Neanderthal settlement patterns during MIS 4–3 in Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)

A 314 km2 archaeological survey in Sierra de Atapuerca between 1999 and 2003 found 180 open air settlements. The objectives of this study were twofold: to develop a fieldwork methodology with full-coverage and high-intensity that would permit the discovery of all prehistoric settlements in and around Sierra de Atapuerca; and to document and study the Upper Pleistocene, the only hitherto unknown period in the Sierra de Atapuerca, as it has not been preserved in the caves under excavation, and also the groups which inhabited Atapuerca at this time, the Neanderthals. Results from 31 Middle Palaeolithic sites confirm the inhabitation of the Sierra in MIS 4–3 and show settlement patterns of hunter–gatherer groups which inhabited Sierra de Atapuerca in the Upper Pleistocene.