Rosa Rubicondior: Anthropology

Showing posts with label Anthropology. Show all posts

Saturday, 9 November 2024

Refuting Creationism - What Did The Denisovans Ever Do For Us?

Denisovan Girl Reconstruction (Smithsonian)

Artwork by Mayaan Harel, Mayaan Visuals.

New insights into the Denisovans – the new hominin group that interbred with modern day humans - News & Events | Trinity College Dublin

In marked contrast to the childish creationist notion of a single founder couple being magically created without ancestors 6-10,000 years ago, evidence is growing that one ancestral species that contributes some of its DNA to modern non-African humans, the Denisovans, were once widespread especially in Southeast Asia and may have reached South America, or at least people carrying some Denisovan DNA may have done, but not via the traditional route - Siberia, Beringia and Alaska - followed by later Homo sapiens.

My understanding is that they and Neanderthals were most likely direct descendants of H. erectus that migrated out of Africa some 2 million years ago and gave rise to the Denisovans in Eastern Eurasia and Neanderthals in Western Eurasia. These two then interbreed with the H. sapiens migrants as they came up out of Africa and spread throughout Eurasia and down to Melanesia, Austronesia and Oceania.

So, rather than a single ancestral couple magically created out of dirt, without ancestors, as creationists believe, modern non-African humans don't have an ancestral couple, they don't even have a single ancestral species but are the result of hybridization between at least three ancestral species.

There is also evidence, according to two researchers from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, that there may have been several regional populations of Denisovans, each of which contributed to the Homo sapiens genome at different times. As with other hominin species, they were diversifying as they spread in what may have been the beginnings of classical allopatric speciation.

The Denisovan DNA that was retained by H. sapiens as they migrated into the different environments in Asia was that which gave them an advantage, such as the ability to survive in the low oxygen partial pressure of the Tibetan Plateau - something that the Tibetans have inherited - immunity to certain endemic pathogens and an improved ability to keep their body temperature up during cold weather by burning stored body fats - something that Innuits have inherited.

Refuting Creationism - The Japanese People Didn't Notice Noah's Genocidal Flood!

Human remains from the Yayoi period, approximately 2,300 years ago, from which DNA was extracted.

Map of Japan showing Sakhalin (far north) and the Kuril and Ryukyu Islands

Google Map

Traces of ancient immigration patterns to Japan found in 2000-year-old genome | SCHOOL OF SCIENCE THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

Being parochial Bronze Age pastoralists who knew about nothing and nowhere that was more than a day or two's walk from their hill pastures in Canaan, those who made up the Hebrew creation myths could not possibly have been aware that there were other cultures in far-away places like China, Korea and Japan, which had ancient histories going way back before the myth-makers thought Earth was created, and which were unscathed by an global flood at the time in which they set that tale.

Had they been aware of them, they could have made up slightly more plausible myths with a more realistic timeline, instead of requiring their believers to try to compress everything that's happened in the entire 14-billion-year-old Universe into 10,000 years.

But how could they have done so when they had no-one to teach them the real history of the planet and the people living on it? All they had was their own limited imagination and a handful if inherited myths from neighbouring culture, like Egypt and Sumeria, for theirs was a backward, illiterate culture from the fearful infancy of our species, dependent on oral traditions and superstitions.

How could they possibly have known, for example, that a population of humans had been more or less isolated for about 6,500 years, ending at about the time the myth-makers believed Earth was made out of nothing by magic, complete with a dome over it to cover the small, flat place they called home? They would have known nothing about immigration from China or from the Korean Peninsula into the Japanese archipelago that brought this period of isolation to an end and probably resulted in the present-day population of Japan.

So, of course, they saw nothing wrong with inventing a tale about a genocidal flood killing everyone apart from 8 related survivors, or of building a tower to reach above the dome or about a panicking god making them all speak different languages so they couldn't work in cooperative groups any more, and yet, if their tale is to be believed, the descendants of those few survivors, all speaking different languages, migrated to places like China, Korea and Japan where they all adopted the local language and writing that had been used for several thousand years, forgot all about Noah and his flood and invented new gods and religions, whereas the myth-makers of Canaan remembered it all word-perfect in every detail...

So, how do we know the record they left was wrong?

Refuting Creationism - Humans Were Using Fire In Southeast Asia 42,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Fossils and fires: insights into early modern human activity in the jungles of Southeast Asia – News

At the same time that creationists believe their small god was making a universe consisting of a small flat planet with a dome over it in the Middle East, then magicking a man a d a woman without ancestors, real humans were living in the jungles of Southeast Asia and making camp fires, around which they were probably making up origin myths just like the Middle Eastern Bronze Age pastoralists did. The difference was, their myths didn't get written down and included in a book declared to be the inerrant word of a magic man in the sky, so they aren't available to fool gullible people with today.

Instead, they left tangible records of their activities that scientists are now discovering and dating to between 52,000 and 10,000 years ago; records moreover that if the campfire tales of the Middle East had any truth in them would have been swept away and destroyed or covered with a deep layer of silt containing the bodies and remains of the animals and plants destroyed in the mythical global genocidal flood inflicted on the planet by an irascible magic despot.

Ironically, the human remains found buried in sediment in a cave floor were probably washed into the cave by a local flood, so all the other fossils at that location are also of local species, not the world-wide jumble that a global flood would have produced.

Tell me about the prehistoric history of the humans who occupied the Tam Pà Ling cave in Laos, please. The Tam Pà Ling cave, located in northern Laos, has yielded some of the most significant prehistoric human remains in Southeast Asia, providing key insights into the early human migrations in the region. The cave, whose name means "Cave of the Monkeys," sits at around 1,170 meters above sea level in the Annamite Mountains, making it an ideal site for shelter during prehistoric times.

Key Findings and Human Occupation
The site became famous when researchers unearthed several human fossils, including a cranium and jawbones, that have been radiocarbon dated between 46,000 and 63,000 years ago. These discoveries suggest that anatomically modern humans (*Homo sapiens*) were present in Southeast Asia much earlier than previously believed. The remains from Tam Pà Ling are considered some of the oldest evidence of modern humans in mainland Asia.

Significance in Human Migration
The fossils found in Tam Pà Ling have played an essential role in understanding the "Out of Africa" migration, where *Homo sapiens* spread from Africa to the rest of the world. The cave’s location, relatively close to the Mekong River, is thought to have been part of a corridor that early humans used as they moved from Africa through the Middle East, into South Asia, and ultimately into Southeast Asia and Australia.

The discovery of such early modern human remains in Laos supports the theory that early humans reached Southeast Asia via inland routes, rather than following only coastal paths. This inland route theory aligns with the ecological diversity of the region, which would have provided rich resources for early hunter-gatherer groups.

Anatomical Evidence
The fossils found in Tam Pà Ling are distinctly modern in their features. The skulls exhibit traits that are fully consistent with *Homo sapiens*, such as a high forehead, rounded braincase, and small, flat faces. However, some subtle characteristics, like thicker bones and robustness, indicate potential regional adaptations or the influence of archaic hominins like *Homo erectus* or *Denisovans*, both of whom were known to have existed in the broader region.

Cultural Context
No significant cultural artifacts, such as tools or other evidence of complex human behavior, have been found alongside the fossils in Tam Pà Ling, which leaves some aspects of the lives of these early inhabitants uncertain. Nonetheless, their presence in the cave hints at how early humans adapted to diverse environments—ranging from highland caves like Tam Pà Ling to coastal areas.

Importance in the Global Human Evolution Story
The discovery of these early human remains in Tam Pà Ling has contributed to the global conversation on human evolution. It suggests that *Homo sapiens* coexisted with archaic hominins in Asia longer than once thought. It also challenges the idea that humans primarily spread through coastal routes, indicating that Southeast Asia was likely populated by multiple waves of migration, using both coastal and inland routes.

The Tam Pà Ling site remains an important location for understanding the complexity of early human migration and the spread of *Homo sapiens* across the globe.

The cave is the Tam Pà Ling cave, located in northern Laos where Laotian, French, American and Australian archaeologists have been working for some 14 years to unearth the secrets contained in it.

Now a new study, led by PhD candidate Vito Hernandez and Associate Professor Mike Morley from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, SA, Australia, has reconstructed the ground conditions inside the cave between 52,000 and 10,000 years ago. They have just published their findings in Quaternary Science Reviews and announced them in a Flinders University news release:

Fossils and fires: insights into early modern human activity in the jungles of Southeast Asia
Studying microscopic layers of dirt dug from the Tam Pà Ling cave site in northeastern Laos has provided a team of Flinders University archaeologists and their international colleagues further insights into some of the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia.
The site, which has been studied for the past 14 years by a team of Laotian, French, American and Australian scientists, has produced some of the earliest fossil evidence of our direct ancestors in Southeast Asia.

Excavation of the Tam Pà Ling cave

Now a new study, led by PhD candidate Vito Hernandez and Associate Professor Mike Morley from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, has reconstructed the ground conditions in the cave between 52,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Using a technique known as microstratigraphy at the Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory, we were able to reconstruct the cave conditions in the past and identify traces of human activities in and around Tam Pà Ling. This also helped us to determine the precise circumstances by which some of the earliest modern human fossils found in Southeast Asia were deposited deep inside.

Vito C Hernandez, co-lead author
Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Flinders University, South Australia, Australia.

Microstratigraphy allows scientists to study dirt in its smallest detail, enabling them to observe structures and features that preserve information about past environments and even traces of human and animal activity that may have been overlooked during the excavation process due to their minuscule size.

The human fossils discovered at Tam Pà Ling were deposited in the cave between 86,000–30,000 years ago but until now, researchers had not conducted a detailed analysis of the sediments surrounding these fossils to gain an understanding of how they were deposited in the cave or the environmental conditions at the time.

Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, the findings reveal conditions in the cave fluctuated dramatically, going from a temperate climate with frequent wet ground conditions to becoming seasonally dry.

