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Cortés Sánchez, Miguel

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0000-0001-9093-3338

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2018 - 20192
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  • Pre-Solutrean rock art in southernmost Europe: Evidence from Las Ventanas Cave (Andalusia, Spain)
    Publication . Cortés Sánchez, Miguel; Riquelme-Cantal, José António; Simon-Vallejo, Maria Dolores; Parrilla Giraldez, Ruben; Odriozola, Carlos P.; Calle Roman, Lydia; Carrion, Jose S.; Monge Gomez, Guadalupe; Rodriguez Vidal, Joaquin; Moyano Campos, Juan Jose; Rico Delgado, Fernando; Nieto Julian, Juan Enrique; Anton Garcia, Daniel; Aranzazu Martinez-Aguirre, M.; Jimenez Barredo, Fernando; Cantero-Chinchilla, Francisco N.
    The south of Iberia conserves an important group of Palaeolithic rock art sites. The graph isms have been mostly attributed to the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods, while the possibility that older remains exist has provoked extensive debate. This circumstance has been linked to both the cited periods, until recently, due to the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the extreme southwest of Europe as well as the non-existence of some of the early periods of Palaeolithic art documented in northern Iberia. This study presents the results of interdisciplinary research conducted in Las Ventanas Cave. These results enabled us to identify a new Palaeolithic rock art site. The technical, stylistic and temporal traits point to certain similarities with the range of exterior deep engravings in Cantabrian Palaeolithic rock art. Ventanas appears to corroborate the age attributed to those kinds of graphic expression and points to the early arrival of the Upper Palaeolithic in the south of Iberia. Importantly, the results provide information on the pre-Solutrean date attributed to trilinear hind figures. These findings challenge the supposed Neanderthal survival idea at one of the main late Middle Palaeolithic southern Iberian sites (Cariguela) and, due to the parallels between them and an engraving attributed to this period in Gibraltar, it raises the possibility of interaction between modern humans and Neanderthals in the extreme southwest of Europe.
    2018-10Journal article Open access Show more
  • Shellfish collection on the westernmost Mediterranean, Bajondillo cave (similar to 160-35 cal kyr BP): A case of behavioral convergence?
    Publication . Cortés Sánchez, Miguel; Simon-Vallejo, Maria D.; Jimenez-Espejo, Francisco J.; Lozano Francisco, Maria del Carmen; Luis Vera-Pelaez, Jose; Maestro Gonzalez, Adolfo; Morales-Muniz, Arturo
    The Middle (MP) and Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) evidences of shellfish collection on the southern Iberian site of Bajondillo cave are presented and compared with Westernmost Mediterranean archaeological sites. The main feature is stasis for Mytilus galloprovincialis represents the dominant taxon during a similar to 120kyr temporal sequence. The second feature is the decrease of the shellfishing signal when site distance to the coast increases. The data reveal that shellfish collection was practiced during Marine Isotopic Stage 4, a poorly documented stage in terms of aquatic adaptations. Striking is also that mollusc assemblages evidence an uninterrupted decreasing trend in terms of remains from the earliest to the latest levels, in particular when H. sapiens replaced H. neanderthalensis. Although taxa of secondary importance are too scarce to make reliable inferences, another difference between the MP and EUP collections is the substantial increase of infaunal bivalves in the latter cultural period. Warm and cold water mollusc records match temperature rises and drops although the scarcity of data do not allow one to proceed beyond qualitative statements. Likewise, the prevalence of fresh and brackish water mollusc hint at a permanent presence of freshwater around the site at all times. When compared with assemblages from the Alboran sea region (Westernmost Mediterranean Sea), the Bajondillo cave collections are remarkable for their abundance of mussels. Comparison between Bajondillo cave and Pinnacle Point reveal that infaunal bivalve abundances in the South African site are far higher than those recorded in the MP levels, though not those from the EUP. Whether this feature hints at subtle differences existing between the collection of shellfish by H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis, reflects a behavioral convergence between the two hominine lineages or represents an inherited cognitive trait from a common ancestor is an issue in need of further analysis. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
    2019-08Journal article Restricted access Show more