#abric pizzaro

[inspofromancientworld]

Abric Pizarro

source: https://studyfinds.org/neanderthals-surviving-ice-age/

Within the foothills of northeastern Spain is one of a few sites in the world that has preserved the remains of life from 100,000 to 65,000 years ago call Abric Pizarro. There, Neanderthals lived during a very harsh, cold time of history, with massive ice sheets covering much of the Northern Hemisphere.

source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324001067

Abric Pizarro is a rock shelter that is currently is about 700 m above sea level, 32 m long, and 6 m deep. It contains evidence of multiple times of use with periods of disuse between, allowing researchers to learn more about how Neanderthals lived and how that may have changed across their history. The researchers cataloged more than 29,000 artifacts larger than 1 cm and over 305,000 trace artifacts that are smaller than that. Among these were bones from both land and water animals and stone tools.

source: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-archaeology/articles/10.3389/fearc.2024.1405535/full

The animal bones are so well preserved that it is possible to understand how they were processed in addition to what animals they hunted. Previous beliefs were that Neanderthals only hunted large animals, but there were also a large quantity of small animal bones, indicating that Neanderthals were able to hunt a wide array of prey, from large cattle, to nimble deer, to small rabbits.

Examination of pollen grains in the sediment show that there were evergreen oak trees and plants that flourished around the Mediterranean at the time, as well grasslands. This is leading researchers to think that the area around Abric Pizarro was relatively mild compared to the rest of Europe.

source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324001067

The style of stone tools also adapted to local supply and show 'they innovated and adapted their technology over time'. This goes counter to the previously held idea that Neanderthals continued to make the same tools over long periods of time.

In addition to telling us more about the lives of Neanderthals, this site is also letting us know about the climate in the area. In upper layers, there are remains of freshwater turtles that are absent in the lower layers, show that there was an increase in the presence of water in the area as time progressed. The type and amount of pollen indicates that, despite the increase in water, the climate was relatively stable.

[nokindarider]

Now obsessed with this fantasy where I go to abric pizzaro and I show up at the hostel and rafa and jorge are like why the fuck are you here and then I would be like abric pizzaro… ever heard of it? And then I still get to hang out with luca sofia celia and javi at the bar and lake and stuff #manifest