This change in environment influenced the cave’s interior topography and would have impacted how sediments, including human fossils, were deposited within the cave. How early Homo sapiens came to be buried deep within the cave has long been debated, but our sediment analysis indicates that the fossils were washed into the cave as loose sediments and debris accumulating over time, likely carried by water from surrounding hillsides during periods of heavy rainfall.

Associate Professor ,” says Associate Professor W.M. Morley, co-lead author
Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory
College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Flinders University, South Australia, Australia.

The team also identified preserved micro-traces of charcoal and ash in the cave sediments, suggesting that either forest fires occurred in the region during the drier periods, or that humans visiting the cave may have used fire, either in the cave or near the entrance.

This research has allowed our team to develop unprecedented insights into the dynamics of our ancestors as they dispersed through the ever-changing forest covers of Southeast Asia, and during periods of variable regional climate instability.

,Assistant Professor Fabrice Demeter, co-author
Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre
Globe Institute
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Publication:
VC Hernandez, MW Morley, AM Bacon, P Duringer, KE Westaway, R Joannes-Boyau, JL Ponche, C Zanolli, P Sichanthongtip, S Boualaphane, T Luangkhoth, JJ Hublin, F Demeter
Late Pleistocene–Holocene (52–10 ka) microstratigraphy, fossil taphonomy and depositional environments from Tam Pa Ling cave (northeastern Laos) Quaternary Science Reviews (2024) 108982. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108982

Highlights

Late Pleistocene-Holocene cave sediments from Tam Pà Ling, northeastern Laos, were geoarchaeologically investigated.
Microstratigraphic analyses were employed.
Ground and ambient conditions vary in the cave ∼52–10 ka.

Abstract
Fossil evidence for some of the earliest Homo sapiens presence in mainland Southeast Asia have been recovered from Tam Pà Ling (TPL) cave, northeastern Laos. Taphonomic indicators suggest that these human fossils washed into TPL via gradual colluviation at varying times between MIS 5–3, yet no attempt has been made to situate them within the depositional environments of the cave within these periods. This has precluded a deeper appreciation of their presence there and in the surrounding landscape. In this first microstratigraphic study of TPL, we primarily use sediment micromorphology to reconstruct the depositional environments of the cave, relate these environments with the taphonomic history of the human fossils recovered from the upper 4 m of the excavated sequence, and explore how the sediments can better explain the presence of these humans in the area during MIS 3–1 (52–10 ka). Our results demonstrate changes in local ambient conditions from being temperate to arid, with ground conditions often wet during MIS 3 and becoming increasingly seasonal (wet-dry) during MIS 2–1. The changing cave conditions impacted its interior topography and influenced the way sediments (and fossils) were deposited. Preserved combustion biproducts identified in the sediments suggest two possible scenarios, one where small forest fires may have occurred during periods of regional aridity and/or another where humans visited the cave.

1. Introduction
The excavations in Tam Pà Ling (Cave of Monkeys), northeastern Laos (Fig. 1A), have unearthed a fossil assemblage of Homo sapiens that is unique for the study of Late Pleistocene human evolution in Southeast Asia (SEA) (Demeter et al., 2012; Demeter et al., 2015; Demeter et al., 2017; Shackelford et al., 2018; Freidline et al., 2023). The fossil assemblage is formed of a partial cranium (TPL1), two mandibles (TPL2, TPL3), a partial rib (TPL4), a proximal pedal phalanx (TPL5), a partial frontal (TPL6), and a tibial fragment (TPL7), all excavated from a trench situated deep inside the cave. Although disarticulated, the fossils otherwise display minimal evidence of remobilisation or physical abrasion, a rare occurrence from the region (Lee and Hudock, 2021; Sawafuji et al., 2024). As such, the fossils have helped demonstrate the major morphological variations that existed between the different populations of Homo sapiens in SEA during the Late Pleistocene (Demeter et al., 2017), consequently making Tam Pà Ling (TPL) a key site for the study of the evolution and dispersal of our species in the Far East (Matsumura et al., 2019; Demeter and Bae, 2020; Hublin, 2021.1; McAllister et al., 2022; Sawafuji et al., 2024).

Fig. 1. (A) Location of Tam Pà Ling (20°12′33.41"N, 103°24′22.02"E). Red square indicates the study area. (B) Pà Hang hill with Tam Pà Ling and other studied sites labelled (Photograph: P. Duringer) (C) Access to T3 (lit area) (Photograph: V.C. Hernandez). (D) Plan of Tam Pà Ling (Redrawn after J.-L. Ponche and P. Duringer). (E) Studied section showing locations of micromorphological sampling and levels where TPL1, 2, and 5 were recovered (dashed orange line)
Photograph V.C. Hernandez.
The TPL fossils represent some of the earliest evidence for Homo sapiens in continental SEA, deposited in the cave at different times between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5b and MIS 3 (∼87–30 ka) (Freidline et al., 2023). Although some of the fossils have been directly dated via uranium–thorium methods, their dates are reported only as minimum age estimates (Demeter et al., 2012, 2015). This is largely due to the unaccounted profiles of uranium from the sampled deposits, noting that tropical environments hold the potential of enhancing heterogeneous distribution of uranium in bones that are chemically weathered in situ. Hence, the modelled depositional ages (2σ) of the containing sediment matrix are preferred when referring to the age of the fossils, with the oldest returned age estimate being ∼86 ka, supporting a much earlier dispersal of Homo sapiens into SEA than previously known. Details of the modelled depositional chronology of TPL are published in Freidline et al. (2023). Whereas palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the landscape surrounding TPL have provided some context to understand the early dispersal of Homo sapiens in SEA (Milano et al., 2018.1; Bourgon et al., 2021.2; McAllister-Hayward et al., 2024.1), there is still very little understanding of their presence at the site and in the local catchment, other than the occurrence of the fossils. This largely precludes the development of more detailed scenarios for the early Homo sapiens settlement of Asia (Dennell, 2017.1) and achieving a better understanding of their adaptations to environmental changes in tropical landscapes, which are argued to play an important role in human evolution and dispersals in the deep past (Scerri et al., 2022.1 and references therein). In SEA, such knowledge remains elusive due to the limited evidence from the Pleistocene archaeological record and the current resolution of ages that frame the presence of humans at many of the studied sites.

While the ages of the fossils from TPL are well-constrained, the absence of artefacts or occupation surfaces found to date suggests that humans did not intensively occupy the cave during the Late Pleistocene. However, evidence of human presence and occupation at neighbouring sites spanning the Middle Pleistocene to Late Holocene (Demeter et al., 2009; Patole-Edoumba, 2015.1; Bacon et al., 2021.3; Demeter et al., 2022.2, Fig. 1B), and the presence of the fossils from TPL, suggest that humans may have at least visited sporadically or used the cave in the past, even briefly. If so, then traces of their activities from the entrance or even inside might still be preserved, although likely in small quantities, probably degraded, diagenetically altered, or buried beneath limestone slabs.

The research at TPL has simultaneously highlighted the scientific challenges of understanding archaeological site formation processes in the hot and humid tropics (Morley and Goldberg, 2017.2 and references therein), and the need to better understand geomorphological processes that affect the interpretation and dating of fossils from cave sites (Liu et al., 2015.2; Westaway et al., 2017.3; Yao et al., 2020.1). These challenges are made more difficult by the erratic preservation of organic materials in tropical cave environments (Louys et al., 2017.4 and references therein; Smith et al., 2020.2 and references therein), and therefore demand the systematic evaluation of the stratigraphy of a site with the potential to yield bioarchaeological data (e.g., aDNA, proteins) that can inform about humans and their environments in the past (Massilani et al., 2022.3; Morley et al., 2023.1; Aldeias and Stahlschmidt, 2024.2). It is for these reasons that there is a need to better understand the stratigraphy of TPL at various spatial scales (vertical and horizontal) and at finer resolution, with research from other sites in SEA suggesting a geoarchaeology-focused approach to achieve this (O'Connor et al., 2010; Morley, 2017.5).

Sediment micromorphology (microstratigraphy) is one method employed in geoarchaeological research that can help to better understand the geomorphological and site formation processes governing TPL. Research employing this method to study the critical sites for understanding early human evolution and dispersals in SEA show that microstratigraphy can provide a more nuanced picture of local environments in the past, help to reveal more about human adaptations to the different environmental conditions that existed, and temporally resolve the presence of humans on-site and in the immediate catchment (Stephens et al., 2005, 2017.6; Lewis, 2007; Brasseur et al., 2015.3; Mijares, 2017.7; Morley et al., 2017.8; McAdams et al., 2020.3; Anderson et al., 2024.3; Shipton et al., 2024.4). With these in mind, a program of microstratigraphic analysis at TPL was initiated to gain further insights into the history of the site and the taphonomy of the Homo sapiens fossils recovered from there.

To improve the understanding of the history of the site and taphonomy of Homo sapiens fossils recovered from TPL we link the results of the microstratigraphic analysis with loss-on-ignition (LOI) and magnetic susceptibility (χ) analysis of sediments. Both methods provide quick to obtain and accurate determinations of geochemical characteristics that can complement the interpretation of the microstratigraphic record (Stoops, 1978; Macphail and Goldberg, 2017.9). LOI, for instance, has complemented microstratigraphic analysis of archaeological cave sites in Malaysia, northern Vietnam and Thailand, resulting in a clearer understanding of the depositional environments that existed in these caves in the past (Hunt et al., 2007.1; Stephens et al., 2016; McAdams et al., 2020.3; Saminpanya and Denkitkul, 2020.4). While χ has been used at TPL to infer moisture availability that helped to reconstruct the vegetation surrounding the cave during the Late Pleistocene (Milano et al., 2018.1) and allowed insights into the timing of sediment delivery into the cave during periods of strengthened monsoons (Freidline et al., 2023). By linking the results of these analyses with that of the microstratigraphy, it is hoped that a clearer understanding of site formation and better explanation of the presence of humans at TPL is achieved.

