The Neandertals of Northeastern Iberia: New Remains from the Cova Del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona)
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Journal of Human Evolution 81 (2015) 13e28 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Human Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhevol The Neandertals of northeastern Iberia: New remains from the Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona) * Rolf Quam a, b, c, , Montserrat Sanz d, Joan Daura d, Kate Robson Brown e, Rebeca García-Gonzalez f, Laura Rodríguez f, g, Heidi Dawson e, Rosa Flor Rodríguez d, Sandra Gomez d, Lucía Villaescusa d, Angel Rubio d, h, Almudena Yagüe d, María Cruz Ortega Martínez b, Josep Maria Fullola i,Joao~ Zilhao~ i, j, Juan Luis Arsuaga b, k a Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA b Centro UCM-ISCIII de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion y Comportamiento Humanos, Avda. Monforte de Lemos, 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain c Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, NY 10024-5192, USA d Grup de Recerca del Quaternari-Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistoriques, Dept. Prehistoria, H. Antiga i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Historia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Montalegre, 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain e Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK f Departamento de Ciencias Historicas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, Facultad de Humanidades y Educacion, 09001 Burgos, Spain g Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca s/n, 09002 Burgos, Spain h Laboratorio de Antropología, Depto de Medicina Legal, Toxicología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada, Av de Madrid, 11, 18012 Granada, Spain i Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistoriques, Dept. Prehistoria, H. Antiga i Arqueologia, Facultat de Geografia i Historia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/Montalegre, 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain j Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain k Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geologicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain article info abstract Article history: The present study describes a new juvenile hominin mandible and teeth and a new juvenile humerus Received 21 June 2014 from level V of the GP2 gallery of Cova del Gegant (Spain). The mandible (Gegant-5) preserves a portion Accepted 5 February 2015 of the right mandibular corpus from the M1 distally to the socket for the dc mesially, and the age at Available online 9 March 2015 death is estimated as 4.5e5.0 years. Gegant-5 shows a single mental foramen located under the dm1/ dm2 interdental septum, a relatively posterior placement compared with recent hominins of a similar Keywords: developmental age. The mental foramen in Gegant-5 is also placed within the lower half of the Homo neanderthalensis mandibular corpus, as in the previously described late adolescent/adult mandible (Gegant-1) from this Tooth Mandible same Middle Paleolithic site. The Gegant-5 canine shows pronounced marginal ridges, a distal accessory Humerus ridge, and a pronounced distolingual tubercle. The P3 shows a lingually-displaced protoconid cusp tip Upper Pleistocene and a distal accessory ridge. The P4 shows a slightly asymmetrical crown outline, a continuous trans- Iberian Peninsula verse crest, a mesially placed metaconid cusp tip, a slight distal accessory ridge, and an accessory lingual cusp. The M1 shows a Y5 pattern of cusp contact and a well-developed and deep anterior fovea bounded posteriorly by a continuous midtrigonid crest. Gegant-4 is the distal portion of a left humerus from a juvenile estimated to be between 5 and 7 years old at death. The specimen shows thick cortical bone. Although fragmentary, the constellation of morphological and metric features indicates Neandertal af- finities for these specimens. Their spatial proximity at the site and similar ages at death suggest these remains may represent a single individual. The addition of these new specimens brings the total number of Neandertal remains from the Cova del Gegant to five, and this site documents the clearest evidence for Neandertal fossils associated with Middle Paleolithic stone tools in this region of the Iberian Peninsula. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Quam). