Precise dating of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Murcia (Spain) supports late Neandertal persistence in Iberia
João Zilhão,
Daniela Anesin,
Thierry Aubry,
Ernestina Badal,
Dan Cabanes,
Martin Kehl,
Nicole Klasen,
Armando Lucena,
Ignacio Martín-Lerma,
Susana Martínez,
Henrique Matias,
Davide Susini,
Peter Steier,
Eva Maria Wild,
Diego E. Angelucci,
Valentín Villaverde,
Josefina Zapata
Affiliations
João Zilhão
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain; Universitat de Barcelona, Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Història, c/Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain; UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal; Corresponding author.
Daniela Anesin
Università degli Studi di Trento, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, via Tommaso Gar 14, 38122 Trento, Italy
Thierry Aubry
Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa, Fundação Côa Parque, Rua do Museu, 5150-610 Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Portugal
Ernestina Badal
Universitat de València, Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 València, Spain, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 València, Spain
Dan Cabanes
Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, Biological Sciences Building, 32 Bishop Street, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA
Martin Kehl
University of Cologne, Institute of Geography, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany
Nicole Klasen
University of Cologne, Institute of Geography, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany
Armando Lucena
UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
Ignacio Martín-Lerma
Universidad de Murcia, Área de Prehistoria, Facultad de Letras, Campus de La Merced, 30071 Murcia, Spain
Susana Martínez
UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
Henrique Matias
UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
Davide Susini
Università degli Studi di Trento, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, via Tommaso Gar 14, 38122 Trento, Italy; Università di Siena, Dipartimento di Scienze fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, Strada Laterina 8, 53100 Siena, Italy
Peter Steier
VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator) Laboratory, Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research and Nuclear Physics, University of Vienna, Währingerstraße 17, 1090 Wien, Austria
Eva Maria Wild
VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator) Laboratory, Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research and Nuclear Physics, University of Vienna, Währingerstraße 17, 1090 Wien, Austria
Diego E. Angelucci
Università degli Studi di Trento, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, via Tommaso Gar 14, 38122 Trento, Italy
Valentín Villaverde
Universitat de València, Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 València, Spain, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 València, Spain
Josefina Zapata
Universidad de Murcia, Área de Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Campus Universitario de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
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.
