The Archaeological Sites at Pinilla Del Valle (Madrid, Spain)

CENTRAL PLATEAU 577

Baquedano, E*., Márquez, B*., Laplana, The Archaeological sites C*., Arsuaga, J. L**, Pérez-González, A***. at Pinilla del Valle (Madrid, Spain)

Introduction of the Spanish Sistema Central (Pérez-González et al., 2010). The archaeological sites at Pinilla del Valle, to the north of the Autonomous Community of Ma- The Lozoya valley is a tectonic depression drid, are an exceptional location for learning about (pop-down) running in the same direction as the the evolution of the behaviour of human groups pop-up of the Sistema Central, which is delimited to the north by the Carpetanos mountains, the from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. In highest peak of which is Peñalara (2428m), and Calvero de la Higuera, a headland of about 3.5 to the south by Cuerda Larga. The bottom of the hectares, a number of sites of different origin and valley is situated at approximately 1100m. meaning covering a wide timespan are concentrat- ed (Fig. 1). From a geological point of view, it is part of the Complejo Esquisto-Grauváquico of the central Camino Cave was the first site to be discov- Iberian Peninsula. However, the pop-up of the val- ered, in 1979 (Alférez et al., 1982). Subsequent ley of the river Lozoya was formed in the Alpine excavations carried out by the UCM team that orogeny. The oldest exposed rocks are gneisses, discovered it resulted in the documentation of a leucogranites, adamellites, granitoids, migmatites significant fauna assemblage in the Pleistocene fill- and, to a lesser extent, schists and quartzites. There ing and two hominid molars belonging to Homo are also late dykes in quartz, lamprofid and porfid. neanderthalensis. Above the metamorphic rocks there are out- Since 2002 a multi-disciplinary team led by crops of sands, clays and carbonates, sandstones the Regional Archaeological Museum of the and bedded Late Cretaceous dolostones. On the Autonomous Community of Madrid has been latter, karstic processes have developed, such as a managing the project. As a result of their work, limestone pavements and dolines on the outside another four sites –Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter, and Rock Shelters and caves on the inside. The Buena Pinta Cave, Ocelado Rock Shelter and Pinilla del Valle sites are associated with these Des-Cubierta Cave–have been discovered on the types of processes (Pérez-González et al., 2010). same headland, another two in another promon- The Cretaceous materials contain invertebrates tory situated half a kilometre to the west –To- (brachiopods, echinoderms and rudists) and ver- conal Cave and Carrión Cave– and finally, anoth- tebrates (sharks, rays and fishes), which sometimes er open Acheulean site north east of Calvero de appear as reworked elements in the fillings of the la Higuera (Márquez et al., 2008). karst forms in the valley (Hontecillas et al., 2012). The marine sequence ends with a few dozen metres of sands, clays and gypsums in a marine-conti- Geographical and geological context nental environment. Continental Paleogene mate- The Calvero de la Higuera sites are located in rials are deposited in erosive unconformity. the upper valley of the river Lozoya in the Sierra The most recent Quaternary deposits are wide- de Guadarrama, a mountain range running NE- ly represented in the Lozoya valley. In the Peñalara SW. Its general structure is pop-up and it is part massif, Late Pleistocene moraines associated with