Here, we present the results of the program to analyse the microstratigraphy, LOI and χ of sediments in TPL. Our geoarchaeological work aims to prove the efficacy of a microstratigraphic approach to understanding the important stratigraphy of the site by reconstructing its ground conditions, clarifying the taphonomic history of the fossils related to the depositional history of the cave, and exploring the potential archaeology within its sediments. By doing so, we try to resolve how past conditions in TPL (sediment, cave, and catchment) affect the interpretation of human presence at the site and explore how this information changes the narrative of Late Pleistocene human evolution and dispersals in the Far East. We focus the analyses on the upper 4 m Late Pleistocene–Holocene sediment sequence exposed in the 7 m-deep excavation inside the cave. This upper sequence was securely dated to between 46 ± 6 ka and 13 ± 3 ka (Freidline et al., 2023) and was where the human fossils TPL1, 2 and 5 were recovered (Demeter et al., 2012, Demeter et al., 2015, Demeter et al., 2017).

The refutation of creationism continues unabated. Not only were there people living in South East Asia tens of thousands of years before creationists think Earth was created by magic, but the remains proving it were washed into the cave by a local flood, which, had it been anything resembling creationism's favourite genocidal flood, would also have washed in non-local debris. And that simply never happened, then or later.

And, to make it doubly difficult for creationists to explain without the usual lies and misrepresentations of the dating methods used, the authors have allowed for possible errors by using the minimum ages of the fossils. In other words, if creationists are right about errors in the dating methods, these fossils are even older than creationists dogma says they should be.

And so creationism staggers on under the load of yet more evidence that it is just a childish fairytale.

Refuting Creationism - Oldest Modern Human DNA Ever Recovered From South Africa - From About The Time Of 'Creation Week'!

Oldest DNA from South Africa decoded to date | Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Cape Point promontory, Cape Point Nature reserve, South Africa

A San family group.

Just as creationism's legendary creator god was creating a small flat planet with a dome over it in the Middle East, there were modern humans living (or rather dying) in South Africa.

A team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and including palaeoanthropologists from University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, have now succeeded in reconstructing the genomes from the remains of 13 individuals who died between 1,300 and 10,000 years ago, including the oldest human genome from South Africa to date.

If the creation myth had any element of truth in it, humans would have radiated from the legendary founder couple to form a thriving community living in a rock shelter in South Africa's Cape Province. Moreover, the evidence now shows that these people were isolated from the rest of humanity for many thousands of years.

Refuting Creationism - How Modern Humans Spread Across Europe Thousands Of Years Before 'Creation Week'

The distributions of density in (P 100 km−2) for a 43, b 42, c 41, d 40, e 39 and f 38 ka are shown. The symbols represent the AUR archaeological sites for different phases (full black dots: Phase 1; open circle: Phase 2; and red triangles: Core sites).

New population model identifies phases of human dispersal across Europe

There are of course, very many things Bible-literalist creationists need to ignore, lie about and/or misrepresent to maintain the delusion of Earth being just a few thousand years old, not the least of which is the abundant geological and archaeological evidence of human activity long before they believe Earth was created by magic out of nothing in the so-called 'Creation Week'.

Their handicap is in trying to compress the entire 13.8 billion year history of the Universe, the 3.8 billion year history of planet Earth and the 2-3 million year history of human evolution, into 10,000 or fewer years, and then trying to ignore the evidence of continuous, unbroken cultural history extending from way before a global genocidal flood, right through it and continuing to modern times, as though such a flood never happened.

And, as is normal with science, a paper just published in Nature Communications, gives them more evidence to ignore, lie about and/or misrepresent. It shows the history of early modern human migration across Europe during the Aurignacian (43,000 -32,000 years ago). The research comes from a team from the University of Cologne, Germany, led by Professor Dr Yaping Shao. It is explained in a University of Cologne press release:

Creationism Refuted - What a Mallorcan Cave Tells Us Of Events Before 'Creation Week'.

Close-up view of the submerged stone bridge from Genovesa Cave, Mallorca, Spain

Photo: R. Landreth

What a submerged ancient bridge discovered in a Spanish cave reveals about early human settlement

The Spanish Balearic Island of Mallorca (Majorca), a favourite holiday destination for Brits looking for sun, sea and sand, is composed largely of limestone which lends itself to cave formation and limestone caves lend themselves to stalactite formation.

They also provided shelters for early humans, so the evidence of human presence gives us a good picture of the timing of human migration into the area.

Like 99,9975% of Earth's history, the events recorded in these Mallorcan caves happened in the long pre-'Creation Week' history, long before creationists believe Earth was made out of nothing by magic.

Readers may recall my recent blog post concerning what is known of the changes in biodiversity as the Mediterranean dried up, then flooded again about 5.5 million years ago due to plate tectonic movements. These Mallorcan caves formed after those catastrophic events but still well before creationism's 'Creation Week'.

The stalactites in one cave in particular, the Genovesa Cave at the eastern end of the island hold a record of sea-level changes that correlate with known periods of glaciation and interglacial warmer periods. During periods of glaciation, water was locked up in polar ice and glaciers, so sea-levels fell.

What information do you have on the Genovesa Cave in Mallorca, Spain, and what it tells us of sea-level changes? Genovesa Cave, located on the eastern coast of Mallorca, Spain, is a notable site for studying past sea-level changes due to its unique speleothem formations (such as stalactites and stalagmites) and its position relative to current sea levels.

Key Information About Genovesa Cave

Geological Context:

Genovesa Cave is a partially submerged cave system found on the island of Mallorca, part of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean Sea.
The cave has been naturally formed in limestone rock, a type of carbonate rock that is particularly responsive to changes in sea level.

Evidence of Past Sea-Level Changes:

Speleothem Growth Stages: The most significant evidence for past sea-level changes comes from speleothems, which are mineral deposits formed in caves by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from dripping water. When sea levels rise, the cave becomes submerged, and speleothem growth ceases due to a lack of contact with air. When sea levels fall, the cave is re-exposed to air, allowing speleothems to grow again.
Dating Techniques: Researchers use uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating methods to date these speleothems accurately. The growth and cessation periods can be correlated with known global sea-level fluctuations, such as those associated with glacial and interglacial cycles during the Quaternary period (the last 2.6 million years).

Sea-Level Highstands and Lowstands:

Studies of Genovesa Cave have identified speleothems that formed during several past interglacial periods when sea levels were higher than today. This provides evidence for higher sea levels during warm periods such as the Last Interglacial (about 125,000 years ago).
Conversely, periods when the cave was submerged or when speleothem growth was halted correspond to glacial periods when sea levels were much lower, sometimes up to 120 meters lower than the current level.

Implications for Understanding Sea-Level Changes

Local and Global Sea-Level Correlation:

The data obtained from Genovesa Cave speleothems align well with global records of sea-level changes, such as those derived from coral reefs and marine terraces. This reinforces the idea that the cave provides a reliable local record that reflects broader, global sea-level trends.

Understanding the Mediterranean Sea's Response:

The cave's findings contribute to our understanding of how the Mediterranean Sea responded to global climatic events. During periods of rapid deglaciation, for example, meltwater pulses could have caused rapid sea-level rises, which would be recorded in the cave's geological formations.

Insights into Future Sea-Level Rise:

Studying past sea levels helps scientists predict future changes, particularly in the context of global warming and potential ice sheet melting. The high-resolution records from Genovesa Cave can help refine models of future sea-level rise, especially in understanding how fast and how much sea levels could change.

In Summary

Genovesa Cave in Mallorca is a critical natural archive for studying past sea-level changes, providing both a local record of changes in the Mediterranean and contributing to the understanding of global sea-level fluctuations. The cave's speleothem formations, when dated, tell us about the timing and extent of past sea levels, helping us predict future changes.

Did the cave exist during the Messinian Salinity Crisis and the following Zanclean flood?

Genovesa Cave, like many other karstic cave systems on Mallorca, likely did not exist in its current form during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) and the subsequent Zanclean flood. However, understanding its formation requires a bit of geological context about these events and the development of the cave.

Geological Context of the Messinian Salinity Crisis and Zanclean Flood

Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) (5.96 to 5.33 million years ago):

The MSC was a period when the Mediterranean Sea was largely cut off from the Atlantic Ocean due to tectonic movements, leading to extreme evaporation and a significant drop in sea level. During this time, the Mediterranean became partially or fully desiccated, creating vast salt deposits and deep erosional features (like canyons and river systems) that extended below the current sea level.
Sea levels were drastically lower, estimated to have dropped by as much as 1,500 meters. The drop exposed large portions of the continental shelf and caused significant erosion of the landscape, including the areas around Mallorca.

Zanclean Flood (5.33 million years ago):

The Zanclean flood marked the end of the MSC, when the Strait of Gibraltar reopened, and Atlantic waters rapidly refilled the Mediterranean basin. This event is thought to have raised sea levels in the Mediterranean by up to 1,500 meters over a short period, flooding the previously exposed and desiccated areas.

Did Genovesa Cave Exist During These Events?

Formation of Genovesa Cave:

Genovesa Cave, like many karst caves, formed much later than the Messinian Salinity Crisis and the Zanclean flood. The formation of such caves typically occurs over long periods through the dissolution of limestone by slightly acidic groundwater. This process, known as karstification, is generally linked to periods when the sea level is relatively stable and when the water table is at an appropriate level to facilitate cave development.
Given that the MSC was a period of extreme environmental conditions (both in terms of erosion during the desiccation and rapid flooding during the Zanclean flood), the specific geological setting that would allow for the gradual formation of karstic caves like Genovesa likely did not exist until after these events.

Post-MSC Karst Development:

After the Mediterranean was refilled and the sea level stabilized following the Zanclean flood, conditions would have been more suitable for the formation of karst systems like Genovesa Cave. The Quaternary period, which began about 2.6 million years ago, saw multiple cycles of glacial and interglacial periods, during which fluctuations in sea levels, combined with periods of stability, promoted the development of karst caves in the limestone regions of Mallorca.

Timing of Cave Formation:

The specific timing of the formation of Genovesa Cave is not precisely known, but it is generally accepted that most of the karst caves in Mallorca formed during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) or even more recently. The cave's features and deposits suggest that it has undergone several phases of exposure and submersion due to sea-level changes throughout this period, well after the MSC and Zanclean flood.