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.002 0047-2484/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 14 R. Quam et al. / Journal of Human Evolution 81 (2015) 13e28 Introduction most important karstic systems of NE Iberia, is composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone and dolomite. The site is currently During the last two decades, numerous archaeological sites in accessible both from the sea and through a natural vertical shaft. It the northeast (NE) of the Iberian Peninsula have documented consists of a principal chamber (GP), now eroded by wave action, Neandertal occupations at rock shelters, open-air sites, and caves and its inner part (GP1 and GP2), where a small conduit (GLT) leads during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5e3. Recent research at Abric to the adjacent Cova Llarga. Two galleries branch off of the right Romaní (Vallverdú et al., 2005; Camps and Higham, 2012), Roca side of GP, one more interiorly (GL2) and the other nearer to the sea dels Bous (Martínez Moreno et al., 2010), and Cova Gran de Santa (GL1). Linya (Mora et al., 2011) has contributed to debates on the Middle to At least eight site formation episodes from the Upper Pleisto- Upper Paleolithic transition focusing on radiocarbon dating (Camps cene (Episodes 0e3) to the Holocene (Episodes 4e7) have been and Higham, 2012; Maroto et al., 2012; Vaquero and Carbonell, recognized in the Cova del Gegant stratigraphic sequence, alter- 2012), lithic technology (Thiebaut et al., 2012) and its variability nating between continental sediment deposition and periods of (Mora et al., 2008), and stratigraphic sequences (Martínez Moreno marine erosion followed by the accumulation of beach deposits et al., 2010). However, Neandertal fossils remain scant, especially (Daura et al., 2010). This framework makes it possible to establish when compared to the southern Mediterranean coast (Arsuaga correlations between the deposits that yielded the Neandertal re- et al., 1989, 2001, 2007, 2012; Garralda, 2005; Walker et al., 2008, mains and those located elsewhere in the cave (Table 1). The 2010, 2011a, 2011b, 2012). The relative rarity of hominin remains Gegant-1 mandible and the Gegant-2 incisor come from the same can be explained by (i) the small number of archaeological sites gallery (GL1) and likely derive from the same layer (XV). Thus, they excavated, (ii) site function, (iii) the low intensity of occupations, may have been in close spatial proximity (Daura and Sanz, (iv) behavioral patterns, and/or (v) sampling bias. 2011e2012), and correspond to Episode 2 or 3. The archaeological Hitherto, Neandertal remains from this northeastern area were sequence in this part of the site has been dated to between limited to the Cova de Mollet isolated tooth, the Banyoles mandible, 49.4 ± 1.8 ka and 60.0 ± 3.9 ka (two and one sigma errors, and the Cova del Gegant mandible and isolated tooth. Although the respectively; Daura et al., 2010). The Gegant-2 incisor falls within stratigraphic provenance of the hominin molar from Cova Mollet is this time range, while the Gegant-1 mandible has been directly uncertain (Maroto et al., 1987; Cortada and Maroto, 1990), a recent dated by U-series to 52.3 ± 2.3 ka (2 sigma error). study, based on the degree of fossilization and the sediment The Neandertal remains described here (Gegant-4 and Gegant- adhering to the tooth, places it in Layer 5 from the site, which 5) were recovered in layer V of the GP2 gallery, which contains possibly dates to MIS 7 (ca. 215 ka; Maroto et al., 2012). The most intact deposits in the rear part of the main conduit. This layer accepted date for the Banyoles mandible is ca. 45 ka obtained for overlies the rocky floor of the cave, and it is possible that it once the encasing travertine by Julia and Bischoff (1991), but there is filled most of the principal chamber (GP); it consists of dark ongoing disagreement as to both its true chronological ascription brown to black lutites and sands with faunal remains, a few stone (Grün et al., 2006) and its taxonomic status (Alcazar de Velazco tools, and a large number of coprolites. In the chronostratigraphic et al., 2011). At Cova del Gegant (Fig. 1), the Neandertal fossils framework proposed for Cova del Gegant (Daura et al., 2010), came from sediments that also contained Mousterian stone tools these new hominin remains belong to Episode 1. The Gegant-3 and Pleistocene faunal remains (Daura et al., 2005; Rodríguez et al., central incisor germ also likely comes from this same level and 2011). episode but in GL2. A small sample was removed from the The Cova del Gegant specimens were recovered during a thor- Gegant-4 humerus for DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating at ough revision of the faunal material excavated in the gallery closer Oxford (P-27870), but no results were obtained due to low to the sea (GL1; Fig. 1) in the 1950s (Arxiu Historic Municipal de collagen yield. Nevertheless, Episode 1 at the site has been dated Sitges, AHSI) and in the 1970s (Paleontological Collections, Natural to 55.7 ± 4.8 ka by the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) History Museum of Barcelona, MGB). These remains correspond to technique (Daura et al., 2010), suggesting that all the hominin an adolescent/adult hominin mandible (Gegant-1; Daura et al., remains from the Cova del Gegant are roughly similar in 2005, 2010; Arsuaga et al., 2011) and an isolated lower lateral chronology. incisor (Gegant-2; Rodríguez et al., 2011; Sanz, 2013). Martínez Although there is clear evidence of hominin activity at the site Moreno (1990) mentions a central incisor germ (Gegant-3) from a in the form of hearths (GP2) (Sanz, 2013), hominin presence was different gallery (GL2; Fig.