Contextual, technological and chronometric data from Cova Gran: Their contribution to discussion of the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in northeastern Iberia

The geographic and temporal ascription of levels S1B and 497D stimulate discussion on Neanderthal survival at the end of MIS 3 in northeastern Iberia. Likewise, the 497D lithic assemblage is compared to other techno-complexes assigned to this chronological range: the Chatelperronian tradition assigned to Neanderthals and Protoaurignacian linked to the appearance of anatomically modern humans. The archaeological resolution and techno-typological discontinuity documented in Cova Gran are useful points of reference in analysis of the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition in northeastern Iberia, and have implications affecting the characterization of this process across Western Europe.