Conclusion

Genovesa Cave, in its current form, did not exist during the Messinian Salinity Crisis or the subsequent Zanclean flood. The cave likely formed much later, during the Quaternary period, as conditions became suitable for karstification following the stabilization of Mediterranean sea levels after these dramatic geological events. The MSC and the Zanclean flood were important in shaping the broader landscape of the Mediterranean region, but the specific conditions necessary for the formation of caves like Genovesa developed much later.

What are phreatic overgrowths on Speleothems (POS)?

Phreatic overgrowths on speleothems (POS) are unique mineral deposits that form in coastal cave environments at the interface between freshwater and seawater. These overgrowths are specifically associated with periods when the cave is partially submerged in a mix of fresh and saline water, typically at or near sea level. They provide important clues about past sea-level positions and climate conditions.

Key Characteristics of Phreatic Overgrowths on Speleothems

Definition:

Phreatic overgrowths on speleothems are secondary carbonate deposits, typically composed of minerals like calcite or aragonite. They form on existing speleothems (such as stalactites, stalagmites, or flowstones) when the cave environment is inundated by a fluctuating water table that is influenced by sea level.

Formation Environment:

These overgrowths develop in the "phreatic zone" of caves— the zone that is below the water table and is saturated with water. In coastal caves, this zone is directly affected by sea-level changes. When sea level is stable or fluctuates within a certain range, the mixing zone between freshwater and saline water can lead to mineral precipitation on submerged speleothems.

Mechanism of Formation:

Phreatic overgrowths form due to a process known as "degassing" or "precipitation" when carbon dioxide (CO₂) dissolved in water escapes into the cave air. This loss of CO₂ from water that is saturated with calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) promotes the deposition of calcite or aragonite on existing cave formations.
In coastal caves, the mixing of fresh and saltwater enhances this process. Freshwater entering the cave mixes with seawater, creating conditions where minerals precipitate more readily due to changes in water chemistry, such as shifts in pH, temperature, and CO₂ concentration.

Morphology and Appearance:

Phreatic overgrowths typically form flat or gently sloping horizontal crusts, rims, or coatings on existing cave formations. Their horizontal nature reflects the stable water table level at which they formed.
These deposits can vary in thickness and are often found at multiple levels within the cave, corresponding to different sea levels over time.

Importance of Phreatic Overgrowths on Speleothems

Indicators of Past Sea Levels:

POS are valuable indicators of past sea levels because they form at specific elevations related to the water table, which in coastal environments is closely linked to sea level. By dating these formations using techniques such as uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating, scientists can reconstruct past sea-level positions and determine the timing and magnitude of sea-level changes over thousands to hundreds of thousands of years.

Understanding Paleoclimatic Conditions:

Beyond sea levels, POS can provide insights into broader paleoclimatic conditions. The chemical composition of these overgrowths (e.g., stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon) can offer information about past temperature, rainfall patterns, and even water source characteristics.

Calibrating Sea-Level Rise Models:

The precise dating of phreatic overgrowths helps in calibrating models of sea-level rise, particularly when cross-referenced with other geological and paleoclimatic data, such as coral reefs, marine terraces, and ice cores. This is particularly important for understanding the rate of sea-level rise in response to past climate events, such as glacial and interglacial periods.

Examples of POS Studies

Mediterranean Caves (Mallorca, Spain): In Mallorca, POS have been extensively studied in caves like Genovesa Cave and others along the coast. These formations have been used to map out the history of Mediterranean sea-level changes over the last several hundred thousand years, including periods such as the Last Interglacial (about 125,000 years ago).
Caribbean and Other Coastal Regions: Similar studies have been conducted in coastal caves in the Caribbean and other regions, where POS help reconstruct sea-level fluctuations and regional climate changes.

Summary

Phreatic overgrowths on speleothems are carbonate deposits formed in caves at the interface between freshwater and seawater, directly reflecting past sea levels. They serve as crucial archives for understanding past sea-level changes, climate conditions, and the complex interplay between global climate and regional environmental changes.

In the context of dating caves, what does the following mean?

'A ²³²Th/²³⁸U-²³⁴U/²³⁸U-²³⁰Th/²³⁸U (plotted as a Rosholt A type) isochron age of 5479 ± 120 years B.P.'

The phrase describes the result of a specific type of uranium-thorium dating method used to determine the age of materials, such as carbonate deposits in caves. Let's break down what each part of this phrase means:

Uranium-Thorium (U-Th) Dating Overview

Uranium-Thorium (U-Th) dating also known as Thorium-230 dating is a radiometric dating technique used to determine the age of calcium carbonate materials like speleothems (stalactites, stalagmites, and other cave formations). The method relies on the radioactive decay of uranium isotopes to thorium isotopes. Here's a breakdown of the isotopes involved:

²³⁸U (Uranium-238): The parent isotope, which decays over time into various intermediate daughter isotopes, including ²³⁴U (Uranium-234) and ²³⁰Th (Thorium-230).
²³²Th (Thorium-232): A stable, non-radioactive isotope of thorium that is not involved in the decay chain but can be present in the sample as a contaminant or from initial conditions.

Explanation of the Phrase

"²³²Th/²³⁸U-²³⁴U/²³⁸U-²³⁰Th/²³⁸U":

These ratios represent the proportions of different isotopes present in the sample.

²³²Th/²³⁸U: Indicates the ratio of thorium-232 to uranium-238 in the sample.
²³⁴U/²³⁸U: Indicates the ratio of uranium-234 (an intermediate decay product) to uranium-238.
²³⁰Th/²³⁸U: Indicates the ratio of thorium-230 (the target daughter isotope) to uranium-238.

"Plotted as a Rosholt A type isochron":

An isochron is a graphical method used to determine the age of a sample by plotting the ratios of isotopes against each other. The slope of the line (the isochron) represents the time that has passed since the sample's formation.
"Rosholt A type" refers to a specific type of isochron plot developed by John Rosholt, which plots the ratios of these isotopes in a way that accounts for initial thorium contamination (²³²Th). This method provides a more accurate age by correcting for the presence of any initial, non-radiogenic thorium in the sample.

"Isochron age of 5479 ± 120 years B.P.":

This is the calculated age of the sample, determined by the U-Th dating method using the isochron plot.
5479 years B.P.: This means "5479 years Before Present," where "Before Present" is typically defined as before the year 1950. The sample is estimated to have formed 5479 years ago.
± 120 years: This represents the margin of error or uncertainty in the dating. The true age is likely within the range of 5479 years plus or minus 120 years (i.e., between 5359 and 5599 years ago).

Summary

The phrase refers to a method of dating a cave sample using uranium-thorium dating and an isochron plot (Rosholt A type) to determine that the sample is approximately 5479 years old, with an uncertainty of ±120 years. The use of multiple isotope ratios and the isochron method helps correct for initial contamination and provides a more accurate age estimate.

This allowed stalactites to grow as water containing dissolved minerals seeped through the cave roof and dripped down, evaporating as it did so, and leaving a record of rainfall. During interglacial period, sea-levels rose, submerging the caves and preventing the growth of stalactites, leaving a record of these sea-level rises.

But, apart from these records of climate and sea-level changes, the Genovesa Cave contains a more tangible record - that of human habitation on the island and so of colonisation of the Western Mediterranean and the Iberian peninsula in particular.

It is a submerged stone bridge, built when the sea-levels were lower at the height of the last ice age. The bridge was used to cross a now submerged small lake at a low point in the cave system and must have been deliberately constructed.

Scientists these days rarely, if ever, set out to refute creationist mythology but all do so incidentally, simply by doing what good science does and discovering the facts, and this discovery, by speleogeologists from the University of South Florida, does just that. It is the subject of a recent open access paper in Communications Earth & Environment and a recent news release from the University of South Florida:

What a submerged ancient bridge discovered in a Spanish cave reveals about early human settlement
A new study led by the University of South Florida has shed light on the human colonization of the western Mediterranean, revealing that humans settled there much earlier than previously believed. This research, detailed in a recent issue of the journal, Communications Earth & Environment, challenges long-held assumptions and narrows the gap between the settlement timelines of islands throughout the Mediterranean region.
Reconstructing early human colonization on Mediterranean islands is challenging due to limited archaeological evidence. By studying a 25-foot submerged bridge, an interdisciplinary research team – led by USF geology Professor Bogdan Onac – was able to provide compelling evidence of earlier human activity inside Genovesa Cave, located in the Spanish island of Mallorca.

The presence of this submerged bridge and other artifacts indicates a sophisticated level of activity, implying that early settlers recognized the cave's water resources and strategically built infrastructure to navigate it.

Professor Bogdan P. Onac, Lead author
Karst Research Group
School of Geosciences
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.

The cave, located near Mallorca’s coast, has passages now flooded due to rising sea levels, with distinct calcite encrustations forming during periods of high sea level. These formations, along with a light-colored band on the submerged bridge, serve as proxies for precisely tracking historical sea-level changes and dating the bridge's construction.

Mallorca, despite being the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean, was among the last to be colonized. Previous research suggested human presence as far back as 9,000 years, but inconsistencies and poor preservation of the radiocarbon dated material, such as nearby bones and pottery, led to doubts about these findings. Newer studies have used charcoal, ash and bones found on the island to create a timeline of human settlement about 4,400 years ago. This aligns the timeline of human presence with significant environmental events, such as the extinction of the goat-antelope genus Myotragus balearicus.

By analyzing overgrowths of minerals on the bridge and the elevation of a coloration band on the bridge, Onac and the team discovered the bridge was constructed nearly 6,000 years ago, more than two-thousand years older than the previous estimation – narrowing the timeline gap between eastern and western Mediterranean settlements.

This research underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in uncovering historical truths and advancing our understanding of human history.

Professor Bogdan P. Onac.

