Του Γιώργου Λεκάκη
Μια νέα μελέτη διαπίστωσε ότι
οι παλαιολιθικοί κυνηγοί-τροφοσυλλέκτες κατοικούσαν σε μια από τις πιο σκληρές
περιοχές του εσωτερικού της Ισπανίας, κατά την τελευταία Εποχή των Παγετώνων.
Προηγουμένως, οι μελετητές
είχαν υποθέσει ότι οι προϊστορικοί πληθυσμοί δεν θα μπορούσαν να αντέξουν τις
εξαιρετικά κρύες και ξηρές συνθήκες των περιοχών της ενδοχώρας της Ιβηρικής
Χερσονήσου κατά την διάρκεια του τελευταίου παγετωνικού μέγιστου (LGM) - 26.000
- 19.000 χρόνια πριν από σήμερα.
Αυτά τα τεχνουργήματα
υποδεικνύουν την ανθρώπινη κατοίκηση της περιοχής, μεταξύ 21.000 και 15.000 χρόνων
πριν.
ΠΗΓΗ: J. Aragoncillo-del Río, κ.ά. «Human occupations of upland and cold environments in inland Spain during the Last Glacial Maximum and Heinrich Stadial 1: The new Magdalenian sequence of Charco Verde II», PLOS ONE, 4.10.2023, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291516 Και Public Library of Science. ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 5.10.2023.
Abstract
The settlement of cold and arid environments by Pleistocene
hunter-gatherers has been a heated topic in Paleolithic Archaeology and the
Quaternary Sciences for years. In the Iberian Peninsula, a key area for studying
human adaptations to such environments is composed by the large interior and
upland regions of the northern and southern plateaus (Mesetas) and bordering
areas. As, traditionally, these regions have been relatively under-investigated
compared to the ecologically more favored coastal areas of the peninsula, our
knowledge of the human settlement of the whole Iberian hinterland remains
scarce for the Last Glacial. In this paper we present the discovery and first
geoarcheological, paleoenvironmental and chronometric evidence obtained at
Charco Verde II, a new site close to the southwestern foothills of the Iberian
system range (Guadalajara province, Spain), bearing a sequence of Magdalenian
human occupations starting at least at 20.800 - 21.400 cal BP during the Last
Glacial Maximum, and covering Greenland Stadial 2 until ∼15.100 16.600 cal
BP, including Heinrich stadial 1. As this site is located in an upland region
which today faces one of the harshest climates in Iberia, such occupation
sequence, occurred during some of the coldest and most arid phases of the Last Glacial, has
relevant implications for our understanding of human-environment-climate
interactions and population dynamics in Iberia and Western Europe. These
findings support the hypothesis that the Iberian hinterland was not avoided by
Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers due to ecological constraints, but it hosted
a complex and relatively dense settlement at least in some areas, even during
cold periods. This suggest, one more time, that the historical scarcity of
Upper Paleolithic sites in inland Iberia is, to a significant extent, an
artifact of research bias.
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