Montane pine forests reached the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula 50,000 years ago

[Judi Lynn]

PUBLIC RELEASE: 30-JUL-2018

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA



CAPTION
This is a general view of the Cova Gran site (Les Avellanes-Santa Linya, Noguera, Lleida).

CREDIT
CEPAP-UAB

A study conducted by the UAB and the IPHES confirms a continuous presence of montane coniferous forests from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean coast from 50,000 to 15,000 years ago, demonstrating their resilience to the extreme and ever changing climate conditions of the period.

Carbon analysis of the Cova Gran de Santa Linya, in Lleida's Pre-Pyrenees region, indicates that there were abundant Scots pine forests which were used as the main source of firewood by the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens inhabiting the area.

The analysis of charcoal from the hearths of the Cova Gran settlement, located in Les Avellanes-Santa Linya, Lleida at 385 metres above sea level, confirms that montane forests of the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula covered the Pyrenees and reached the Mediterranean coast some 50,000 to 15,000 years ago, with a large predominance of montane pine trees and most probably Scots pine.

The study also allowed researchers to obtain detailed information on the type of firewood preferred by Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens, who successively inhabited the Pyrenean shelter during this period.

More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/uadb-mpf073018.php

[Ghost Dog]

1. Pre-Pyrennean site with human occupation dating back

some 50,000 years.

It is my thesis that paleolithic peoples out of North Africa directly populated Western Europe, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar (o, de Algeciras), earlier than any migrations via the Middle East... and of course continuing since then...

Check out the history of the peoples known today, and since a long time ago, as Berbers.