This study was supported by several National Science Foundation grants and involved extensive fieldwork, including underwater exploration and precise dating techniques. Onac will continue exploring cave systems, some of which have deposits that formed millions of years ago, so he can identify preindustrial sea levels and examine the impact of modern greenhouse warming on sea-level rise.

This research was done in collaboration with Harvard University, the University of New Mexico and the University of Balearic Islands.

Abstract
Reconstructing early human colonization of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean is challenging due to limited archaeological evidence. Current understanding places human arrival ~4400 years ago. Here, U-series data from phreatic overgrowth on speleothems are combined with the discovery of a submerged bridge in Genovesa Cave that exhibits a distinctive coloration band near its top. The band is at the same depth as the phreatic overgrowth on speleothems (−1.1 meters), both of which indicate a sea-level stillstand between ~6000 and ~5400 years ago. Integrating the bridge depth with a high-resolution Holocene sea-level curve for Mallorca and the dated phreatic overgrowth on speleothems level constrains the construction of the bridge between ~6000 and ~5600 years ago. Subsequent sea-level rise flooded the archeological structure, ruling out later construction dates. This provides evidence for early human presence on the island dating at least 5600 and possibly beyond ~6000 years ago.

Introduction
Mallorca, the main island of the Balearic Archipelago, is the sixth largest in the Mediterranean Sea, yet it was among the last to be colonized¹. An in-depth discussion concerning the earliest colonization of various Mediterranean islands, including Mallorca, may be found in Cherry and Leppard1, Dawson², and Simmons³. Despite extensive research on this topic, there has been considerable disagreement about the timing of the earliest colonization of Mallorca. Radiocarbon dating of bone material excavated from Cova (Cave) de Moleta indicate human presence on the island as early as 7000 calibrated years before present (cal B.P.)⁴. Subsequent age determinations from findings in Cova de Canet, further extended the timeline, suggesting human occupation dating back to approximately 9000 cal B.P.⁵. A series of publications^{6,7,8,9,10,11} revealed inconsistencies regarding the exact stratigraphic position and context of the dated bone (sample KBN-640d12) in Cova de Moleta. Due to the overall poor preservation of the samples and the lack of clear and specific information on this particular radiocarbon-dated sample, Ramis and Alcover⁷ suggested that the bone fragment, initially identified as human, might actually belong to M. balearicus, an endemic bovid. Consequently, this sample was considered not relevant for determining the timing of the island’s colonization. Similarly, the radiocarbon dates from Cova de Canet were considered highly controversial because they originate from a charcoal layer that lacks clear evidence of human activity^7,8. Furthermore, in neither of these caves do the M. balearicus bones show butchery marks, making it difficult to establish a clear link to contemporary human presence2. Due to the aforementioned issues these early results were deemed unreliable^1,8,13.

Several studies have reevaluated most of the previously dated materials and supplemented them with new radiocarbon dates obtained from charcoal, ash, and bones^6,7,9,10. Based on these new results, there is now a consensus that the timeframe for earliest human settlement on the island is between 4600 and 4200 cal B.P.¹⁴.

Dawson2 presents a synthesis of the various lines of argument regarding arrival models in the Balearic islands that includes: (1) Early (~9000 cal B.P.), (2) Intermediate (~7600 cal B.P.), and (3) Late (~5000 cal B.P.) arrival phases. The last two models suggest the existence of stable settlements, yet only the third one has been deemed plausible in the local archeological literature^7,8,14.

While there has been a growing body of evidence revealing progressively earlier human settlements on many islands in the Mediterranean basin, the timeline for the initial human colonization in Mallorca has seen relatively minor adjustments over the past decades^8,15,16. The latest research suggests that this colonization occurred approximately 4400 cal B.P., coinciding with the human-mediated extinction of Myotragus balearicus¹⁴. This conclusion is based on two radiocarbon ages, which provide a relatively narrow time window of 350 years (p > 90%) between the last documented Myotragus bone (4581–4417 cal B.P.) and the first dated sheep bone (4417–4231 cal B.P.). However, it remains challenging to confirm whether the ages of these paleontological remains represent the latest or the earliest such occurrences on the island. Subsequent field work may shed light on this matter.

Our study site is a submerged archeological structure in the Genovesa Cave (also known as Cova de’n Bessó; 39°31’32” N, 3°19’2” E), situated in the eastern part of Mallorca (Fig. 1a, b). The cave hosts ceramic sherds and stone constructions. The latter includes a stone-paved path that connects the cave entrance to the first underground lake (Fig. 1d), a cyclopean stone wall running parallel to the path, and an 8.62 m long¹⁷ and 0.5 m high stone walkway (hereafter referred as to bridge) oriented NE–SW (Fig. 1c, e, Supplementary Fig. 1, Supplementary Table 1). This last structure was built across a lake by stacking large limestone breakdown blocks on top of each other, without the use of mortar or cement. The uppermost layer comprises flat boulders of considerable size (Supplementary Fig. 1b). The largest stone measures 1.63 m in length and 0.6 m in width. Relative to the preindustrial (pre-1900 CE) sea level, the bridge is submerged by 1.05 ± 0.1 m of water at its upper part (Figs. 1e, 2). However, at the time of its construction, it served as an access path to the only other dry chamber in the cave (Sala de les Rates-pinyades, i.e., Bats Room), where pottery, tentatively attributed to the Naviform period (ca. 3550–3000 cal B.P.) was discovered^18,19. The bridge structure was inferred to have been built around the same period²⁰.

Fig. 1: Cave and sample locations.

a Map showing Mallorca in the western Mediterranean (black square). b Location of Genovesa and Drac caves; CCG: Closos de Can Gaià archeological site. c Plan of Genovesa Cave showing the location of the phreatic overgrowth on speleothems samples (yellow circles) and the survey station (red dot). d Photograph of the stone-paved path leading to the bridge (person height = 167 cm). e Cross-section (x–x’) indicating the location of the submerged bridge relative to the cave entrance and the present sea level. Maps (a, b) are available under CC Public Domain License from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/map-europe-world-earth-continent-2672639/ and https://pixabay.com/illustrations/mallorca-map-land-country-europe-968363/, respectively.

Fig. 2: Positional relationship between the bridge, preindustrial sea level, and analyzed samples.

The cross sections depict the spatial relationship between the submerged bridge and the U-series dated samples (phreatic overgrowth on speleothems: orange/yellow spindle; soda straw tips: red circle) from Genovesa and Drac caves. The vertical scale applies uniformly to all samples from both caves. All ages are reported as thousands of years (kyr) before present, where present is defined as 1950 CE.

Here, we integrate uranium-series (U-series) age data acquired from phreatic overgrowth on speleothems and stalactite tips in Genovesa and Drac caves, along with Late Holocene relative sea level (RSL) information available for Mallorca²¹. Additionally, we consider the presence of the bridge, the coloration mark on its upper part, and the depths at which these respective features occur. This combined evidence contributes valuable insights to the ongoing debate surrounding the timing of human colonization on Mallorca.

Because Creationists love to find fault with the geochronology in these records of pre-'Creation Week' events, I've included sections on geochronology here:

Results and discussion
Speleothems and sea level
Proxies for cave-based sea-level reconstructions include mineralogical (sediments, speleothems)^22,23, archeological (fish tanks, saltpans, submerged structures, etc.)²⁴, and biological (borings, worm tubes, etc.)²⁴ records. In the case of Genovesa Cave, a typical coastal karst feature situated <450 m from the shoreline, both mineralogical and archeological records are present. Many of its well-decorated passages, galleries, and chambers are now flooded due to rising sea levels²⁰. Because of the cave’s proximity to the coast and the high permeability of the Upper Miocene host rock²⁵, the hydraulic gradient is negligible (9 × 10^-5 m /m) for such short distances (see Methods), and thus the water table in the cave is, and was in the past, coincident with sea ^26,27. During times of high sea level stillstands, when the cave was partly flooded, distinct encrustations of calcite and aragonite accumulated over preexisting stalactites, forming the so-called phreatic overgrowths on speleothems²⁸ (POS). This is a particularly useful proxy for precisely and accurately reconstructing sea-level changes across various timescales^21,29. Furthermore, ordinary stalactites, which form in cave passages above the water table and later become submerged as sea-levels rise are also valuable in this process since they document the moment when the cave shifted from being air- to water-filled²².

A distinct light-colored band (~15 cm wide) is visible along the entire bridge at its upper part (Fig. 2, Supplementary Fig. 1a). This coloration mark bears a resemblance to a “bathtub ring” and its presence is likely related to a relatively short-lived stable water table that allowed the precipitation of a sub-millimeter calcite crust at the water/air interface. When the water level increased, the calcite did not disappear since the water below the water table remained somewhat saturated with respect to calcium carbonate. As discussed later, this feature along with the new POS ages and their elevation play a crucial role in determining when this bridge, now submerged, was constructed.

Geochronology
The U-series ages (n = 34; 28 for POS and 6 from stalactites) are given in Supplementary Table 2 and are all reported as years before present (BP), where present is 1950 CE. Ten of these ages are from POS samples GE-D8 (Genovesa Cave; Supplementary Fig. 2) and DR-D15 dated as part of a prior study²¹. The latter was collected in Drac Cave (39°32’9” N, 3°19’49” E), located 1.6 km to the north-east of Genovesa Cave (Fig. 1c, Supplementary Figs. S3–S4).

