Upper Paleolithic Transitional "Moments" on the Iberian Peninsula

Anthropologists have a longstanding interest in understanding cultural continuity and change. Modern research in Upper Paleolithic archaeology has a legacy in cultural-historical research, which focused on defining cultural periods based on unique artistic styles or tool types. These periods form the basic lexicon that archaeologists use to characterize Upper Paleolithic adaptations. Recently, Upper Paleolithic researchers have shifted focus to transitional "moments" in prehistory, where they have incorporated precise radiocarbon chronologies, environmental reconstructions, and robust analytic modeling techniques in order to document cultural changes (i.e., from Gravettian to Solutrean). This session will focus on one European Upper Paleolithic region—the Iberian Peninsula—as a case study for how archaeologists can address long-term cultural continuity and change. The session’s contributors will discuss how Upper Paleolithic behavioral transitions were influenced by several interrelated factors: (1) global climatic and local environmental change; (2) regional and sub-regional cultural adaptations; (3) demography; and (4) inter-regional interactions with groups who resided within Iberia and in adjacent regions (e.g., the French Pyrenees). Overall, this session will distinguish Iberian cultural adaptations and transitions in relation those in other European Upper Paleolithic settlement areas.