A revised, Last Interglacial chronology for the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Gruta da Oliveira (Almonda karst system, Torres Novas, Portugal)

• Published in: Quaternary science reviews Vol. 258; p. 106885
• Main Authors: Zilhão, João, Angelucci, Diego E., Arnold, Lee J., Demuro, Martina, Hoffmann, Dirk L., Pike, Alistair W.G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.04.2021
• Subjects: Middle Palaeolithic; Neandertals; Optically stimulated luminescence dating; Palaeogeography; Pleistocene; Radiocarbon; Speleothems; U-series; Vasconian; Western Europe; Speleothems; U-series; Palaeogeography; Radiocarbon; Middle Palaeolithic; Vasconian; Optically stimulated luminescence dating; Neandertals; Pleistocene; Western Europe
• ISSN: 0277-3791; 1873-457X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106885

Based on previous radiocarbon and U-series (Diffusion/Adsorption) dating of bone samples, the Middle Palaeolithic has been thought to persist at Gruta da Oliveira until ∼37 thousand years (ka) ago. New U-series ages for stratigraphically constraining speleothems, coupled with new luminescence ages for sediment infill, show that the site’s ∼6 m-thick archaeological stratigraphy dates entirely within a <30 ka interval spanning substages 5a-5b of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Significant technological change is observed across the sequence, akin to that seen in the Upper Palaeolithic over similar timescales. Flake-cleavers and bifaces, normatively definitional of the Vasconian facies, are restricted to a short interval correlated with Greenland Stadial (GS) 22, 85.1–87.6 ka ago. In cave and rock-shelter sites of southern and western Iberia, intact archaeological deposits securely dated to the ∼37–42 ka interval remain elusive. Geological dynamics (e.g., erosion, sedimentation hiatuses, palimpsest formation) and human adaptive responses to climate-driven environmental change (e.g., abandonment of now forest-covered low- and mid-altitude karst areas, concentration of settlement in alluvial plains and coastal settings) are possible explanations for this pattern. •High-resolution Middle Palaeolithic sequence of late Last Interglacial age.•Upper Palaeolithic-like pace of technological change across a Middle Palaeolithic sequence.•Occurrence of Vasconian cleavers and bifaces restricted to short interval at the end of MIS 5b.