Regardless of the sampling depth, all the vadose stalactites on which the POS formed in both caves, produced ages older than 8200 years B.P. (Fig. 2, Supplementary Fig. 5). The phreatic overgrowth samples GE-D6, GE-D7, and DR-D23 (Supplementary Figs. S6–S8), precipitated at ~1.10 ± 0.1 m below the preindustrial sea level (mbpsl). A ²³²Th/²³⁸U-²³⁴U/²³⁸U-²³⁰Th/²³⁸U (plotted as a Rosholt A type) isochron age of 5479 ± 120 years B.P. (n = 3 of 4; hereafter, ± refers to 2 σ uncertainty) was measured for GE-D6 (Supplemental Table 2, Supplementary Fig. 9a). GE-D7, in the same room and at the same elevation as GE-D6, yielded a weighted average age of 5510 ± 549 years B.P. using the same correction (initial ²³⁰Th/²³²Th atomic ratio = 5.1 ± 0.4 ppm) generated by the GE-D6 isochron age. Onac et al.²¹. used a slightly higher initial for GE-D8 (8 ppm) that was located at a higher elevation than GE-D6 & -D7. For DR-D23, we obtained a ²³²Th/²³⁸U-²³⁴U/²³⁸U-²³⁰Th/²³⁸U (plotted as a Rosholt A type) isochron age of 5824 ± 140 years B.P. (n = 6) (Supplementary Table 2, Supplementary Fig. 9b). This isochron shows an exceptionally high initial ²³⁰Th/²³²Th atomic ratio = 527.5 ± 22.1 ppm, more than 10x higher than used for DR-D15 (44 ppm) from the same cave but at a different elevation²¹. The fluffy fibrous cotton-candy texture of the two sub-samples with high U component of DR-D23 may have something to do with the high initial ²³⁰Th/²³²Th. The isochron ages were necessary to produce accurate ages with smaller uncertainties.

Collectively, the POS data from Genovesa and the nearby Drac, reveal three distinct periods of relative sea-level stability (Fig. 2). One occurred at 0 ± 0.04 m from 2720 ± 11 to 296 ± 18 years B.P. The second period lasting from 3703 ± 14 to 3368 ± 8 years B.P., corresponds to a sea level of 0.25 mbpsl. Lastly, a third period at ~1.1 ± 0.1 mbpsl is documented between 5820 ± 140 and 5479 ± 120 years B.P. (Figs. 2, 3). By adding the uncertainty to the older age and subtracting the uncertainty from the younger age, the maximum time span of POS growth at 1.1 mbpsl ranges from 5964 – 5359 years B.P. During this interval, both the POS and the coloration mark formed. For the latter to develop, the bridge must have been submerged, at least to its upper surface, allowing calcite to precipitate during the sea-level stillstand. Therefore, this period is of particular interest because it may aid in providing the timeline of the bridge construction as detailed below.

Timing of bridge construction
The assembly date of the bridge in Genovesa Cave remains uncertain due to the absence of written records or a robust time-stratigraphic context. In order to constrain the building time of this archeological structure, we rely on a well-defined Late Holocene sea-level curve generated by Onac et al.²¹. for Mallorca (depicted by the solid blue line in Fig. 3) and the ages and depths at which POS grew and coloration mark formed. First, we assess previous assumptions regarding the timing of the submerged bridge construction using this curve. Then, we examine our new sea-level data in conjunction with the timing of the earliest human arrival model proposed by Bover et al.¹⁴.

The prehistoric pottery discovered in Sala de les Rates-pinyades of the Genovesa Cave has been linked to the Naviform period (3550–3000 cal B.P.). This attribution is based on typological similarities between the ceramics found in Genovesa and those documented at the Closos de Can Gaià, a Bronze Age site located ~10 km south of our cave (Fig. 1b). The archeological horizon in which comparable pottery was discovered at the latter site was dated to ~3600 cal B.P30. However, Costa and Guerrero31 argue that Closos de Can Gaià excavation required a reassessment of the chronological framework, due to issues with the radiocarbon dates. Despite this, adopting the previously reported radiocarbon age, Gràcia et al.²⁰ suggested that the construction of the bridge likely occurred toward the end of the Naviform period.

However, the RSL curve (Fig. 3) indicates that sea level was ~0.25 ± 0.1 m below the preindustrial baseline ~3500 years ago²¹, implying a total water depth of ~1.3 m in the cave lake. The vertical height of the bridge is 0.5 m, and thus it was submerged by 0.8 m of water at this time (Fig. 3). The construction of the bridge around 4400 years ago, the time suggested by Bover et al.¹⁴ to be the earliest evidence of human presence on the island, is also improbable. At that time, relative sea level in Mallorca was ~0.35 ± 0.1 m below preindustrial level, and the bridge would have been submerged by 0.7 m. Building a bridge below water level is a highly unlikely scenario, and thus it was likely built at an earlier time, when sea level was lower. The predicted relative sea-level curve for Mallorca (Fig. 3) indicates that the top of the bridge would have been close to water level no earlier than 5600 years ago and this provides an approximate lower bound on the age of the feature. The distinct coloration mark on the bridge also provides strong evidence of an age greater than the ages estimated by Gràcia et al.²⁰ and Bover et al.¹⁴. As discussed earlier and according to the POS-based relative sea-level record, this mark would not have developed if the top of the bridge was well below the water level, i.e., at times more recent than ~5500 years ago. However, an age older than 6000 years for the feature can be ruled out since sea level was even lower (Fig. 3), and the construction of a bridge at its current height would have been unnecessary.
Fig. 3: Proposed timing for bridge construction.

Comparison between the position of the submerged bridge, phreatic overgrowth on speleothems (POS), coloration mark, and the RSL prediction (blue curve)²¹ based on a Glacial Isostatic Adjustment model that uses the ICE-6G (VM 5) ice history with an upper mantle viscosity of 1.3 × 1020 Pa s. Solid symbols with age and depth uncertainties represent POS elevations. The brown rectangle depicts the bridge with its coloration band in the upper part. The insets show an underwater image of the bridge (Photo courtesy of R. Landreth) and a close-up view on the RSL position of samples GE-D6, GE-D7, and DR-D23 that grew at 1.1 mbpsl. The uncertainties for GE-D6, GE-D7, and DR-D23 are absolute 2 σ error bars based on three dimensional isochron ages or weighted average (GE-D7). The dotted blue line is a sea-level rise scenario that includes the brief stillstand inferred from the POS growth.

The phreatic overgrowths GE-D6, GE-D7, and DR-D23 from Genovesa and Drac caves formed at a relative sea level of 1.1 mbpsl, which is 5 cm below the upper part of the bridge. The two more precise isochron ages suggest sea-level remained relatively constant for a few hundreds of years between ~5964 and 5359 years B.P. The relative brevity of this time frame might explain why the morphology and size of the POS are somehow atypical and smaller compared to those POS that developed when the sea level was stable at 0 m for over 2000 years. Furthermore, this <600 year period of nearly constant sea level was sufficient to develop the coloration mark. Given that the occurrence of this feature correlates directly with the previously mentioned sea-level stillstand position, it suggests that the bridge was already in place. In fact, its construction could have commenced as early as ~6000 years ago when the water depth in the lake was ~0.25 m. However, it had to be completed before ~5600 years ago when the sea-level rose to the top surface of the bridge.

Onac, B.P., Polyak, V.J., Mitrovica, J.X. et al.
Submerged bridge constructed at least 5600 years ago indicates early human arrival in Mallorca, Spain. Commun Earth Environ 5, 457 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01584-4

Copyright: © 2024 The authors.
Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Lots of stuff for creationists to lie about there. Firstly, there is the record of sea-level changes reflecting the advance and retreat of ice sheets over the past few tens of thousands of years.

Then there is the record of human habitation and construction of the bridge when creationist mythology says the world was subject to a genocidal flood in which all life was extinguished save a small handful of survivors that then repopulated the planet in just a few thousand years.

What a creationist now needs to do is explain why all the dating methods, which converge on these dates, are all wrong and should be converging on a much more recent date compatible with creation of Earth from nothing just 10,000 years ago and all human life originating from 8 related individuals just 4,000 years ago.

Sadly, because the authors of these myths knew nothing of the real history of the Western Mediterranean, the book they wrote, and which creationists think is a real history book, is entirely silent on the matter.

Refuting Creationism - What Neanderthals Were Doing In The Pyrenees 90,000 To 55,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Artist's impression: Iberian Neanderthals taste wild mushrooms, pine nuts and forest moss.

Image: Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.

Rare archaeological site reveals ‘surprising’ Neanderthal behaviour at Pyrenees foothills

The flood of science papers that casually and unintentionally refute creationism shows no signs of slackening; if anything, it's reaching the status of a tsunami. This is of course a function of the fact that with 99.9975% of the history of Earth occurred before creationists believe Earth was magically created out of nothing, which gives a very high probability that anything about the geological or biological history of Earth will have occurred in that long pre-'Creation Week' period.

So, it shouldn't surprise anyone that a Team Led by researchers from the Australian National University and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, have uncovered evidence of Neanderthal habitation of a rock shelter known as the Abric Pizarro in the Pyrenean foothills, in south-western France. The discovery challenges the belief that Neanderthals lived by hunting large animals. The evidence is that that community of Neanderthals consumed a wide variety of small animals and plants.

What can you tell me about the Abric Pizarro in the Pyrenean foothills, and the Neanderthal community who lived there between 100,000 and 65,000 years ago? The Abric Pizarro is an archaeological site located in the Pyrenean foothills of southwestern France. This site has gained significant attention for its well-preserved evidence of Neanderthal habitation, particularly during the Middle Paleolithic period, between roughly 100,000 and 65,000 years ago. The site provides crucial insights into the lives of the Neanderthals who occupied this region, offering a window into their daily activities, environmental adaptation, and survival strategies.

Geographic and Environmental Context
The Abric Pizarro site is a rock shelter situated within a broader landscape that would have been rich in resources for the Neanderthals. The Pyrenean foothills offered a diverse environment with access to water sources, varied vegetation, and an abundance of game. This location would have been ideal for the seasonal movement of hunter-gatherer groups, providing shelter from the elements and proximity to essential resources. Neanderthal Habitation and Activities
The archaeological evidence at Abric Pizarro indicates that Neanderthals used this site repeatedly over thousands of years. The layers of sediment found in the rock shelter contain numerous artifacts, including stone tools, animal bones, and other material remains that suggest a range of activities took place here.