* Museo Arqueológico Regional, Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, 28801-Alcalá de Henares (Madrid-Spain). E-mail: enrique.baquedano@ madrid.org; [email protected]; [email protected]. ** Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Avda. Monforte de Lemos 5 – Pabellón 14, 28029-Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected] *** Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Pº Sierra de Atapuerca s/n, 09001– Burgos (Spain). E- mail: [email protected] PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT: 578 THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Figure 1. (a) Location of the sites at Pinilla del Valle the upper valley of the river Lozoya (Madrid) (b) Location of the main sites at Calvero de la Higuera (Modified by Pérez-González et al., 2010). CENTRAL PLATEAU 579 cirques have been preserved. Other deposits are Camino Cave has been divided into 4 sectors: peat lands and screes and colluvial solifluidal lay- North, Central, Diaclasa Roja and South (Ar- ers of fine hillside materials (Pedraza 1994, Pe- suaga et al., 2010). The highest concentration of draza et al., 2003). fossils at the site is in the North sector, where In the central sector of the Lozoya valley there 7 stratigraphic levels have been distinguished are fluvial deposits made up of blocks, gravel, sand (numbered from 3 to 9) (Pérez-González et al., and silt-clay, alluvial fans, terraces and alluvial plains. 2010; Arsuaga et al., 2011, 2012). Level 5 contains more than 53% of the NISP of macrofauna The Calvero de la Higuera sites (1110m) are as- and presents a wider biodiversity. In 1982 and sociated with cavities developed on an Late Creta- 1984 two molars –one right M 1and one right M 3, ceous carbonate rock slope, inclined a few degrees respectively– belonging to the same individual towards the river Lozoya, which flows W-E along were found in this level, who in principle was the valley. The Lontanar and Valmaíllo streams split identified as an ante-Neanderthal (Alférez et al., the relief of the Calvero de la Higuera slope, leav- 1982, Alférez and Roldán 1992), but they were ing Camino Cave, Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter, Buena later assigned to the Homo neanderthalensis spe- Pinta Cave, Ocelado Rock Shelter and Des-Cubier- cies (Gómez Robles et al., 2007, Martinón-Torres ta Cave hanging (Pérez-González et al., 2010). et al., 2007, 2008, Quam et al., 2009, Arsuaga et al., 2011, 2012). The Calvero de la Higuera sites This site preserves one of the most complete MIS 5 fauna assemblages in the Iberian Peninsula. Camino Cave The association of large mammals from the North, As mentioned earlier, Camino Cave was dis- Central and Diaclasa Roja sectors stands out for an covered in 1979. Nowadays, the ceilings of the abundance of carnivore remains. The spotted hy- cave are collapsed and broken up. The first excava- ena (Crocuta crocuta) is the most abundant species tions were carried out by Professor Alférez’s team with adult and young specimens and many copro- from 1980 to 1989. From 2002 new excavations lites. The site also contains, but in a lower number, were undertaken at the site, which lasted through Ursus arctos, Canis lupus , Vulpes vulpes , Panthera to 2009. leo, Lynx pardinus, Felis silvestris, Mustela putorius and Mustela nivalis. In 2002 the area had been almost entirely excavated and it was difficult to establish lithic-strati- In these sectors, ungulates are represented by graphic relations between the sectors of the site. 6 species of Artiodactyla ( Dama dama geiselana, The bottom of the sequence consists of allochtho- Cervus elaphus, Capreolus capreolus, Bos primige- nous siliceous facies formed by a fluvial terrace of nius, Rupicapra rupicapra, Sus scrofa ) and 2 Per- gravel rod, sand, sandy mud and clay deposited issodactyla species (Equus ferus¸ Stephanorhinus by the Valmaíllo stream. This terrace has been TL hemitoechus). Camino cave stands out for having dated using grains of quartzite at 140.4 ± 11.3 the largest accumulation of fallow deer remains ky BP. Towards the top of the sequence and after (Dama dama ) in the Iberian Peninsula (Alvarez- partial emptying of the terrace facies, sand, loamy Lao et al., 2013). sand and silt facies with carbonate fragments from The presence of young hyena remains and the the karst dolostones are deposited. These facies high frequency of coprolites, bite marks and di- contain the main fossil deposits, with TL dating gested bones are indicative that the cave was used values for level 5 of 90.9 ± 7.8 and 91.6 ± 8.1 ky as a den by this species. The carnivore / ungulate BP (Pérez-González et al., 2010), and amino acid ratio and bone fracturing patterns lead to the racemization dating values of 94.4 ± 20.6 ky BP same interpretation. Anecdotal presence of lithic (Torres et al., 2014), which put this accumulation industry at the site should not be interpreted as a in the MIS 5b. sign of human activity but as the result of it en- The collapse of the ceiling and the apparent tering the cave via natural processes (Arsuaga et disappearance of the cave morphology at this site al., 2012). The study of the age of the fallow deer are related to the incision processes of the fluvial at the time of death has concluded that hyenas network, the action of the cold and disturbance occupied the cave for almost the entire year, with and external erosion from MIS 4 to the Holocene a small gap between May and June (Álvarez-Lao (Pérez-González et al., 2010). et al., 2013). PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT: 580 THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

