Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Geomorphology, Geoarchaeology and Geochronology of the Upper Pleistocene archaeological site of El Olivo Cave (Llanera, Asturias, Northern Spain).

Jesús F. Jordá Pardo
* ORCID logo ,
David Álvarez-Alonso
ORCID logo ,
Maria De Andrés Herrero
,
Daniel Ballesteros
,
Pilar Carral
,
Aitor Hevia-Carrillo
,
Jorge Sanjurjo
ORCID logo ,
Santiago Giralt
,
Montserrat Jiménez-Sánchez
Version 1 : Received: 25 July 2023 / Approved: 26 July 2023 / Online: 27 July 2023 (02:36:50 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Jordá Pardo, J.F.; Álvarez-Alonso, D.; de Andrés-Herrero, M.; Ballesteros, D.; Carral, P.; Hevia-Carrillo, A.; Sanjurjo, J.; Giralt, S.; Jiménez-Sánchez, M. Geomorphology, Geoarchaeology, and Geochronology of the Upper Pleistocene Archaeological Site of El Olivo Cave (Llanera, Asturias, Northern Spain). Geosciences 2023, 13, 301. Jordá Pardo, J.F.; Álvarez-Alonso, D.; de Andrés-Herrero, M.; Ballesteros, D.; Carral, P.; Hevia-Carrillo, A.; Sanjurjo, J.; Giralt, S.; Jiménez-Sánchez, M. Geomorphology, Geoarchaeology, and Geochronology of the Upper Pleistocene Archaeological Site of El Olivo Cave (Llanera, Asturias, Northern Spain). Geosciences 2023, 13, 301.

Abstract

El Olivo Cave (Pruvia de Arriba, Llanera, Asturias, Spain) is a small karst cave located in the Aboño River basin and formed in the Cretaceous limestone of the Mesozoic cover of the Cantabrian Mountains (north of the Iberian Peninsula). It contains an important upper Pleistocene sedimen-tary, archaeological and paleontological record, with abundant technological evidence and faunal remains. The archaeological record shows a first occupation that could correspond to the Middle Paleolithic and a second occupation in the Middle Magdalenian. The stratigraphic sequence inside and outside the cave was studied with geoarchaeological methodology. In this paper, the lithostratigraphic sequence is analyzed and the data from the granulometric, mineralogical, edaphological and radiometric analyses are presented. The results of these analyses enable an accurate interpretation of both the lithostratigraphy of the deposit as well as the processes re-sponsible for its formation and subsequent evolution. The available numerical dates allow us to locate the first sedimentation episode in the cave in OIS 7a, in the Middle Pleistocene, the base of the outer fluvial sedimentation in the cold OIS 3a stage of the Upper Pleistocene and the Magdalenian occupation in the Last Glacial Maximum (OIS 2) at the end of the Late Pleistocene.

Keywords

karst; cave sediments; Upper Pleistocene; Cantabrian zone; Northern Iberia

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Geology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.