Central Iberia in the middle MIS 3. Paleoecological inferences during the period 34–40 cal kyr BP

• Published in: Quaternary science reviews Vol. 228; p. 106027
• Main Authors: Sala, Nohemi, Pablos, Adrián, Gómez-Olivencia, Asier, Sanz, Alicia, Villalba, Mónica, Pantoja-Pérez, Ana, Laplana, César, Arsuaga, Juan Luis, Algaba, Milagros
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.01.2020
• Subjects: Coelodonta antiquitatis; Megaloceros giganteous; Paleobiogeography; Paleoecology; Portalón del Tejadilla; Taphonomy; Tundra-steppe; Paleobiogeography; Megaloceros giganteous; Portalón del Tejadilla; Paleoecology; Coelodonta antiquitatis; Tundra-steppe; Taphonomy
• ISSN: 0277-3791; 1873-457X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106027

The environmental conditions that existed during the period between 45 and 30 ka are of vital importance for addressing the transition between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. It seems to be a hiatus of Paleolithic populations, a “no (hu)man’s land” in Central Iberia, coinciding with the mid part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, between 42 and 28 cal kyr BP. This break in the archaeological record makes it difficult to address this period paleoecologically. Here we present a new cave site, Portalón del Tejadilla (Segovia), dated to a period roughly between ∼34.2 and 40.4 cal kyr BP in which cold-adapted faunas, such as woolly rhinoceros and giant deer, have been recovered in a hyena den site context. This site is located in Central Iberia, and more specifically, on the southern edge of the northern Plateau, an unexpected region for the presence of these faunas during the MIS 3. These new findings extend the geographical distribution of several species, including Coelodonta antiquitatis and Megaloceros giganteus. Furthermore, they document a climatic deterioration (colder and dryer) during the mid MIS 3 in Central Iberia in one of the coldest and driest episodes of the Late Pleistocene. Portalón del Tejadilla fills this temporal gap and provides valuable paleoecological information about the transition between the Middle to Upper Paleolithic. •Portalón del Tejadilla (PT) is dated to a period between ∼34.2 and 40.4 cal kyr BP.•Cold-adapted faunas have been recovered in a hyena den site context.•The new findings extend the geographical distribution of cold-adapted species.•Here we document a climatic deterioration during the mid MIS 3 in Central Iberia.•PT provides paleoecological information about the Mid-Upper Paleolithic transition.