The microvertebrate record is, as in the case of allowed warm conditions to be inferred for the site large mammals, one of the most complete from the in general, typical of the MIS 5, with some colder Late Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula, with 49 oscillations, the last and coldest of which is related species identified. The richness of the associations of to the transition from MIS 5 to MIS 4. microvertebrates at this site is due to several factors (Laplana et al., 2013). Firstly, the intense sampling carried out at the site over the ten excavation cam- Navalmaíllo rock shelter paigns. Secondly, the location in the upper valley of Discovered in 2002, Navalmaíllo rock shelter the Lozoya in areas of both Mediterranean and Eu- is a large cavity located 100m south of Camino ro-Siberian influence, surrounded by peaks of over Cave. As it collapsed after it had been occupied, 2000m, which increases rainfall. Thirdly, the diver- its presence was not visually evident. sity of the habitats surrounding the site as a conse- quence of the marked altitude gradient in the valley. The main sequence of the site, from top to And finally, small age differences in the fillings of the bottom, consists of a 40cm-thick Ap soil horizon, different sectors of the site, which translate into dif- followed by at least two colluvium deposits ap- ferences in their associations of microvertebrates. proximately 1m thick. Under these units is another (level D) with large dolostones that fell when Regarding the diachrony of the different sec- the ceiling collapsed. Surrounding these blocks is tors of the site, the stratigraphic criteria and bio- chronological dating coincide to establish a se- brown clay sediment injected from the underlying quence in which the oldest sediments are located level F. The top in this level is highly deformed due in the North sector and the most modern in the to the weight of the fallen blocks. The main occu- South sector, with an intermediate age for the pation of the site was developed in level F (Ar- Central and Diaclasa Roja sectors. The only dating suaga et al., 2011; Baquedano et al., 2011-2012). obtained for the South sector returned a date of Two TL dating values have been obtained for 74.5 ± 6.3 ky BP, in the limit between MIS 5 and this level, 71.6 ± 5.0 and 77.2 ± 6.0 ky BP, which MIS 4 (Pérez-González et al., 2010). The Palaeo- indicate an age in the MIS 5a or early MIS 4 (Pérez- climatic reconstruction based on successive asso- González et al., 2010). A much older dating, 234.9 ciations of herpetofauna (Blain et al., 2014) have ± 65.3 ky BP, obtained through amino acid race-

