RT Journal Article
T1 Nobody’s land? The oldest evidence of early Upper Paleolithic settlements in inland Iberia
A1 Sala Burgos, Nohem
A1 Alcaraz Castaño, Manuel
A1 Arriolabengoa, Martín
A1 Martínez Pillado, Virginia
A1 Pantoja Pérez, Ana
A1 Rodríguez Hidalgo, Antonio
A1 Téllez, Edgar
A1 Cubas Morera, Miriam
A1 Castillo, Samuel
A1 Pablos Fernández, Adrián
AB The Iberian Peninsula is a key region for unraveling human settlement histories of Eurasia during the period spanning the decline of Neandertals and the emergence of anatomically modern humans (AMH). There is no evidence of human occupation in central Iberia after the disappearance of Neandertals ~42,000 years ago until approximately 26,000 years ago, rendering the region “nobody’s land” during the Aurignacian period. The Abrigo de la Malia provides irrefutable evidence of human settlements dating back to 36,200 to 31,760 calibrated years before the present (cal B.P.) This site also records additional levels of occupation around 32,420 to 26,260 cal B.P., suggesting repeated settlement of this territory. Our multiproxy examination identifies a change in climate trending toward colder and more arid conditions. However, this climatic deterioration does not appear to have affected AMH subsistence strategies or their capacity to inhabit this region. These findings reveal the ability of AMH groups to colonize regions hitherto considered uninhabitable, reopening the debate on early Upper Paleolithic population dynamics of southwestern Europe.
PB American Association for the Advancement of Science
YR 2024
FD 2024-06-26
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/119945
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/119945
LA eng
NO Sala, N., Alcaraz-Castaño, M., Arriolabengoa, M., Martínez-Pillado, V., Pantoja-Pérez, A., Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A., Téllez, E., Cubas, M., Castillo, S., Arnold, L. J., Demuro, M., Duval, M., Arteaga-Brieba, A., Llamazares, J., Ochando, J., Cuenca-Bescós, G., Marín-Arroyo, A. B., Seijo, M. M., Luque, L., … Pablos, A. (2024). Nobody’s land? The oldest evidence of early Upper Paleolithic settlements in inland Iberia. Science Advances, 10(26), eado3807. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado3807
NO Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha
NO Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
NO European Research Council
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
NO Fondo Social Europeo
NO Agencia Estatal de Investigación
NO Junta de Andalucía
NO Australian research Council
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 jul 2025