preservation of intact hearths and/or extensive lenses of anthropized sediment allows sub-centimeter discrimination of occupation floors (OH) separated by intermediate levels (IL); the latter are sterile or only contain post-depositionally intruded items (OH21-23 are Mousterian, OH15-20 are Aurignacian, OH13-OH14 are Early Gravettian).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
La Boja OSL dating. Representative equivalent dose distributions of the dated quartz and feldspar samples. The distributions, displayed as abanico plots (Dietze et al., 2016), which combine a scatter plot with a kernel density estimate, are for sample C-L3901, taken at the base of the sequence, immediately below OH23. The dashed line is the arithmetic mean equivalent dose. The plots were generated using R Luminescence package version 0.7.3 (Dietze and Kreutzer, 2017). a. quartz. b. feldspar (IR50). c. feldspar (pIRIR290).
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
La Boja OSL dating. Analytical data. a. Representative quartz dose response and decay curve for sample C-L3905. b. Preheat plateau tests indicating that the equivalent dose is independent from temperature treatment between: 180 and 240 °C (C-L3901, square); 220 and 280 °C (C-L3904, circle); 180 and 280 °C (C-L3905, triangle); 240 and 280 °C (C-L3906, inverted triangle). c. Dose recovery tests showing that a laboratory given dose was best recovered using a temperature of 180 °C for samples C-L3901 and C-L3905 and of 260 °C for samples C-L3904 and C-L3906. d. Prior IR stimulation temperature tests carried out for feldspar sample C-L3905 indicating a plateau between 80 and 180 °C; 80 °C was chosen as prior-IR stimulation temperature. e. Representative feldspar pIRIR290 dose response and decay curves of sample C-L3905. f. Dose distribution of feldspar sample C-L3905 displayed as abanico plot; the dashed line is the MAM equivalent dose.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
La Boja OSL dating. Age (±1σ) vs depth plot of luminescence dates. Filled symbols: quartz OSL results. Open symbols: feldspar IR50 results. Half-open symbols: feldspar pIRIR290 results.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Chronology of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Mula basin sites. Plot of calibrated radiocarbon dates (95.4% probability intervals) for the Aurignacian of La Boja and for the Mousterian (layer I-k) and immediately underlying alluvium (layers II-a and II-b) of Cueva Antón. The vertical yellow band denotes the interval during which the transition took place: between 36.5 ka, the youngest possible age of La Boja’s Aurignacian in OH19-20, and 37.1 ka, the oldest possible age of the Cueva Antón Mousterian as provided by the layer II-a terminus post quem. The comparison with the global proxies (Rasmussen et al., 2014, Sánchez-Goñi et al., 2008, Sánchez-Goñi et al., 2013) shows that, in the Mula basin, the transition coincides with the end of a long and mild temperate phase, Greenland Interstadial 8.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Blank production and diagnostic stone tools across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the the Mula basin sites. a. Centripetal core for small flakes, with refits (Cueva Antón, layer I-k, Mousterian). b. Multi-step reduction sequence for the production of bladelets (La Boja, OH20, Aurignacian): preparation (1) or re-preparation (1′) of a prismatic core for the extraction of long, thick blades (2), followed by preparation of such laminar blanks as carinated or nosed “scrapers” (3), extraction of bladelets from the “scraper front” (4), and eventual discard of the exhausted “scraper”/core (5); the blue circles denote steps represented in the refit, the white circles denote steps represented by removal scars or among the block’s unrefitted material. c. long blade with minor, proximal break (La Boja, OH20, Aurignacian). d. Laminar Levallois flake, representing a lateral removal after the extraction of a preferential flake in a Levallois recurrent reduction sequence (Cueva Antón, layer I-k, Mousterian). e. Characteristically twisted Dufour bladelet of the Roc-de-Combe subtype extracted from a carinated or nosed “scraper”/core (La Boja, OH17, Aurignacian).
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Core reduction methods across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Mula basin sites. a. Simplified, schematic rendition of the approach to core reduction represented by the refitted material from Mousterian layer I-k of Cueva Antón (Fig. 10a); the refitting unit documents the endpoint, prior to discard, of the centripetal production of small flakes from a core previously exploited for similar blanks and in similar manner (as indicated by the shape and radial patterning of the flaking scars). b. Simplified, schematic rendition of the core reduction methods represented in the Evolved Aurignacian (OH20) of La Boja (Fig. 10b-c); two types of blades are extracted from prismatic cores — thin, to be used as a tool or as a blank for a retouched tool, and thick, to be used as a blank for bladelet cores of the carinated or nosed kind; thus, the latter’s intended end-products are bladelets obtained separately, not at the end of a continuous, blade-then-bladelet core reduction sequence.
Fig. 12
Fig. 12
Middle Paleolithic wood-working tools in the Mula basin sites. a. Denticulate from Cueva Antón (layer I-k). b. Unretouched blank from La Boja (OH23). c. Denticulate from La Boja (OH23). The insets show characteristic microscopic polish. Note the similarity of the two denticulates, both made on orange-segment or discoid-overshot blanks; denticulates of this kind are entirely absent from top to bottom of the long and complete Upper Paleolithic sequences of La Boja and Finca Doña Martina (for additional detail, see the SI appendix).
Fig. 13
Fig. 13
Hide-working tools across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition at Finca Doña Martina. a. Endscraper from Aurignacian layer 8. b. Sidescraper from Mousterian layer 9. The insets show characteristic microscopic polish (for additional detail, see the SI appendix).
Fig. 14
Fig. 14
Projectile technology across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Mula basin sites. Axial points in the Mousterian, composite points armed with cutting, laterally mounted, microlithic elements in the Aurignacian. a. Mousterian point from Finca Doña Martina (layer 9). b. marginally backed bladelet from La Boja (OH16). c. Dufour bladelet from Finca Doña Martina (layer 8). The insets show characteristic microscopic striations generated by impact (for additional detail, see the SI appendix).
Fig. 15
Fig. 15
Ornamental shell across the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Mula basin sites. a. Pecten half-valve from Middle Palaeolithic layer I-k of Cueva Antón (after Zilhão et al., 2010a); the reddish color of the internal side is natural; remnants of an orange colorant made of goethite and hematite are visible in the side that was painted (the external, whitish one). b–g. perforated and/or ochre-stained bivalve and gastropod shell (all at the same scale) from the Aurignacian of La Boja (for additional detail and taxonomic identifications, see the SI appendix).
Fig. 16
Fig. 16
Sima de las Palomas de Cabezo Gordo, Upper Cutting. a. Schematic drawing of the stratigraphy [after (Walker et al., 2008) (Walker et al., 2012), modified]. b. Composite mosaic view over the north and east walls of the Upper Cutting excavation trench during the 2007 field season. c. Schematic position of the radiocarbon- and U-series-dated samples relative to stratigraphy and arbitrary horizontal spits of provenience (2a-to-2l).
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