Figure 2. Relationship between the terraces and deposits in Navalmaíllo rock shelter, including the deposits with Neander- thal settlements (modified from Pérez-González et al., 2010). CENTRAL PLATEAU 581 mization (Torres et al., 2014) has been artificially From 2002 to 2013, in level F, which as men- aged by the heat of a medieval lime kiln excavated tioned earlier contains the main settlement of the inside the shelter. When level F was occupied, the Rock Shelter, more than 11,000 pieces of lithic valley next to the Valmaíllo-Lontanar alluvial sys- industry were recovered. Fifteen types of raw tem would have been vertically very close to the material were documented, although six account settlement. Under level F there are at least 2m of for the highest percentages of use: quartz, flint, gravel and siliceous sand allochthonous fluvial fa- quartzite, porfid, rock crystal and sandstone. Ap- cies deposited by the Valmaíllo stream (Fig. 2). proximately 77% of the tools are made of quartz. The association of large mammals in levels D The products made of the different raw materials and F has only been studied in part. The majority are similar (Márquez et al., 2013). of the fauna remains studied belong to medium- The majority of these materials can be found to-large animals. Provisionally, the taxa represented in the surrounding area of the sites, from grav- include Dama dama , Cervus elaphus , Bos primige- el deposits from the Lontanar and Valmaíllo nius, Equus ferus, Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Vulpes streams and the river Lozoya. As flint does not vulpes, Oryctolagus cuniculus , Lepus sp. Chelonia in- appear in these deposits or in the Cretaceous det (Arriaza 2011; Huguet et al., 2010; Baquedano facies of the valley, they might have come from et al., 2010; Baquedano et al., 2011-2012). Cretaceous or Miocene outcrops in the Duero The preliminary taphonomic studies show a basin, to the north, or from the Madrid basin, to high frequency of fresh bone fractures. A number the south. of fragments show impact marks, hammerstone There are hardly any traces of the use of a soft marks and cut marks, which indicate a high level of hammerstone for knapping tools but a hard ham- anthropic activity (Baquedano et al., 2011-2012, merstone is frequently used, as well as bipolar Márquez et al., 2013). The low presence of axial knapping on an anvil. In this respect, the presence skeleton elements indicates selective transport of of pink porfid anvils has been documented in the prey by hominids from the place of procurement site. to the place of consumption. The main knapping techniques used in Nav- The presence of carnivores is irrelevant in the almaíllo Rock Shelter were bifacial and unifacial Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter and it seems that when combined with centripetal techniques, unipolar- they had access to prey, this was in a secondary longitudinal, orthogonal, Levallois and discoid. way. The carnivores in Navalmaíllo probably ac- cessed the site in search of remains abandoned by The rock crystal and flint cores are those that are the hominids. most frequently knapped using a bifacial-centripetal technique. The majority of the materials were There is a clear presence of hearths in level F, a knapped in the site, the operating sequence being and b. Micromorphology studies of the hearths in complete in general, expect for perhaps flint and levels a and b indicate post depositional process- sandstone. es that slightly shifted the remains (Goldberg and Mallol 2006). As it has only been partially excavat- The largest flakes were usually chosen for re- ed, there is no evidence of any remains of the near- touch. Among the retouched objects, denticulate est combustion structure from which the excavated tools are the most common, followed by notches hearths could have come. Regarding the hearths in and racloirs (Fig. 3). level F, five have been found so far, which seem to A noteworthy characteristic of the Mouste- have a bimodal system, where the smallest are near- rian assemblage at Navalmaíllo is that the tools est to the wall and the largest are further away from are small in general. The intention to make small it (Baquedano et al., 2011-2012). products is clear if we look at the abundant pres- Regarding the lithic industry, in Navalmaíllo rock ence of small cores. The shortage of raw materials shelter several levels contain Mousterian industry: so can be ruled out as the reason behind this be- far, levels D, F, H, a, b, g and C. Level H has only haviour, as there are plenty of these materials in been excavated in part, in a small area in the north the environment, expect for the aforementioned of the Rock Shelter. Levels a, b, g have been docu- flint, the source of which is yet unknown. Use- mented in part in two points in the north and south wear analyses could shed some light on the use of of the Rock Shelter. Level C is still being studied. the small knapped products in Navalmaíllo. PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT: 582 THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Figure 3. Lithic industry at Navalmaíllo rock shelter: a) Trifacial quartz core; b) Unifacial centripetal quartz core; c) Bifa- cial centripetal core; d) Quartz micro-core; e) Levallois flake; f) Sandstone denticulate tool; g) Flint denticulate points; h) Retouched flint flake (Modified by Márquez et al., 2013).

