Twelfth International Diatom Symposium

Abstract

Abstract The timing of Neanderthal disappearance in the Iberian Peninsula is a hotly debated subject in Palaeolithic archaeology. Several studies suggested a late survival in South and Central Iberia until about 32,000 year ago (ka), but were probably subject to significant age underestimation due to contamination of dating samples and/or lack of stratigraphic integrity. More recently, Late Neanderthal presence was dated to around 35 to 37 ka. In Central Iberia, several archaeological sites contain Mousterian levels attesting occupation by Neanderthals. The newly discovered sequence of Abrigo del Molino contains chronologically well-constraint Mousterian levels, which, according to radiocarbon dating on bone, place the latest Neanderthal occupation to around 41-45 ka. Accumulation of these levels hence started during Greenland Interstadial (GI) 12 and lasted until GI 10. It took place after deposition of fluvial (palaeoflood slack-water deposits) and colluvial sediments, dated to between 48 and 41 ka as based on the one-sigma range of luminescence ages, and probably starting during Greenland Stadial 13 including Heinrich Event 5. Micromorphological evidence of lenticular microstructure suggests frost dynamics during accumulation of the central part of the sequence pointing to cold climate conditions at that time in Central Spain. Abrigo del Molino thus provides a detailed and chronologically well-constrained record on Late Neanderthal presence and morphodynamic change in Central Iberia during times of millennial-scale climate changes. The site gives further evidence for an early disappearance of Neanderthals in Iberia. Keywords: