RT Journal Article
T1 Patterns of human occupation during the early Holocene in the Central Ebro Basin (NE Spain) in response to the 8.2 ka climatic event
A1 González Sampériz, Penélope
A1 Utrilla, P.
A1 Mazo, C.
A1 Valero Garcés, Blas
A1 Sopena, MC
A1 Morellón Marteles, Mario
A1 Sebastián, M.
A1 Moreno, A.
A1 Martínez Bea, M.
AB The Central Ebro River Basin (NE Spain) is the most northern area of truly semi-arid Mediterranean climate in Europe and prehistoric human occupation there has been strongly influenced by this extreme environmental condition. Modern climate conditions single out this region due to the harsh environment, characterised by the highest absolute summer temperatures of the Ebro River Basin. The Bajo Aragón region (SE Ebro River Basin) was intensively populated during the Early Holocene (9400-8200 cal yr BP) but the settlements were abandoned abruptly at around 8200 cal yr BP. We propose that this "archaeological silence" was caused by the regional impact of the global abrupt 8.2 ka cold event. Available regional paleoclimate archives demonstrate the existence of an aridity crisis then that interrupted the humid Early Holocene. That environmental crisis would have forced hunter-gatherer groups from the Bajo Aragón to migrate to regions with more favourable conditions (i.e. more humid mountainous areas) and only return in the Neolithic. Coherently, archaeological sites persist during this crisis in the nearby Iberian Range (Maestrazgo) and the North Ebro River area (Pre-Pyrenean mountains and along the northwestern Ebro Basin).
PB Cambridge University Press
SN 1096-0287
YR 2009
FD 2009
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52887
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52887
LA eng
NO Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología
DS Docta Complutense
RD 17 abr 2025