Buena Pinta Cave, Ocelado rock shelter And Des- tion team. Located a few metres south of Naval- Cubierta Cave maíllo rock shelter, it is a small gallery with an el- liptical section of phreatic origin measuring 10 m Buena Pinta Cave was discovered in 2003 as a long, which at the time it was discovered was com- result, as in the case of Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter, pletely ﬁlled with sediment. This gallery is 7-8m of the surveying work undertaken by the excava- above the Valmaíllo stream. CENTRAL PLATEAU 583

Two main units have been distinguished; one Rock Shelter, denticulate tools stand out among the Holocene at the top, which covers the deposits retouched pieces and the use of bipolar knapping on from the Pleistocene. We have C14 AMS (2 sig- an anvil has also been documented (Baquedano et ma) dating values for the Holocene unit between al., 2011-2012). 5,740-5,610 and 1,940-1,800 cal BP. Level 3 of In Buena Pinta Cave two molars assigned to the Pleistocene unit has a TL dating value of 63.4 Homo neanderthalensis have been found in level 3 ± 5.5 ky BP, which would put it in MIS 4 (Ruiz of the site (Huguet et al., 2010). Zapata et al., 2008, 2012). Recently, Torres et al (2014) presented an older dating of 85.5 ± 11.9 In Ocelado rock shelter, a small gallery a few ky BP for the same level of Buena Pinta Cave, ob- metres south of Buena Pinta Cave, fauna remains tained using amino acid racemization. have appeared; these include, once again, hyena remains, which lead us to think of a small den. The excavations performed to date reveal an extremely complex network of facies in the Finally Des-Cubierta Cave was discovered Pleistocene unit, all of which are autochthonous. more recently (2009) and is therefore still being Their stratigraphic relations have not yet been studied. It is a long gallery that runs NW-SE at the well defined (Baquedano et al., 2011-2012). top of Calvero de la Higuera. It contains fillings However, it can be said that fauna remains modi- with lithic materials and fauna remains that cover fied by the activity of large carnivores have been a chronological period from the Middle Pleisto- documented at all levels. Like Camino Cave, cene to the Late Pleistocene. In the oldest levels of hyenas used the cavity as a den (Huguet et al., this site, Laplana et al., (2013) describe an associa- 2010; Baquedano et al., 2011-2012). According tion of unique micromammals compared to those to the preliminary data available, the assemblage known in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, with of large mammals documented at this site is simi- species in this site that reach the southern end of lar to that recovered in Camino Cave, in terms of their distribution during the Middle Pleistocene, conditions of preservation and the species pre- such as Microtus vaufreyi or Microtus agrestis. sent (Arsuaga et al., 2011). The same does not oc- The appearance of various Homo neandertha- cur with the microvertebrate species, particularly, lensis child remains are noteworthy. micromammals. In this case, there is a marked contrast with the associations in Camino Cave due to the presence of species adapted to cold Conclusions climates in Buena Pinta Cave, such as the tun- dra vole ( Microtus oeconomus; Sevilla 2012) and The Pinilla del Valle sites assemblage repre- the steppe pika ( Ochotona pusilla; Laplana et al., sents an almost continuous record of the final 2009) and others, not present in the former. This stages of the Middle Pleistocene, represented in data suggests colder formation conditions for the some sectors of Des-Cubierta Cave, and the ma- site than in Camino Cave, which coincides with jority of the Late Pleistocene, with the succession the climate interpretation for the palynological of Camino Cave-Navalmaíllo rock shelter-Buena sequence (Ruiz Zapata et al., 2008). Pinta Cave - more modern levels of Des-Cubierta In contrast to Camino Cave, evidence of hu- Cave. Its significant paleontological record (pol- man activity has been detected based on the pres- len, carbons, vertebrates) allows us to specify ence of lithic industry, which is more abundant in cold climates and environments that would serve the lower level (5) and outer level (23) of the cave. as a framework for the Neanderthal settlements However, the percentage of bone remains is always in a mountainous region like the Sistema Cen- significantly higher than the presence of lithic re- tral. The study of the archaeological record at mains, human presence at this site being sporadic. the Pinilla del Valle sites also allows us to know Quartz, as happens in the Calvero de la Higuera the characteristics of these settlements, how the sites, is the material preferred for making tools. hominids adapted to their environment and how Flakes that have not been retouched are the most they interacted with it. The fact that they are common, followed by fragments. The cores at Buena sites with different functions gives added interest Pinta Cave have been unifacial, bifacial or trifacial to the assemblage. unipolar longitudinal knapped and less frequently, Some of the sites also have anthropological orthogonal bipolar and opposing bipolar. In general, remains, all of which belong to the H. neander- they are partly formed. As happens in Navalmaíllo thalensis species. By continuing with the ex- PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT: 584 THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

