Environmental and climatic changes are a key challenge facing modern populations. Environmental change was a main driving factor behind several key developments in humanity, impacting on economic, social, technological behaviour and ultimately the survival of the human species. Characterising past human responses to past environmental change is crucial in understanding the challenges facing modern human populations.
During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), approximately 21ka years ago, populations across Europe faced challenging environmental conditions. Ice sheets covered much of Northern and Central Europe, and during these harsh, cold conditions the Iberian Peninsula acted as a refuge for plant, animal and human populations until the end of the Pleistocene. The Cantabrian region is an archaeologically important region for understanding the impact of the LGM on human populations.
During Upper Palaeolithic in the Cantabrian Region of Northern Spain several intriguing phenomena appear in the archaeological record. Firstly, a population expansion during the LGM, with a dramatic increase in the number of archaeological sites is seen, with people drawn to the region to escape the ice-covered landscapes found in Northern and Central Europe at this time. Secondly, a cultural explosion is seen, exhibited in the form of rich cave art assemblages, and portable art present in the region. The World Heritage listed caves within the Cantabrian region host archaeological sites exhibiting key artistic and technological complexities within the Europe Upper Palaeolithic including the caves of Altamira, and El Castillo, and Covalanas amongst others and contain some of the earliest of cave art in Europe. Finally, at the end of the Pleistocene we also see shifts in dietary trends with a tendency towards consuming younger animals, and a greater diversity of species, in addition to the accumulation of large shell middens. This eventually leads to the adoption of farming in the region during the Neolithic period. These clear cultural and economic changes during the LGM make the Cantabrian region is an ideal location to understanding the complex and dynamic relationship between humans and their environment time.
Until now climatic changes between the LGM and Mesolithic period and how it was expressed on a regional level was little understood. Climatic evidence from deep sea off-shore cores have provided ideas of long term climate change in the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Palaeolithic, providing an understanding of broad trends in climate, but are removed from the specific environmental conditions directly experienced by the hunter-gatherers subsisting in the landscapes. Stable isotope analysis of ungulate bone collagen from hunted animals found on archaeological sites can be a valuable way of accessing information about the environments within the localities and hunting ranges of archaeological sites that can be directly linked to human activity. When used in combination with other palaeoenvironmental proxies this technique enables powerful reconstructions of past environments to be created.
The key objectives of the project were to characterise the environmental conditions experienced by populations inhabiting the Cantabrian Region during the LGM to the Mesolithic (21-7ka BP) using a multi-proxy approach, including a large newly generated stable isotope analysis from animal bone collagen, in correlation with more traditional environmental proxies (including pollen, fauna, microfauna, sediments). This was then compared to the dietary profiles in the region to explore how the environment affected hunting strategies of hunter gather groups during this period.
The key research questions being addressed were:
How did the migration of people into the Cantabrian Region during the LGM affect hunting strategies?
Did changes in environment associated with the LGM cause the subsequent flourishing of Upper Palaeolithic societies?
What caused the dietary diversification at the end of the Late Glacial (from 14ka BP), laying the foundation of farming?
These issues are important in Palaeolithic studies, and are currently the subject of intense debate. The CLIMAPROX project provided the ideal opportunity to try and understand this further. The innovative approach used by CLIMAPROX is a novel method to explore human-environment interactions, helping to enhance our understanding of human populations and their responses to this dynamic period of environmental change, and represents the first large scale study in the region at this time.
