Peninsular Southern Europe Refugia during the Middle Paleolithic
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Peninsular Southern Europe Refugia during the Middle Paleolithic," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Neanderthals faced environmental and climatic instability during the Pleistocene that may have influenced their subsistence, technology, behavior and survival. Research assessing the effect of climate and environment on the Middle Paleolithic has often turned to southern Europe, specifically peninsular southern Europe. These are regions typically regarded as refugia during periods of unfavorable climatic conditions, inspiring numerous paleoenvironmental studies at Neanderthal sites and hypotheses on late Neanderthal survival in locations with relatively ameliorated conditions.
This session will focus on assessing the peninsulas of southern Europe as refugia during periods of unfavorable climate during the Middle Paleolithic and transition to Upper Paleolithic. Contributors to this session will address questions such as: did Southern European peninsulas (Iberia, Italy, Balkans) really act as refugia during periods of deteriorating environmental change? Were those peninsulas active refugia or "sanctuaries" (locations with favorable environmental conditions and rich in resources that were actively procured) or just passive refugia (areas of species retention or survival relative to surrounding regions)?
Overall, this session will shed light on Neanderthal adaptations to environmental change and contribute to a better understanding of southern European peninsulas as refugia during the Late Pleistocene.
Other Keywords
Paleolithic •
Environment and Climate •
Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis •
Zooarchaeology •
Rabbits •
Settlement patterns •
Neanderthal •
Iberian Peninsula •
Digital Archaeology: GIS •
Neanderthals; Middle Paleolithic; Interdisciplinary Approach
Geographic Keywords
Principality of Monaco (Country) •
Kingdom of Spain (Country) •
Principality of Andorra (Country) •
Gibraltar (Country) •
Portuguese Republic (Country) •
French Republic (Country) •
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort (Country) •
Ireland (Country) •
Isle of Man (Country) •
Kingdom of Belgium (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)
- Documents (6)
- Assessing the Spatial Patterning of Middle Paleolithic Human Settlement in Westernmost Iberia (2019)
- Human Adaptability to Fauna and Flora Changes during MIS 5-3. Is the Iberian Mediterranean Region a Refuge? (2019)
- Late Pleistocene Refugia and Neanderthal Extinction in Southern Iberia (2019)
- Neanderthals in Porto Selvaggio, Southern Italy (2019)
- A Stable Isotopes Analysis of Ungulate Remains from Lapa do Picareiro: An Assessment of Refugia Concepts during the Middle Paleolithic and Transition to Upper Paleolithic (2019)
- Were Neandertals the Original Snowbirds? Zooarchaeological Evidence from Greece (2019)