cavation work over the next few years, we will Sports of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. undoubtedly be able to extend the time frame We are grateful to the Ministry of Employment, represented at the Pinilla del Valle sites and in- Tourism and Culture of the Autonomous Com- crease the archaeological and paleobiological re- munity of Madrid for the funding. The General cord, thereby helping to enhance our knowledge Foundation of the University of Alcalá executes of this chronological period in the centre of the ﬁnancial management of the project. The authors Iberian Peninsula. would also like to thank Mahou-San Miguel S.A. for its work as sponsor, and to the Peñalara Nature Acknowledgments Reserve, Pinilla del Valle Town Hall and Canal de This study has been conducted in the frame- Isabel II for their collaboration. .Finally, we would work of the S2010/BMD-2330 project funded like to thank the Pinilla del Valle excavation team by the R and D activity programme for research for its work, without which this publication would groups of the Ministry of Education, Youth and not have been possible.

Marcos Terradillos-Bernal*,**, J. Carlos Díez Fernández-Lomana*, Jesús-Francisco Jordá Pardo***, San Quirce (Palencia, Spain), a Middle Alfonso Benito-Calvo****, Ignacio Clemente*****, Alexandra Hilgers****** Paleolithic site on the northern plateau

1. Introduction and Background 2. Context

Surveys were conducted in the 1980s and 1990s The San Quirce Paleolithic site is located in to identify prehistoric occupations in the middle the extreme north of the Duero Basin (UTM: reaches of the Pisuerga River between Alar del Rey X = 392.828, Y = 4.720.122, Z = 861 m. us- and Astudillo (Palencia) (Arnaíz, 1990), which re- ing H30N, reference system ETRS89) on a river sulted in the recovery of many Paleolithic series. terrace +22- 23 m (T9). The context is of great San Quirce was the only excavated site. It was interest since it is located in a strategic contact discovered during the preparation of a gravel pit. area between the Cantabrian Mountains and the The terrace was cut and three profiles were sur- Northern Plateau. Terrace T9 consists of gravel veyed, measuring 35 m (east) and 40 m (north). bars and a clay matrix, mostly by illuviation. Excavation was conducted in two areas, with Four major stratigraphic units were identified: 19,537 lithic artefacts recovered along with two Colluvium (I), colluvium (II), floodplain at the small hearths attributed to the Acheulean period distal end of an alluvial fan (III) and river terrace (Arnaíz, 1996). deposits (IV) (Fig. 1). The current research team resumed the exca- We have obtained an OSL dating sequence be- vations in 2009 in the context of a new survey and tween 74 ± 16 ky in sandy flood deposits (profile research project in the Pisuerga River valley. To E in the quarry and lateral variation of level III) date there have been three excavations. and 154 ± 18 ky in the area excavated on level III

* Área de Prehistoria. Universidad de Burgos [email protected], [email protected] ** Fundación Atapuerca *** Dpto. de Prehistoria y Arqueología. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia **** Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre evolución Humana (CENIEH) ***** Institució Milà i Fontanals-CSIC ****** Institute of Geography – University of Cologne ROBERT SALA RAMOS (EDITOR) EUDALD CARBONELL | JOSÉ MARÍA BERMÚDEZ CASTRO | JUAN LUIS ARSUAGA (COORDINATORS) PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE HUNTER-GATHERERS IN IBERIA AND THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT: THE CURRENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD