La Peña de Estebanvela

Abstract

Pleistocene and Holocene hunter – gatherers in Iberia and the Gibraltar Strait: the current archaeological record, aims to be an updating of the current knowledge on human predatory societies settled in Iberia. The archaeological record of that region is essential for the reconstruction of Human Evolution in Europe in biological, behavioural and cultural domains thus it preserves the earliest and more significant records of the humanization in the continent and because it allows the recovery of the main trends in that process. This is possible thanks to a rich, large and complete record, encompassing all the stages on that development and all the adaptive and cultural modes. Moreover, the discovery of that record is amongst the earliest known archaeological occurrences in the history of our discipline, materialized already during the XIX century.

The main aim of that volume is the systematic presentation of the current empirical data written by the same research teams already on work every year on the excavation and analysis of the sites. We have included the current knowledge on the main archaeo-palaeontological sites, those bearing the more significant record. These sites are arranged in eight physiographic and geological regions with the aim of making clear the adaptive ways of human societies to similar environments. Beyond these eight regions it seemed important to us to present the heritage of symbolic behaviour on the caves of the two regions bearing the more extensive record of that cultural trait: the Cantabrian and the Levantine regions. The cave paintings coming from outside these two regions are presented in their own region.

Finally, beyond the empirical data, we would like to highlight the main research lines in which the modern Iberian Archaeology is currently engaged in the field of Human Evolution and Palaeoecology.