Neanderthal Survival in the North of the Iberian Peninsula? Reflections from a Catalan and Cantabrian Perspective

In the debate over Western Europe??s Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition we need to consider the importance of both the chronology and the ecological context of the different techno-complexes, as well as the organization of production and consumption activities. In this article we study the adaptative strategies of Middle Palaeolithic human communities based on the information obtained from archaeological sites north of the river Ebro. This transition in the northern part of the peninsula presents a chronological and geographic dichotomy, with the appearance of the Upper Palaeolithic and survival of the Middle Palaeolithic. The geographic distribution appears to indicate intergroup competition and the existence of contact, albeit of an unverified nature. This competition would explain the time that elapsed before one of the cultural, and perhaps biological, groups triumphed over the other in a process culminating in the expansion of Upper Palaeolithic technology.     

Familiar Kinship? Palaeogenetic and Isotopic Evidence from a Triple Burial of the Cogotas I Archaeological Culture (Bronze Age,Iberian Peninsula)

This paper examines the identification of kinship relations in archaeological multiple burials and advocates the application of different methods and lines of research to clarify such issues in relation to funerary practices. Recognizing family relationships – an important task in research on prehistoric societies – is especially complicated and interpretations have often been made without an adequate empirical basis. Bioarchaeological, isotopic and DNA analyses applied to the triple burial of Los Tolmos (Cogotas I archaeological culture, Iberian Bronze Age) have provided direct information on this issue. In this respect, the new results also imply the need to consider gender constructs in greater depth and to be more open‐minded towards other forms of relationship in the past beyond the traditional heteronormative nuclear family.     

A Preliminary Study of the Aqueduct of Reccopolis

Reccopolis was a new urban foundation of the late sixth century AD, built by King Liuvigild during the period of the Visigothic state formation. The city was equipped, alongside other facilities, with an aqueduct built ex novo in the Roman technique. This has only recently been studied. The construction of a new city and a new aqueduct indicates a great economic effort by the Visigothic ruler: the event was in itself also a grand act of propaganda in addition to its obvious functional purpose. The aqueduct is itself unmatched in public constructions of this period.