Taphonomic implications for the Late Mousterian of South-West Europe at Esquilleu Cave (Spain)

Both the Middle–Upper Palaeolithic transition and the disappearance of the Neanderthals in Europe are frequent issues in the archaeological and paleoanthropological literature. The northern area of the Iberian Peninsula has become a place of remarkable importance for these studies, particularly the Cantabrian cave of Esquilleu, which provides valuable information as well as new dates for understanding the situation at the end of the European Mousterian. The areas used by the last Neanderthals in Esquilleu demonstrate the exploitation of local resources as well as short and sporadic occupations. In this paper we consider these issues from a zooarchaeological and taphonomical perspective and propose an alternative explanation for the unexpected dating for a final Mousterian occupation in the cave: the significance of carnivores in the upper levels may explain this anomalous chronology.