Neanderthal settlement in Central Iberia: geoarchaeological research in Abrigo del Molino site, MIS 3 (Segovia, Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

The Abrigo del Molino archaeological site is located in the valley of the Eresma river, near Segovia in central Spain. It consists of a shallow cave of fluvio-karstic origin, which has been completely filled with detrital deposits. Geo-archaeological interpretation of the genesis of these deposits differentiates three groups: a lower group with sandy loams and fine sands interbedded with pebble and gravel layers, deposited respectively by palaeofloods and slope contributions; a middle group with massive silt and grain-supported boulders, formed by alternating contributions from the overlying slope, karst mudflows and rockfalls from the shelter roof; and an upper group of silt cemented by carbonates, final backfill alteration and degradation of the host rock. The techno-typological characteristics of the lithic assemblage confirm the existence of Mousterian levels at the site, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of these levels obtains an age range of 31–60 ka for the detrital deposits, presenting the occupation by Neanderthal groups for the first time in karstic environments in the northern Iberian plateau, the southern part of the Duero basin.