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Stone artefacts reported froin the Orce region (Grenada, Spain) indicate a first human
presence in western Europe as early as the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, making a long
chronology for European hominids against the claims for a briefer human presence.
Excavations of Barranco Le6n-5 and Fuentenueva-3a in 1995 have produced two groups
oflithic artefacts of Oldowan type, seen as the most ancient of western Europe by faunal
associations and palaeomagnetic study.
The first horninid colonization of Europe by The case for even older archaeological sites of up
Homo was much debated in the Paris 1989 sym- two millon years old in southern France, Spain and
posium (Bonifay & Vandermeersch 1991). One Czechoslovakia looks weaker still: there are no widely
conclusion regarding the oldest lithic artefacts accepted hominid remains and the human origin of
the stone artefacts is disputed.
was:
The Orce and Cueva Victoria sites, discussed oscillations (Ll. Gibert et al. 1997) (FIGURE 2).
here, demonstrate Spains exceptional position. The deposit of BL-5 at Barranco Le6n is lo-
cated in a unique bed of fine sand that belongs
General setting to the distal part of a small alluvial system,
The northeast sector of the Guadix-Baza ba- varying in thickness between 1 0 and 25 cm.
sin, in southeast Spain (FIGUREI), contains a Discovered by Josep and Lluis Gibert in 1979,
continental sedimentary sequence over 100 me- BL-5 is a classical palaeontological site (first
tres deep. Sedimentation in this area was al- published by Agusti 1984).During a survey in
most continuous between the Late Miocene and 1983, the first lithic artefacts were discovered
the Upper Pleistocene. These Plio-Pleistocene by J. Gibert and A. Iglesias (7. Gibert eta1 1992).
sediments form seven depositional cycles sepa- Systematic work began in the summer of 1995,
rated by unconformities. These cycles began under the supervision of L1. Gibert, the area
with fluvial sediments and finished with lacus- excavated being 2 0 sq. m. The excavation re-
trine deposits. The deposition of one or other vealed a lower mandible of hippopotamus sur-
of these depended on the relative position of the rounded by more than a hundred lithic artefacts,
lake level mainly in relation to global climatic associated with the following fauna: Castillomys
TWO OLDOWAN ASSEMBLAGES IN PLIO-PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF SOUTHEAST SPAIN 19
FIGURE 2. General correlation of different stratigraphic sections in the Orce region, including the three
palaeornagnetic sections. The stratigraphy shows unconforinity-bounded depositional cycles occurred,
offering an important guide to chronology and correlation. The majority of the palaeontological sites
located in the eastern part o f this region are associated with a palustrine deposit, called the Black
Uetrital Unit (L1. Gibert et al. 1997; in press). It occurs within the lacustrine series of deposits of Cycle 5
and contains only one faunal group. At Bnrranco de Orce and Fuentenueva, this same faunu is
associated with n normal magnetic event which various authors have interpreted as the Olduvai event.
Lithic artefacts
Barranco Le6n-5 has produced 1 1 2 lithic arte-
facts: 114 of flint, 1of quartzite and 1 of Jurassic
dolomite, together with 5 dolomitic manuports.
One hundred lithic artefacts were found at
Fuentenueva-3a: 98 of flint, 1 of Jurassic dolo-
mite, and 1 of quartzite, also 2 0 dolomite
manuports. The flint from BL-5 is of good quality
FIGLJRE4. Detailed stratigraphic correlation between t h e Orce Ravine palaeomagnetic section a n d the
Barranco Ledn section, 450 m apart. BL-5 site, Cortijo de Don Alfonso bed and Barranco del Paso bed
are located within the Black Detrital Unit together with the base of the Olduvai event.
and is mostly grey in colour. The flint cores dolomite, have worked edges (FIGURE 8). At
from BL-5 are small (FIGURE 6), with a mean Fuentenueva-3 the flint is a uniform white colour
length of 43 mm, and the surfaces show cen- and of good quality, with some pieces having
tripetal flake removal. The flakes are very abun- secondary iron oxide staining. The five cores
dant and are of substantial size (FIGURE 7 ) , the found in Fuentenueva-3a have centripetal flak-
mean length 40.7 mm within a range of 20- ing and one shows a laminar tendency (FIGIJRE
61mm. The butts have a very variable morphol- 9); their mean length is 65 mm. The flakes are
ogy, and the flakes are not usually cortical. Two of mean length 59 mm [range 21-64 mm) with
chopper-cores, one of flint and the other of plain striking platforms (FIGURE 10). Some of
22 J. GIBERT, LL. GIBERT, A. IGLESIAS & E. MAESTRO
FIGURE
6 . Cores from BL-5.
FIG~JRE 13.
Comparative classifi-
cation of the
Barranco Leon and
Fuentenueva 3 lithic
artefacts. The figure
shows that the
artefact assemblages
are siniilar f o r the two
sites.
TWO 'OLDOWAN' ASSEMBLAGES IN PLIO-PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF SOUTHEAST SPAIN 25
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