Stone Tools: The lithic assemblage from Abric Pizarro is characteristic of the Mousterian tradition, which is associated with Neanderthals across Europe. These tools were primarily made from locally available stone and include hand axes, scrapers, and points. These implements were used for various purposes, including hunting, butchering animals, and processing plant materials.
Hunting and Subsistence: The faunal remains discovered at the site provide evidence of the Neanderthal diet, which was heavily reliant on large game such as deer, horses, and possibly even smaller mammals. The presence of cut marks on bones suggests that the Neanderthals at Abric Pizarro were proficient hunters and that they butchered animals on-site for food.
Seasonal Occupation: Some researchers believe that the site was likely used seasonally, with Neanderthals returning to the shelter at certain times of the year when game was more plentiful or when the weather made other areas less hospitable. This seasonal occupation would have been part of a broader pattern of movement across the landscape, typical of Neanderthal groups who adapted to changing environments over time.
Social Organization: While direct evidence of social structure is difficult to ascertain from a single site, the repeated use of Abric Pizarro over many millennia suggests that it may have been a significant location for the Neanderthal community. The organization of space within the shelter, as inferred from the distribution of artifacts, indicates that different areas may have been designated for specific activities, reflecting a level of social organization.

Significance of Abric Pizarro
The importance of Abric Pizarro lies in its contribution to the broader understanding of Neanderthal life in Europe. The site provides a snapshot of how these early humans adapted to the challenging environments of the Pyrenean foothills. It also highlights the technological skills of Neanderthals, particularly in stone tool production and hunting.

Moreover, the long duration of occupation at Abric Pizarro offers valuable data for understanding the changes in Neanderthal behavior over time, including how they responded to climatic shifts and environmental changes during the Middle Paleolithic. This site is a key part of the mosaic of Neanderthal archaeology in Europe, helping to build a more complete picture of their way of life.

In summary, Abric Pizarro is a significant archaeological site that sheds light on the lives of Neanderthals in the Pyrenean foothills, revealing aspects of their subsistence strategies, technological abilities, and social organization during a crucial period in prehistory.

The Australian National University and Autonomous University of Barcelona team, led by Dr. Sofia C. Samper Carro, have just published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science. It is also explained in an Australian National University Press release:

Rare archaeological site reveals ‘surprising’ Neanderthal behaviour at Pyrenees foothills
An unchartered area in the foothills of the Southern Pyrenees in Spain is providing insights into a poorly known period of Neanderthal history, offering clues that could help archaeologists uncover the mystery of their downfall, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (CEPAP-UAB).
Abric Pizarro is one of only a few sites worldwide dating from 100,000 to 65,000 years ago during a period called MIS 4. The researchers have gathered hundreds of thousands of artefacts, including stone tools, animal bones and other evidence, providing significant data about the Neanderthal way of life during that time — largely unknown in human history until now.

The findings reveal Neanderthals were able to adapt to their environment, challenging the archaic humans’ reputation as slow-footed cavemen and shedding light on their survival and hunting skills.

Lead author and ANU archaeologist, Dr Sofia Samper Carro, said that the findings show that Neanderthals knew the best ways to exploit the area and territory and were resilient through harsh climate conditions.

Our surprising findings at Abric Pizarro show how adaptable Neanderthals were. The animal bones we have recovered indicate that they were successfully exploiting the surrounding fauna, hunting red deer, horses and bison, but also eating freshwater turtles and rabbits, which imply a degree of planning rarely considered for Neanderthals.

Dr Sofia C. Samper Carro, lead author
School of Culture, History and Language
College of Asia and the Pacific
Australian National University, Australia.

According to the researchers, these new insights challenge widespread beliefs that Neanderthals only hunted large animals, such as horses and rhinoceros.

Through the bones that we are finding, which display cut marks, we have direct proof that Neanderthals were capable of hunting small animals. The bones on this site are very well preserved, and we can see marks of how Neanderthals processed and butchered these animals. Our analysis of the stone artefacts also demonstrates variability in the type of tools produced, indicating Neanderthals’ capability to exploit the available resources in the area.

Dr Sofia C. Samper Carro.

Shedding light on this crucial transitional period helps archaeologists edge closer to solving a mystery that has plagued researchers for decades: what drove the Neanderthals to extinction? According to the researchers, finding sites like Abric Pizarro, from this specific and not well-recorded period, gives information about how Neanderthals lived when modern humans were not in the area yet and shows that they were thriving.

ANU archaeologist Dr Sofia Samper Carro says the insights found at Abric Pizarro challenge widespread beliefs that Neanderthals only hunted large animals.
Photo: Dr Sofia Samper Carro.

The unique site at Abric Pizarro gives a glimpse of Neanderthal behaviour in a landscape they had been roaming for hundreds of thousands of years. Neanderthals disappeared around 40,000 years ago. Suddenly, we modern humans appear in this region of the Pyrenees, and the Neanderthals disappear. But before that, Neanderthals had been living in Europe for almost 300,000 years. They clearly knew what they were doing. They knew the area and how to survive for a long time.

This is one of the most interesting things about this site, to have this unique information about when Neanderthals were alone and living in harsh conditions and how they thrived before modern humans appeared.

Dr Sofia C. Samper Carro.

Thanks to modern excavation techniques, Abric Pizarro and other nearby Neanderthal sites provide fine-grain data to understand Neanderthal behaviour.
We 3D plot every single remain found larger than one to two centimetres. This makes our work slow, and we have been excavating some of these sites for over 20 years, but it turns into a uniquely precise recording of the sites. We are interested in how the different data relates to each other, from stone tools to bones and hearths. This more thorough excavation gives archaeologists information on how Neanderthals lived and how long they were in an area. It’s not only the individual materials that give us clues, but also where exactly they are found in relation to other materials on the site that helps us understand how and when Neanderthals were visiting these sites. Were they settled there or just passing through?

Dr Sofia C. Samper Carro.

Excavation and research in Abric Pizarro are part of Dr Samper Carro’s DECRA project. It also consists of one of the field schools offered by the ANU School of Culture, History and Language. Research in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees is supported by local collaborators from CEPAP-UAB, The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Culture Department of the Catalan Government. The research is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Highlights

New archaeological site in the Pre-Pyrenees to study Neanderthal lifeways.
Chronometric ages from Abric Pizarro confirm its MIS 4 chronology.
Palaeoenvironmental data contribute to MIS 4 climatic interpretations.
Faunal and lithic assemblages indicate Neanderthal adaptability and resilience.

Abstract
Extensive research carried out during the last 30 years in the lowermost foothills of the Southern Pyrenees has revealed the significance of this area for studying Neanderthal lifestyle and settlement histories in the Iberian Peninsula. With a large number of cave and rock shelter sites, broad-ranging chronologies, and relatively well-known sedimentation rates and environmental conditions, this enclave continues to improve our knowledge about Neanderthal behaviour in Western Europe.

Here we present the chronostratigraphic, technological, faunal, and palaeoenvironmental results from Abric Pizarro, a recently discovered site from the region. Its archaeological sequence is centred on MIS 4, a poorly known period in Neanderthal history. The application of three different dating methods (newly obtained single-grain optically stimulated luminescence and U-series fossil teeth ages, in addition to previously published thermoluminescence ages) provides an accurate chronology for a site where the exceptional preservation of faunal remains leads to significant interpretations of Neanderthal hunting abilities and adaptability. Moreover, analysis of the lithic assemblage, as well as preliminary palaeoenvironmental data, are used to provide insights into the degree to which chronocultural or palaeoenvironmental factors were responsible for some of the significant differences observed among the four archaeological units explored in Abric Pizarro to date. Our results contribute to discussion about Neanderthal resilience and their livelihood before their disappearance from the archaeological record.

1. Introduction
Since the discovery of the first Neanderthal fossils in the 19th century, these hominins have been a sustained focus of study. Researchers have strived to identify anatomical and physiological similarities and differences between our closest relatives and anatomically modern humans (AMHs), their phylogenetic position, as well as suggesting factors that contributed to their demise around 40ka years ago (e.g. Bailey and Lynch, 2005; Bocherens and Drucker, 2006; Banks et al., 2008; Churchill, 2014; Villa and Roebroeks, 2014.1; Agustí and Rubio-Campillo, 2017; Banks et al., 2021; Romagnoli et al., 2022; Gonzalez et al., 2023). This information has been mainly gained from archaeological deposits dated to the Last Interglacial cycles during the Late Pleistocene -MIS 5 (ca. 130-71ka) and MIS 3 (57-30ka)-. However, to fully understand Neanderthal ways of life in the millennia before their extinction, further research is needed to characterize the preceding glacial maxima (MIS 4; 71-57ka), at both regional and local scales.

MIS 4 is generally characterized as a sub-continental scale glaciation over northern Europe, coupled with dry conditions in continental eastern Europe (Helmens, 2014.2). The ice volume maximum, centred at 65 ka, was preceded by a progressive increase in ice volume through MIS 5 and a decrease in summer insolation (e.g. Sánchez-Goñi, 2022.1). Although these global environmental conditions are relatively well-known from environmental records in central and northern Europe and the Levant, there are few site-specific palaeoclimatic proxies in the Iberian Peninsula and western Europe, with scarce data available to understand local environmental conditions in these regions during MIS 4 (Fig. 1). Nonetheless, research on glacial and fluvioglacial deposits in river valleys in NE Spain provide data to interpret glacial-interglacial cycles in this region from ca. 70ka onwards. In the Aragon Valley glacier, evidence from moraine M2 dated the Last Maximum Ice Extent (LMIE) around 68 ± 7 ka (García-Ruiz et al., 2013), also identified in the Cinca and Gállego Rivers and associated to a strong increase in fluvial discharge and sediments availability related to the transition to deglaciation (Peña et al., 2004; Lewis et al., 2009). Other nearby moraines also confirm evidence for a LMIE event in the central Pre-Pyrenees during the MIS 4 (Sancho et al., 2003, 2018; Turu et al., 2023.1).

