Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean industrial complex in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

The fluvial deposits of the rivers on the Atlantic side of the Iberian Peninsula preserve a number of locations with Acheulean industry, frequently without associated fauna. These remains are especially concentrated on middle terraces, which can be dated to about MIS 11. The most common raw material is quartzite and these industries are characterized by the presence of bifaces, cleavers and tools made from medium and large rock flakes (>10 cm). The technological characteristics of these Acheulean localities and their chronological separation from the recognised human occupation of the Peninsula during the Lower Pleistocene (Atapuerca, Guadix-Baza depression, Murcia) by some 500 ka or more, support the possible African origin of the European Middle Pleistocene Acheulean techno-complex and the hypothesis that Gibraltar was the access route.