Palaeoecological dynamics during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in Northwest Iberia: The Cova Eirós archaeological site

Cova Eirós (Triacastela, Lugo, NW Iberia) holds the most comprehensive palaeolithic archaeological sequence in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, with stratigraphic levels containing rich and well-preserved fauna and lithic industries spanning roughly from -at least- 41 ka calBP to 14 ka calBP. Within this chronological timespan, several significant climatic events took place, most notably the transition between Marine Isotopic Stages (MIS) 3 and 2, a period during which Neanderthal populations went extinct and were subsequentially replaced by Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH). In this context, the zooarchaeological record from levels 3 (~42–39 ka calBP), 2 (~36–35 ka calBP) and 1 (>17 ka BP) provides a key dataset for reconstructing the climatic and environmental conditions under which these hominin groups lived, as well as establishing a palaeoclimatic sequence encompassing MIS 3, the immediate transition to MIS 2, and a fully developed MIS 2. To achieve this, a multi-proxy approach based on the faunal record has been employed, integrating methods for palaeoclimatic reconstruction (Bioclimatic Model), palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (Habitat Weighting) and a traditional zooarchaeological analysis. This comprehensive methodology aims to infer the ecological conditions in which both Neanderthals and AMH populations thrived and elucidating their interactions with the surrounding animal communities across different time periods. Results indicate that throughout the sequence, climatic conditions were consistently colder and slightly drier than today, yet the region maintained a relatively humid and wooded environment, which may have functioned as a refuge area. Moreover, the zooarchaeological evidence reveals shifts in territorial exploitation and subsistence strategies among hunter-gatherer groups, with a progressive decrease in occupation intensity over time.