Fig. 1. Map of the Iberian Peninsula with location of the sites mentioned in the text. 1) Abric Pizarro; 2) Estret de Tragó; 3) Cova Gran de Santa Linya; 4) Roca dels Bous; 5) Abric Romaní; 6) Arlampe; 7) Padul; 8) Villarquemado; 9) Lezetxiki; 10) Atxagakoa; 11) Covalejos; 12) Roca San Miguel; 13) Fuente del Trucho; 14) Fuente de San Cristóbal; 15) Moros de Gabasa; 16) Abric del Pastor, 17) Teixoneres; 18) Cova del Toll.
Moreover, some recent reviews of palaeobotanical data from archaeological sites in the Iberian Peninsula include sites with records dating to MIS 4 located in mediterranean (Abric Romani and Abric Pastor) and Atlantic/Euro-siberian (Axlor) bioregions (Ochando et al., 2022.2; Revelles et al., 2022.3). In Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona), there is a dominance of Pinus throughout the sequence, with a phase of climate warming identified around 70–67 ka, characterized by higher percentages of arboreal pollen and thermophilic taxa (evergreen Quercus and Olea-Phillyrea), This phase was interrupted by a period of cooling between 66 and 59ka characterized by an increase in steppic taxa (Poaceae and Artemisia), followed by an increase in meso and thermophilic taxa (e.g. Burjachs et al., 2012; Revelles et al., 2022.3). Multiproxy analyses conducted from the MIS 4 occupations at Abric del Pastor (Alcoy, Alicante) indicate a mosaic of biotopes, with predominantly cold conditions (Connolly et al., 2019). In the site of Axlor (Biscay) in northern Spain, pollen studies indicate that during MIS 4, the landscape surrounding the site was dominated by grasses and heather, with patchy evergreen-boreal forest (Demuro et al., 2023.2).

In addition to pollen data from archaeological sites, the pollen cores extracted from the Padul wetland (Granada) and the Villarquemado palaeolake (Teruel) provide significant pollen reference sequences from mediterranean bioregions. The Padul 15-05 sediment core contains a continuous sedimentary and palaeoenvironmental record of the last ca. 200,000 ka, with two pollen zones attributed to MIS 4 (Zones 3a and 2c) (Camuera et al., 2019.1; Ochando et al., 2022.2). Zone 3a shows a decline in arboreal pollen relative to the previous zone, with an average of ca. 10% in Quercus total, with some peaks for Alnus, Abies and Cedrus (1.5%) and Pinus averaging 57%. There is a significant pollen change in Zone 2c (60-43ka), with relatively high Mediterranean forest values until ca. 51ka BP, when the last occurrence of Abies is recorded and Pinus show a similar average percentage as the previous zone (ca. 53%). An interesting ecological change from zone 3a to 2c at Padul is the loss of heathland taxa (Ericacea and Cistaceae) and their replacement with xerophytes (Artemisia and Amaranthaceae) (Camuera et al., 2019.1).

The Villarquemado core is an interesting case study to address palaeoenvironmental conditions in continental areas influenced by climatic extremes, similar to those observed in the southeastern Pre-Pyrenees. In Villarquemado, the pollen zone VIL-10 (71–57.5 ka) is characterized by the absence of Mediterranean taxa, with evergreen Quercus and Juniperus disappearing from the record, while aquatics and hygrophytes fluctuate, likely indicating intense environmental changes (González-Sampériz et al., 2020). This replacement of Mediterranean woody elements with mesophytic ones is similar to that observed in sites like Abric Romani, coupled with an abrupt contraction in Juniperus and an expansion of Pinus (Burjachs et al., 2012). Other persistent trees are deciduous Quercus at the beginning of the MIS 4 and cold-tolerant species such as Betula and Alnus. In general, the MIS 4 assemblage from Villarquemado suggests cold and relatively humid conditions (González-Sampériz et al., 2020). These local analyses remark the complexity of environmental responses to climatic changes observed in these sites, while highlighting gaps in our current knowledge about regional palaeoenvironmental conditions during MIS 4 in the Iberian Peninsula.

Focusing on Neanderthal subsistence, the few faunal assemblages documented in Iberian sites dated to the MIS 4 display a relatively wide range of species, with variations in the taxonomic representation likely to be related to the orographic location of the sites as well as biogeographic conditions (Fig. 1). In the north of the Iberian Peninsula, the fauna assemblages from levels B, C and D (50.7 ± 3.5–70.4 ± 5.3ka) of Axlor (Biscay) show a diversified fauna, with a progressive decrease of cervids, stability in the number of caprids (wild goat), and an increase in the number of large animals, especially equids (González et al., 2005.1; Demuro et al., 2023.2). In Arlampe (Biscay), faunal assemblages dated to the MIS 5/4 transition (70.6ka) are dominated by caprines (Capra pyrenaica and Rupicapra pyrenaica), low number of cervid remains, and no equids (Arceredillo et al., 2013.1; Rios-Garaizar et al., 2015). The faunal assemblage for level V from Lezetxiki (Gipuzkoa; 57 ± 2–70±9ka), disregarding the large number of ursids likely related to natural accumulations, yielded large numbers of Cervus elaphus remains, followed by Bos/Bison (Falguères et al., 2005.2; Lazuén and Altuna, 2012.1). In Atxagakoa (Biscay), deposits dated to MIS 4 show deer as the main taxon (Castaños et al., 2004.1; Yravedra and Cobo-Sánchez, 2015.1). In Covalejos cave (Cantabria), the faunal assemblage throughout the sequence is equally dominated by cervids (ca. 90%), with indicators of a specialisation for hunting juvenile individuals (Castaños, 2021.1). In the central plateau, chamois and ibex are represented from MIS 5 to MIS 3, with an increase in their representation after 70ka, although the presence of large bovids (Bos/Bison) and cervids is also recorded (e.g. Díez, 2007; Arceredillo and Díez, 2009.1; Yravedra and Cobo-Sánchez, 2015.1).

One of the reasons for the gaps in our knowledge about Neanderthal behaviour during MIS 4 is the scarcity of sites across the European continent dated to this period, which contrasts with the remarkable number of sites dated to MIS 5 and MIS 3. The limited number of MIS 4 sites has been attributed to population shrinkage, as well as a contraction and shift in the range of suitable habitats exploited by Western European Neanderthal populations (Stewart, 2005.3; Banks et al., 2021), although other factors, such as poor preservation of sites from this period should not be disregarded.

During the last few decades, research on several sites located in the Southern Pre-Pyrenees have revealed the significance of this region for studying Neanderthal lifestyles (Fig. 1). In the Pre-Pyrenees of Huesca, the oldest Neanderthal site yet identified consists of Roca San Miguel, with a chronology ranging from MIS6d to MIS5a, and evidence of site abandonment during the MIS 4 (Montes et al., 2021.2; Peña-Monné et al., 2021.3). In the same region, the younger sites of Fuente del Trucho (Mir and Salas, 2000; Montes et al., 2006.1), Fuentes de San Cristóbal (Rosell et al., 2000.1; Menéndez et al., 2009.2) and Gabasa (Montes et al., 2006.1 Santamaría et al., 2010) provide evidence of Neanderthal presence during MIS 3 (Fig. 1). In the Noguera county (Lleida), the earliest Neanderthal occupations documented comprise the lower units from Estret de Tragó, dated to the MIS 5 (130-90ka), followed by MIS 3 occupations documented in Tragó upper units, Roca dels Bous and Cova Gran de Santa Linya (Casanova et al., 2009.3; Martínez Moreno et al., 2010.1; Mora et al., 2011, 2018.1; de la Torre et al., 2012.2). Since 2007, field prospection programs have identified several other prehistoric and historical settlements in the eastern Pre-Pyrenees region (Pizarro et al., 2013.2). Among the new prehistoric sites identified, Abric Pizarro has yielded Middle Palaeolithic techno-complexes that indicate this site could contain occupations predating MIS 3, thereby representing a unique site for understanding the chronostratigraphy of Neanderthal presence in the southeastern Pre-Pyrenees.

An introduction to the geochronology and a preliminary analysis of the fauna and stone artefacts documented in the more recent archaeological units from Abric Pizarro was recently published (Vega Bolivar et al., 2018.2). However, validation of the site geochronology, as well as the development of new research lines, comprising palaeoenvironmental and biomolecular data, triggered new excavation seasons and analyses. Here we present the results from the new chrononometric and palaeoenvironmental data obtained from Abric Pizarro, as well as the preliminary analysis of the complete fauna and lithic assemblage from the site.

Fig. 2. A) General view Abric Pizarro rockshelter; B) Map of the area of study with nearby archaeological sites; C) Lithostratigraphic column of Abric Pizarro with approximated location of samples taken for OSL and U-Th new ages. Ground surface refers to the original surface of the deposit before excavation began. A description of the profile is provided in section 2.1. D) Photograph of the west section of the deposit, with vertical distribution of the archaeological units identified superimposed.

Samper Carro, Sofia C.; Vega Bolivar, Susana; Pizarro Barbera, Jezabel; Westbury, Eboni; Connor, Simon; Allué, Ethel; Benito-Calvo, Alfonso; Arnold, Lee J.; Demuro, Martina; Price, Gilbert J.; Martinez-Moreno, Jorge; Mora, Rafael
Living on the edge: Abric Pizarro, a MIS 4 Neanderthal site in the lowermost foothills of the southeastern Pre-Pyrenees (Lleida, Iberian Peninsula)
Journal of Archaeological Science (2024) 169 106038 DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106038

Copyright: © 2024 The authors.
Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Creationists might like to ignore the fact that the archaeological evidence shows how Neanderthals adapted to climate changes and resulting changes in local flora and fauna over the 35,000 or so years that they inhabited the site, and how well this evidence meshes with other evidence of climate change. These multiple strands of converging evidence are of course commonplace in Archaeology and are exactly as we would expect of a record of actual events.

Creationists might also like to ignore the fact that the site shows no evidence of submergence under thousands of feet of water either during or after the Neanderthal occupation. In fact, the evidence shows that there never was such an inundation, which, had it happened, would have swept away much of the evidence now being revealed and covered the rest of it in a thick layer of silt containing the jumbled remains of animals and plants from disconnected land masses that would inevitably result from a global genocidal flood and which is conspicuous by its complete absence, not just in the foothill of the Pyrenees, but everywhere else on Earth.

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