A late Pleistocene-early Holocene archaeological sequence of Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain)

Abstract

The site of Portalón is not only one of the entries to the Cueva Mayor, of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), but it is also an important Holocene archaeological site that was first excavated in the 1970s, although largely unpublished. New excavations by our team starting in 2000 have revealed a stratigraphical sequence starting in the Late Pleistocene and with evidence of human occupations through the Holocene. We present this stratigraphical sequence with a radiocarbon dates ranging from 30.000 BP to 1.000 BP. Two major sedimentary units are observed in the Portalón sequence, the lower unit belongs to the Late Pleistocene and has a significant paleontological record and sparse Upper Palaeolithic human artifacts. The upper unit belongs to the Holocene and is characterized by sedimentary homogeneity and numerous archaeological artifacts. This unit shows occupations in the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Medieval periods. The Portalón excavations are of great importance because of the scarcity of information of the Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural periods in the interior Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in the Northern Plateau.