The article Landscape and subsistence in NW Iberia during the Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 3): Faunal analysis of Cova Eirós (Triacastela, Galicia, Spain), published in the international journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, offers a new perspective on the territory in which the last Neanderthals of Galicia lived, showing the existence of a considerably colder environment but with a precipitation regime similar to the current one.
A new study carried out at the emblematic site of Cova Eirós (Cancelo, Triacastela, Lugo) focuses on the fauna and the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental information it can provide. The research, led by Hugo Bal García, from the Grupo de Estudos para a Prehistoria do Noroeste – Arqueoloxía, Antigüidade e Territorio (GEPN-AAT) of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and the Centro de Investigación Interuniversitario das Paisaxes Atlánticas Culturais (CISPAC) and by Iván Rey Rodríguez, from the Centro de Investigación Mariña of the Universidade de Vigo, in collaboration with researchers Arturo de Lombera Hermida (UNIOVI, CISPAC), Mikel Díaz Rodríguez (UVIGO, CISPAC), Carlos Fernández Rodríguez (ULE), Xose Pedro Rodríguez Álvarez (URV, IPHES-CERCA) and Ramón Fábregas Valcarce (USC, CISPAC), is part of the research projects carried out at the site with funding from the Ministry of Science of the Government of Spain and the Ministry of Culture, Language and Youth.
The work, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, offers the analysis of more than 1,000 faunal remains recovered from Level 3 of the site, which is around 41,000 years old. At this time, Neanderthals still occupied the Eastern Mountains of Galicia, exploiting a wide variety of resources, among which deer was their main prey, but not the only one, as intentional exploitation of cave bears was even detected. This study served to verify that these Neanderthal groups had great mobility through the territory, which they made extensive use of and took advantage of the fact that the cave is located in an ecotone (the border between different ecosystems), which provided access to a greater number of resources.
In addition to addressing Neanderthal subsistence strategies, the main highlight of this article is that it offers an approximate reconstruction of the climatic conditions that these hunter-gatherers faced. Based on the ecological information provided by the more than 30 species identified in the cave – several of which are now extinct, such as the woolly mammoth – the researchers were able to deduce an average annual temperature significantly lower than the current one, with an average decrease of -3 oC; while precipitation remained quite high, with a difference of only 150 mm per year less than at present. This allowed a relatively important plant community to be maintained, with an environment dominated by low-density forests interspersed with humid grasslands at a time when cold and aridity dominated most of the Iberian Peninsula, which makes the Eastern Mountains of Galicia a true climatic refuge that allowed the survival of Neanderthal groups until more recent times than in other areas of the northern peninsula.
Cover: Image of the archaeological work carried out in the excavation campaign of August 2024. Photograph provided.
