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- The early Aurignacian dispersal of modern humans into westernmost EurasiaPublication . Haws, Jonathan; Benedetti, Lucilla; Talamo, Sahra; Bicho, Nuno Gonçalo Viana Pereira Ferreira; Cascalheira, João; Ellis, M. Grace; Carvalho, Milena M.; Friedl, Lukas; Pereira, Telmo; Zinsious, Brandon K.Documenting the first appearance of modern humans in a given region is key to understanding the dispersal process and the replacement or assimilation of indigenous human populations such as the Neanderthals. The Iberian Peninsula was the last refuge of Neanderthal populations as modern humans advanced across Eurasia. Here we present evidence of an early Aurignacian occupation at Lapa do Picareiro in central Portugal. Diagnostic artifacts were found in a sealed stratigraphic layer dated 41.1 to 38.1 ka cal BP, documenting a modern human presence on the western margin of Iberia ∼5,000 years earlier than previously known. The data indicate a rapid modern human dispersal across southern Europe, reaching the westernmost edge where Neanderthals were thought to persist. The results support the notion of a mosaic process of modern human dispersal and replacement of indigenous Neanderthal populations.
- Late Pleistocene Landscape and Settlement Dynamics of Portuguese EstremaduraPublication . Haws, Jonathan; Benedetti, Michael; Funk, Caroline L.; Bicho, Nuno; Pereira, Telmo; Marreiros, Joao; Daniels, J. Michael; Forman, Steven L.; Minckley, Thomas A.; Denniston, Rhawn F.Here we report the results of an integrated geoarchaeological survey to study Palaeolithic human settlement dynamics in the coastal region of Portuguese Estremadura. The region has been an important focus of human occupation across multiple glacial-interglacial cycles, including periods of well-documented abrupt climate instability during MIS 3 and 2. The pedestrian survey covered a roughly 10 km wide strip of land between Sao Pedro de Muel and Peniche. The survey intensively targeted three landscape settings with Pleistocene-age surfaces and sediments: the coastal bluffs with exposed aeolian, fluvial, and colluvial sands; the Caldas da Rainha diapiric valley and associated fluvial/estuarine fills; and, Cretaceous chert-rich limestone uplands that bound the inland margin of the study area. We discovered dozens of new Palaeolithic sites, analyzed numerous Pleistocene sedimentary sections, and applied widespread OSL-dating to establish age control that allowed us to build a regional geomorphic history to contextualize Late Pleistocene human settlement across the region.