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

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 d...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Díez-Herrero, Andrés, Medialdea, Alicia, Rojo-Hernández, Julio Antonio, Álvarez Alonso, David, De Andrés Herrero, María
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/115828
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/115828
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Paleoflood
Geo-archaeology
Middle Paleolithic
Neanderthal
Karst filling
Prehistoria
Geología
Historia
Arqueología
5505.01 Arqueología
5504.05 Prehistoria
2506 Geología
Descripción
Sumario: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.